The cultural moment around unidentified anomalous phenomena has shifted.
Not long ago, UAP was a niche acronym and “disclosure” was a word whispered in late-night radio. With Dan Farah’s feature documentary The Age of Disclosure, the center of gravity moves to the mainstream, where sitting lawmakers, ex-intelligence leaders, and Pentagon insiders sit for on-camera interviews and insist that the public has been systematically misled about the scope and stakes of the UAP problem.
The film’s core thesis is stark: non-human intelligence exists and multiple governments, including the United States, have pursued crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programs for decades, often insulated from elected oversight by classification practices and compartmented access.
The documentary premiered at SXSW, then released widely on Prime Video with a limited theatrical run, making its political and scientific claims accessible to a global audience. (The Washington Post)
As an investigative outlet that studies UAP across scientific, historical, anthropological, and religious lenses, UAPedia views Farah’s film as a catalytic event.
Below we map the key claims, name the officials who went on the record, place the film in the context of current government actions, summarize the political dynamics it exposes, and evaluate implications for science, faith, energy, and global security.
We also add a structured Claims Taxonomy and clearly labeled speculation where appropriate, then close with a concrete call to action that citizens, researchers, and policymakers can act on today.
What the film argues
Farah’s film stitches together testimony from thirty-four current and former officials in the U.S. government, military, and intelligence community.
The thrust of their testimony is consistent across multiple interviews: UAP is real, some of it is non-human, and the United States has run or interfaced with highly restricted programs to exploit retrieved craft and materials since at least the late 1940s.
The documentary emphasizes a covert technology race, where rivals like Russia and China are assumed to be chasing the same prize. The film frames this pursuit as geopolitically analogous to the Manhattan Project in its potential to reset power balances. (The Washington Post)
Among the most arresting on-camera lines is from Jay Stratton, former director of the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force, who says he has personally “seen with [his] own eyes non-human craft and non-human beings.” This is presented not as hearsay but as a direct eyewitness assertion by a senior intelligence veteran.
The Washington Post’s coverage of the SXSW premiere highlighted that sequence, as well as the film’s argument that secrets have been walled off, sometimes even from presidents. (The Washington Post)
The film also leans into a line of evidence that UAP has interfered with nuclear weapons systems, including deactivations and activations described by U.S. and Russian witnesses.
This is not a new claim to the UAP record, yet The Age of Disclosure places it in a modern policy context. Farah’s interviewees call it a national security emergency that can no longer be dismissed as anecdote. (The Washington Post)
Finally, the documentary asserts that the energy physics behind some UAP observables could, if responsibly disclosed, deliver civilization-scale benefits.
The film’s insiders say propulsion that leaves no conventional exhaust and handles extreme accelerations would imply energy densities that could transform climate policy and global development. (The Washington Post)
Who speaks on camera
The film includes a roster of sitting lawmakers, former Cabinet-level officials, military aviators, former intelligence leaders and military experiencers. Below is a complete list of 34 individuals who speak on camera.
Elected and appointed officials
- Marco Rubio, United States Secretary of State (confirmed Jan 20, 2025); previously U.S. Senator from Florida (2011–2025). In the Senate he pushed for UAP transparency and oversight and appears in the film as a senior policymaker voice. Reuters
- Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator from New York. Led creation and oversight of the Pentagon’s AARO and chaired Senate hearings on UAP. Wikipedia
- Mike Rounds, U.S. Senator from South Dakota. Co-sponsored bipartisan UAP provisions and appears as a legislative advocate for transparency. Wikipedia
- Jared Moskowitz, Congressman, U.S. Representatives (Florida)
- André Carson U.S. Representative from Indiana. Chaired the first open House hearing on UAP since the 1960s on May 17, 2022. Congress.gov
- Anna Paulina Luna, U.S. Representative from Florida. Publicly advocates declassification and has discussed her own service-related UAP encounter; in 2025 she led a declassification task force. People.com
- Dan Crenshaw, U.S. Representative from Texas and former Navy SEAL officer. Engaged on national security implications of UAP in Congress. Wikipedia
- Tim Burchett, U.S. Representative from Tennessee. One of the chamber’s most vocal pro-disclosure members. Simple Wikipedia
- Mike Gallagher, Former U.S. Representative from Wisconsin; chaired the House Select Committee on the CCP. Left Congress in April 2024; appears in the film as a sitting lawmaker at the time of filming. AP News
Military, intelligence, and defense officials
- James R. Clapper, Jr. Former Director of National Intelligence and retired USAF lieutenant general. Provides Intelligence Community perspective on legacy secrecy and oversight.
