Are The UFO Files Bad For Our Country?

By: Christopher Kinsley II

Recently, the Department of Defense has released 162 classified files concerning UFO/UAP’s in an ongoing attempt by the Trump administration to increase government transparency. While the nature of the UFO files is less sensitive than the Epstein files, this continued trend of releasing internal government documents is dangerous for our country and has contributed to the rise in political extremism, antisemitism, and distrust in the government.

President Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files in the 2024 election and eventually released over 3 million pages of files after congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. According to the New York Times, nearly 40 uncensored photos of naked women were included in the batch of Epstein files released in January of this year. Many, if not all, of the women in the photos were victims of Epstein’s crimes, some of which were described in the files as “possibly underage”. Previous Epstein file releases used an improper method of redaction, allowing anyone to easily view the redacted text by copying it, and then pasting in in a Microsoft Word document. The files also contained reports, sometimes anonymous, made to the FBI concerning Epstein. Despite the reports containing a disclaimer that its contents were unverified and unsubstantiated, conspiracy theorists online began sharing and spreading the claims as if they were verified to be true or were based on evidence and multiple witnesses. The most consequential of the accusations were those made against President Trump, which include accusations of child sexual abuse and infanticide.

While Trump has been accused of sexual crimes before, the amount of people online convinced of Trumps guilt in relation to Epstein increased dramatically after the release of the files. It’s now common for people online to refer to Trump and his administration as “pedophile’s” or “pedophile protectors”, and the recent would-be Trump assassin echoed this label in his explanatory letter. The shooter was motivated to kill Trump for several reasons; however, I believe the public shift in sentiment, along with the repeated accusations, are contributors to his radicalization. Regardless of political affiliation or moral system; the increase of political violence, conspiratorial thinking, and radicalization is destabilizing for our country.

The public currently has a favorable view on the releasing of classified government files, if executed responsibly, because trust in the government is eroding, especially concerning law enforcement. The reason that the Epstein Files Transparency Act saw bi-partisan support is because the American public generally felt that the Epstein case was mishandled and that justice hadn’t been served. Many online called for the Epstein “list” before they began calling for the “files” because they assumed that Epstein had left a list of his clients or accomplices. When no list was made public, and no prosecutions were made, people began to accuse the government of a cover-up and the conspiracy theories went viral, many of which were antisemitic in nature.

We may view conspiracy theories as fringe and unserious, but as they become more popular, so does distrust in the government, which increases the risk of a believer becoming a radicalized political extremist. It may seem like this problem is insignificant, but it contributes to the rise in political violence, which negatively impacts everybody.

The recent UFO files do not contain sensitive information or redaction errors as the Epstein files had; however, they do have the potential to be used as misinformation, and any information coming from them should be contextualized. If the government is going to release classified files containing sensitive information, they have a duty to ensure it is done properly.