Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has sent a letter to War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding 46 specific videos of unidentified anomalous phenomena, giving the Pentagon and other federal agencies until April 14 to comply. The request marks the most detailed congressional demand yet for classified military footage of objects that Luna says threaten the safety of American forces.
Luna chairs the House Federal Secrets Task Force, the panel charged with investigating UAP sightings, declassifying federal records, and working with whistleblowers. In her letter, she warned that the government's reluctance to share what it knows is itself a problem, calling the lack of disclosure "concerning."
The footage Luna wants is not theoretical. The 46 clips span encounters recorded in war zones, over oceans, near U.S. military installations, and inside restricted American airspace, from the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan to the East China Sea. At least one video, labeled "Spherical UAP over AFG in and out of clouds, 11/23/20," was reportedly captured during a reconnaissance mission near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Portions of that clip were previously released by investigative journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp, Newsmax reported.
Other requested clips involve formations spotted near Iran and Syria, incidents near U.S. bases and airports, and the 2023 shootdown over Lake Huron that briefly captured national attention. Taken together, the list paints a picture of repeated encounters across multiple theaters of operation, encounters the federal government has, until now, kept largely under wraps.
Luna did not mince words about why the footage matters. In her letter, she framed the issue squarely as a national security concern:
"The presence of UAPs in and around the sensitive airspaces of U.S. military installations poses a threat to the security of the armed forces and their readiness."
That language goes beyond curiosity about what's flying overhead. It places the burden on the Pentagon to explain why objects of unknown origin keep appearing near American forces, and why Congress has struggled to get straight answers.
Luna has been pressing this case publicly for months. During a February 20 appearance on Fox News, she went further, stating that briefings and videos showed evidence of "advanced technology" not created by mankind. She also referenced "interdimensional beings," a claim that drew attention but reflected the scope of what she says classified materials contain.
The task force she leads has received what Luna described as incomplete responses from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the Pentagon body tasked with analyzing UAP incidents. That gap between what AARO is supposed to do and what it has actually provided to Congress sits at the center of the current standoff.
Hegseth acknowledged the issue in February, after President Donald Trump signed an order on Feb. 19 directing the release of government files related to UAPs and extraterrestrial phenomena. The order followed Trump's broader push to declassify federal records that had been locked away for years.
Hegseth's reaction to the subject was candid. He told reporters the topic caught him off guard:
"I did not have that on my bingo card at all."
But he also pledged cooperation, saying the War Department would meet the president's expectations.
"We've got our people working on it right now. We're going to be in full compliance with that executive order, eager to provide that for the president."
What Hegseth did not say is how long it would take to review and release all relevant materials. That open question is exactly what Luna's April 14 deadline is designed to force.
The broader context here matters. For years, members of Congress from both parties have complained that the defense and intelligence communities treat UAP inquiries like an annoyance rather than a legitimate oversight function. Whistleblowers told lawmakers at a September 2025 hearing that additional UAP video records exist beyond what the government has acknowledged.
That testimony helped fuel the creation of Luna's task force and gave congressional investigators a clearer picture of what to ask for. The 46-video request is not a fishing expedition. It is a targeted demand built on whistleblower testimony and classified briefings that members of Congress have already received.
The executive order Trump signed in February was itself a response to the same frustration. As we previously reported, a former Pentagon official claimed satellite photos show non-human craft, adding weight to the argument that the government possesses far more evidence than it has shared with the public or with Congress.
Luna's letter names Hegseth as the primary recipient, but the April 14 deadline also applies to other federal agencies. Which agencies those are has not been publicly specified, though the intelligence community and AARO are the most obvious candidates given their roles in UAP analysis and data collection.
The letter does not spell out enforcement mechanisms. Congressional deadlines carry political weight but no automatic penalty. If the Pentagon and other agencies miss April 14 without producing the requested footage, Luna and her task force will face a choice: escalate through subpoena power, seek floor votes to compel disclosure, or accept another round of delay.
Given Luna's public posture, and the fact that she has the backing of a president who ordered these files released, the political dynamics favor disclosure. The question is whether the bureaucracy will move at the pace Congress demands or at the pace it prefers.
The locations tied to the 46 videos tell their own story. These are not sightings over suburban backyards. They involve military aircraft operating in active conflict zones, near adversary borders, and over sensitive American installations. If unidentified objects are routinely penetrating those airspaces without explanation, that is not a fringe concern. It is a readiness problem.
Luna has framed it that way from the start. Her letter described the situation as involving "the very real threat" posed by these phenomena, language that leaves little room for the kind of bureaucratic hedging that has defined the government's UAP posture for decades.
April 14 is less than two weeks away. Hegseth has said the right things about compliance. AARO has a mandate to analyze and report. The president has signed an order directing release. Every institutional player claims to support transparency.
Now the country gets to see whether that transparency is real or just another layer of managed ambiguity. Forty-six videos. One deadline. No more excuses.