- Christopher “Chris” Mellon, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and former SSCI staff director. Key advocate who helped bring Navy UAP videos and AATIP to public attention. Wikipedia
- Christopher C. Miller, Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense. Contributes senior Pentagon context regarding classification and compartmented programs. U.S. Department of War
- Lue Elizondo, Former director of AATIP; and formerly employed by the United States Department of Defense in roles of United States Army Counterintelligence and with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSDI). He is a key figure in modern UAP disclosure.
- Jay Stratton, Former senior DIA/ONI executive and former Director of the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force. In the film he frames UAP reverse-engineering as a strategic race among nations. Fox News
- Timothy Gallaudet, PhD, Rear Adm., USN (ret.) Former Acting NOAA Administrator and former Oceanographer of the Navy. Testified to Congress on UAP safety and transparency. Oversight Committee
- Brett J. Feddersen, Former Director of Aviation Security on the National Security Council and former acting FAA official; now VP for Strategy & Gov’t Affairs at counter-UAS firm D-Fend Solutions. Speaks to airspace security and “drone/UAS” incursions near sensitive sites. Scraps from the Loft
- James T. Cobb (USAF, Ret.), Col. U.S. Air Force Colonel; nuclear and missile security background.
Scientists and technical experts
- Harold “Hal” Puthoff, PhD Physicist, president of EarthTech/Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, and co-founder of To The Stars. AATIP-linked researcher on advanced propulsion hypotheses. Wikipedia
- Eric W. Davis, PhD Physicist and senior science advisor to EarthTech/IASA; author of several DIA-sponsored AATIP studies on exotic propulsion concepts. EarthTech
- Garry P. Nolan, PhD Stanford professor of pathology and chair of the Sol Foundation. Publicly argues that some UAP data merit serious scientific study and policy attention. Stanford Medicine
- Mike Gold Former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships; member of NASA’s independent UAP study team; architector of Artemis Accords. Provides space policy and international governance context. Wikipedia
- Travis S. Taylor, PhD Aerospace engineer and defense researcher, known from The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. Worked with government UAP efforts and appears as a technical voice in the film. Science
- Jim Semivan, Former CIA operations officer and co-founder of To The Stars. Discusses cultural and institutional barriers to disclosure. Coast to Coast AM
- Col. Karl E. Nell, USA (ret.) Former Army Futures/industry executive. Publicly states there is “zero doubt” non-human intelligence is involved with UAP and calls for structured disclosure. YouTube
Pilots and first-hand witnesses
- Cmdr. David Fravor, USN (ret.) Former CO of VFA-41 who visually engaged the 2004 “Tic Tac” during the USS Nimitz incidents. Provides multi-sensor, cockpit-level context for UAP performance claims. CBS News
- Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich, USN (ret.) F/A-18F pilot who also witnessed the 2004 Nimitz event. Offers corroborating pilot testimony and training-safety framing. goodstory.io
- Ryan Graves, Former F/A-18F pilot and flight lead; founded Americans for Safe Aerospace to standardize pilot reporting and reduce stigma. Appears as an air-safety advocate. safeaerospace.org+1
- Jeffrey Nuccetelli, USAF veteran and former military police officer. Testified to Congress about multiple UAP incursions at Vandenberg AFB in 2003–2005. Oversight Committee
- Chaz King, Former USAF security professional associated with Vandenberg events discussed in 2025 testimony interviews. Adds a second on-scene security perspective. YouTube
- Mario A. Woods, Jr., Former USAF Security Policeman at Ellsworth AFB; long-form witness to a 1977 nuclear-site encounter, referenced for historical continuity in the film’s narrative.
- Robert Salas, former nuclear missile targeting officer at Malmstrom Air Force Base in 1967 and UAP witness.
- Terry Lovelace, former Air Force non-commissioned officer at Whiteman Air Force Base in western Missouri in 1977 and UAP witness.
- Bob Jacobs, former U.S. Air Force Lieutenant; university professor (retired)
- Mark T. Esper, former U.S. Secretary of Defense; former Secretary of the Army
How Farah got them talking
Entertainment trade press and general-interest media describe a three-year production conducted largely in secrecy, which finally surfaced at SXSW 2025.
