Japan Joins UFO Fight As Disclosure Battle Heats Up

Days after the Trump administration’s UFO file release on May 8, the story has expanded well beyond Washington. According to reporting from The Japan Times, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara confirmed that Tokyo is analyzing the released material with great interest. Two of the videos in the Friday drop were filmed near Japan, including a nearly two minute clip from 2023 reported by US Indo-Pacific Command. That footage shows an infrared sensor tracking three distinct areas of contrast that held a fixed position and orientation relative to one another. A second nine second clip from 2024 over the East China Sea shows what the Pentagon describes as a football shaped body with three radial projections.

Kihara said the Japanese government would make case-by-case decisions about disclosing its own UAP files. As noted in the same reporting, a group of around 80 Japanese lawmakers established a UAP investigation group in 2024 and this past March urged Tokyo to create a specialized department under the deputy chief cabinet secretary for crisis management.

Closer to home, Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison, who serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has stated in two new interviews that the next batch of files is expected approximately every two weeks. Burlison described the Friday release as only the low hanging fruit, citing objects violating US airspace over nuclear missile silos and Air Force military bases. He also confirmed he has personally viewed videos that the American people have not yet seen.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara

According to reporting from Christopher Sharp at Liberation Times, Burlison, Tim Burchett, and Anna Paulina Luna are now pushing the White House to release 46 additional videos. Burchett described the first drop as a drop in the bucket and promised a holy crap moment in the next round. Multiple intelligence and defense sources told Liberation Times that the Friday release falls short of what real disclosure would require. Those sources said the released videos came from tactical military systems with low security classifications, while higher quality imagery from the National Reconnaissance Office and the CIA was not included. One source pointed to the absence of any material from the Department of Homeland Security as a major omission, given that agency’s role in countering aerial threats.

Per the Liberation Times reporting, a specific figure inside the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has been named. Aaron Lukas, the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence under Tulsi Gabbard, previously served as a CIA Station Chief. Three sources told Liberation Times they believe Lukas is working within ODNI in a way that protects CIA interests, including elements that may be opposed to the President’s transparency directive. The director of the Pentagon’s UAP office, known as AARO, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, reports directly to Lukas.

Aaron Lukas, the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

Burlison has also identified where he believes the actual physical evidence sits, pointing to Federally Funded Research and Development Centers including RAND Corporation, MITRE Group, and Aerospace Corporation, along with major contractors such as Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. Asked whether Congress is prepared to use subpoenas, Burlison stated they are necessary and will be used. He also referenced the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution as a possible route for a member of Congress to enter classified material into the official record, the same legal mechanism Senator Mike Gravel used to enter the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record in 1971.

Sources

Congressman Eric Burlison. (2026, May 11). Rep. Burlison on UAP Disclosure, Secret Programs & the Great American Healthcare Plan [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVpTSU-Kpzc

In the name of security, Diet group planned to study UFOs | The Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch. (n.d.). The Asahi Shimbun. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15284878

Johnson, J. (2026, May 11). Tokyo analyzing Pentagon UFO file trove with sightings near Japan. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/11/japan/us-pentagon-japan-ufos/

NewsNation. (2026, May 12). New UAP files every two weeks? Congressman reveals White House plans | Elizabeth Vargas Reports [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pB8JrN6RAI

Sharp, C. (2026, May 11). UFO disclosure battle commences as Trump administration releases files — Liberation Times | Reimagining old news. Liberation Times | Reimagining Old News. https://www.liberationtimes.com/home/ufo-disclosure-battle-commences-as-trump-administration-releases-files