People Magazine’s release-day reporting emphasized the project’s bipartisan access and the filmmakers’ claim that interviewees have direct knowledge of classified programs, even if they cannot show classified artifacts on camera. Public coverage and trailers framed the film as designed to break stigma and to move policy. (People.com)
Entertainment Weekly’s feature on Farah’s approach noted that the director believed a coordinated on-the-record reveal might finally move the needle in Washington.
The government backdrop that makes this film different
The documentary lands in the middle of an unprecedented policy wave.
In 2023 Senate leadership introduced the UAP Disclosure Act amendment, modeled on the JFK Records Act, which sought to create a governmentwide UAP records collection with a presumption of disclosure.
The bipartisan sponsors included Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Mike Rounds, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Sen. Marco Rubio. Even watered-down, the effort signaled that UAP was no longer a partisan sideshow. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
At the same time, Congress created and funded the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and pressed for greater transparency. The Pentagon’s public reporting and AARO’s “Historical Record Report, Volume I” concluded in March 2024 that official investigations found no empirical evidence of off-world technology and that many sightings are ordinary objects misidentified. That view is important context and is the institutional position as of the report’s issuance. (U.S. Department of War)
NASA added its own scientific imprimatur in September 2023 by releasing the findings of an independent study team and naming a Director of UAP Research to coordinate the agency’s work and interagency collaboration. NASA emphasized destigmatized reporting, improved data, and rigorous methods, while also stating that it had no evidence of extraterrestrial origin. (NASA Science)
The film implicitly critiques these official conclusions, suggesting that programmatic firewalls and legacy compartmentalization prevent agencies, and sometimes even presidents, from having a full picture.
Whether one accepts that critique or not, it is accurate to say that AARO and NASA have institutional stances that remain skeptical pending unambiguous evidence, while lawmakers have pursued oversight reforms that recognize UAP as a live national security concern.
The politics of disclosure
The Age of Disclosure treats UAP as a bipartisan governance challenge. Schumer and Rounds used floor time in late 2023 to call for structured declassification.
Gillibrand and Rubio have worked to fund AARO and normalize reporting pipelines across services and agencies.
House members such as Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna have pushed for hearings and a formal declassification task force. This bipartisan scaffold is the unique context for Farah’s film. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
The film’s narrative claims that secrecy has been justified under familiar banners, to include preventing adversary advantage and avoiding panic, yet argues that secrecy now imposes greater risk.
If rival states operationalize recovered technology first, the democratic world could face a strategic shock. Stratton’s “atomic weapon on steroids” metaphor in the film lays down the political stakes in language that any appropriator or committee chair will understand. (The Washington Post)
Key claims made in the film, with context
- Non-human intelligence exists and interacts with our domain. Multiple interviewees state this outright, including Stratton.
The film frames this as settled among certain cleared communities. The film argues the evidence remains locked behind classification.
- The United States and peers have pursued crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programs for decades.
The documentary presents this as a long arc beginning around 1947. The film’s witnesses maintain that compartmentalization and special access programs obstruct comprehensive review. (The Washington Post)
- Nuclear interactions.
Interviewees assert that UAP has deactivated and in some cases activated nuclear weapons in both the U.S. and Russia. This is an area with decades of testimony and the film insists the volume and consistency of reports elevates the claim beyond folklore.
- Energy implications.
The film proposes that UAP observables imply novel energy regimes that could transform climate and economy if responsibly disclosed. The potential societal upside is why lawmakers and scientists increasingly support destigmatized data collection. (The Washington Post)
- Presidential and Presidential nominee’s awareness may be incomplete.
Rubio and others suggest that compartmented programs can outlast administrations and resist oversight. This is a long-standing concern in the structure of SAPs and is part of the rationale for records-collection legislation. (The Washington Post)
How critics and supporters read the film
Mainstream critics describe The Age of Disclosure as polished and rhetorically potent, though some focus on the absence of declassified exhibits.
The Hollywood Reporter and Variety stress that the film’s most provocative claims cannot yet be independently verified in public, while acknowledging the extraordinary on-record lineup.
Others, like IndieWire, argue it is the most convincing case you can make without showing classified evidence. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Skeptic.com’s Michael Shermer interprets the film as the latest instance of compelling testimony packaged without hard data and cautions audiences to separate confidence from confirmation. (Skeptic)
From the opposite angle, several culture writers and many in Congress frame the film as proof of a tipping point.
The Washington Post’s long read from SXSW captured the reaction in the room and cataloged specific claims, including Stratton’s statement and lawmakers’ on-camera urgency.
The Guardian’s preview and review pieces likewise characterize the film as part of a broader movement to normalize serious UAP inquiry. (The Washington Post)
Implications if the film’s core claims are borne out
Science and technology.
A confirmed non-human technology base would force a re-architecture of physics research agendas. Even limited materials science breakthroughs could replace energy, transportation, and aeronautics. The film’s Manhattan-Project metaphor is not hyperbole in this domain. (The Washington Post)
National and global security.
If rivals integrate any of this technology first, deterrence models wobble. The de-stigmatization of pilot reporting and the creation of rapid analysis pipelines are urgent regardless of the ultimate origin of the phenomena.
Congress has taken steps in that direction and the Pentagon has rolled out reporting tools under AARO. (Axios)
Religion and anthropology.
Anthropology tells us societies absorb extraordinary contact into existing cosmologies. Faith traditions already engage cosmology; most would adapt.
The more acute risk is not theological collapse but a transient legitimacy crisis if public trust concludes that gatekeepers suppressed transformative knowledge for generations.
Democratic legitimacy.
If fragments of government or contractor-held programs insulated from oversight do control non-human artifacts, the constitutional stakes are enormous.
The push for formal records collections and mandatory timelines for declassification is, in this light, not a curiosity but a necessary reform. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
The film’s most quoted moments
- “I have seen with my own eyes non-human craft and non-human beings.” Jay Stratton’s statement is the film’s fulcrum. It shifts the debate from second-hand rumor to first-person claim by a former UAP Task Force director.
- “We have seen repeated instances of something operating over restricted nuclear facilities.” Lawmakers argue this alone merits urgent inquiry and transparency. Here the film’s policy message converges with aviation safety and nuclear surety concerns.
- “This is the atomic weapon on steroids.” The geopolitical frame is clear. If even part of the technology is real and exploitable, the first mover redefines the century.
Where and how to watch
The film released November 21, 2025, with a limited theatrical run in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, and is available globally on Prime Video as a rental or purchase. The official trailer is on YouTube.
Call to action
For citizens and viewers
- Write or call your Senators and Representatives to request a public version of a UAP Records Collection with a clear, JFK-style presumption of disclosure and timelines for review. Cite the bipartisan sponsors. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
- Use official reporting channels if you have credible UAP data. The Pentagon established an online form associated with AARO to take reports from service members, federal personnel, and in some cases the public. False reporting is punishable. (Axios)
- Encourage President Donald Trump to announce basic disclosure that we are not alone in the universe and other intelligent life exists.
For scientists and engineers
Study NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team report and contribute proposals for improved instrumentation, calibrated sensing, and open data. Help reduce the “low-quality data” problem with professional rigor. (NASA Science)
For policymakers
Fund AARO and NASA’s UAP Research Director to collect higher-quality data while creating a firewall from legacy stigma. Mandate retention and indexing of UAP-related records across agencies and contractors. Reference the Senate’s proposed framework as a starting point. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
For journalists
Treat UAP like any high-rights public-interest beat: lots of noise, but potentially epochal signal.
What this film means for the broader UAP record
UAP studies have long suffered from asymmetric information. Academic panels work with public data; intelligence veterans speak from behind classification walls.
The Age of Disclosure collapses that asymmetry just enough for the public to see the outline of the inside conversation. It does not release the smoking gun, but it reveals a political and bureaucratic landscape in which smoking guns, if they exist, could be sequestered for generations under color of national security.
That is why the records-collection framework and sustained funding for scientific investigation matter. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
References
Dodd, J. (2025, October 16). Viral UFO documentary, featuring dozens of government and military insiders, finally gets a release date. People. (People.com)
Hailu, S. (2025, October 16). ‘The Age of Disclosure’ gets release date and new trailer. Variety. (Variety)
Hibberd, J. (2025, January 22). ‘Age of Disclosure’ UAP documentary trailer. The Hollywood Reporter. (The Hollywood Reporter)
NASA. (2023, September 14). UAP independent study team final report. (NASA Science)
NASA. (2023, September 14). Update: NASA shares UAP independent study report and names director. News Release. (NASA)
Reuters. (2024, March 8). Pentagon UAP report says most sightings are ordinary objects and phenomena. (Reuters)
Schumer, C., & Rounds, M. (2023, July 14). Schumer, Rounds introduce UAP Disclosure Act amendment to NDAA. U.S. Senate Press Release. (Senate Democratic Leadership)
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. (2024, March 8). Report on the historical record of U.S. government involvement with UAP, Volume I. U.S. Department of Defense. (U.S. Department of War)
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. (n.d.). Congressional and press products. Retrieved 2025. (aaro.mil)
The Guardian. (2025, March 12). ‘80 years of lies and deception’: Is this film proof of alien life on Earth? (The Guardian)
The Guardian. (2025, November 22). ‘The public has been lied to’: Secretly made documentary insists that aliens exist. (The Guardian)
The Washington Post. (2025, March 11). Aliens are real and there’s a cover-up, new documentary aims to prove. (The Washington Post)
U.S. House of Representatives. (2023). Unidentified anomalous phenomena: Implications on national security, public safety, and government transparency [Hearing transcript]. Congress.gov. (Congress.gov)
Amazon/Prime Video. (2025). Watch The Age of Disclosure. (Amazon)
Collider. (2025, March 12). ‘The Age of Disclosure’ review. (Collider)
Entertainment Weekly. (2025, March 10). How explosive new UFO doc got Marco Rubio and other high-ranking officials to break their silence. (EW.com)
IndieWire. (2025, March 9). ‘The Age of Disclosure’ review: A serious case for alien life. (IndieWire)
Axios. (2023, November 1). Pentagon unveils new UAP reporting form for troops and federal employees. (Axios)
People. (2024, March 9). Aliens have not visited Earth, Pentagon says after investigation. (People.com)
Flicks AU. (2025). The Age of Disclosure page with credits.
YouTube. (2025). The Age of Disclosure official trailer. (youtube.com)
Claims Taxonomy
- Claim: UAP is a real and persistent aerospace problem.
Verified. Multiple official programs, ODNI and DoD reports, NASA’s study, and de-stigmatized reporting pipelines confirm a real, unresolved set of incidents, even as ultimate origin remains contested. (aaro.mil) - Claim: A non-human intelligence is present and some craft are non-human.
Probable, based on testimony in the film, but unverified by publicly released physical evidence. Official positions to date say no empirical proof. (The Washington Post) - Claim: The U.S. government has run crash retrieval and reverse-engineering programs since the late 1940s.
Disputed. Film witnesses assert it; AARO’s historical report rejects it. (U.S. Department of War) - Claim: UAP has deactivated or activated nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia.
Disputed. Persistent testimony exists; official confirmation is lacking in unclassified records. (The Washington Post) - Claim: Presidents and top officials have been kept on a need-to-know basis that omits some UAP programs.
Probable, as an inference from classification structure and multiple insider statements, yet not proven with declassified documents. (The Washington Post) - Claim: Disclosure could catalyze transformative clean-energy technologies.
Probable as a scenario, but contingent on technical validation. NASA and AARO call for better data. (NASA Science)
Speculation labels
Hypothesis
Observed UAP performance implies energy technologies that, if understood, could enable civilization-scale clean energy. This extrapolates from reported accelerations and lack of visible exhaust, not from a published, peer-reviewed propulsion model.
Witness Interpretation
Accounts of nuclear interference are interpreted by some witnesses as intentional signaling by non-human intelligence. Alternative interpretations include sensor anomalies or adversary probes disguised as UAP.
Researcher Opinion
The assertion that presidents have been denied access to specific UAP programs is an inference by interviewees and researchers based on classification practice and historical anecdotes. It is not conclusively documented in publicly released records.
SEO keywords
Age of Disclosure, Dan Farah documentary, UAP disclosure, non-human intelligence, Jay Stratton, Lue Elizondo, Marco Rubio UAP, Kirsten Gillibrand UAP, James Clapper interview, AARO report, NASA UAP study, UAP crash retrieval, reverse engineering, UAP nuclear incidents, UAP clean energy, congressional UAP hearings, UAP Disclosure Act, Prime Video documentary, UAP transparency, UAP policy reform