Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Intelligence Christopher Mellon has sensationally claimed that US President Donald Trump’s imminent UFO files contain “shocking” proof that humanity is not alone. The ex-Pentagon chief told The New York Post the classified trove includes satellite imagery of mysterious craft that “sure don’t look like anything we have built or constructed”.

Under Mr Trump’s direct order issued two weeks ago, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has been tasked with releasing “files related to” aliens and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). In a Truth Social post, Mr Trump vowed to disclose “all other information” connected to the “highly complex subject matter”.

The announcement followed days after Mr Trump accused Barack Obama of leaking classified details on extraterrestrials.

Mr Mellon, who served under presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, said the files are vast and include photos and videos far beyond the three Navy UAP clips he helped declassify in 2017.

He said: “There’s a significant number of videos from the same sources that were judged unclassified in 2018 – gun cameras on F18s, Forward Looking Infrared Radar videos – that have been withheld from the public.”

He named the Department of War, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration as all holding relevant material.

Mr Mellon has long insisted UFOs are real. In a 2019 Fox News interview he declared: “We know that UFOs exist. This is no longer an issue.

“The issue is why are they here? Where are they coming from and what is the technology behind these devices?”

No official release date has yet been set, but the former defence insider said the evidence already points to non-human technology.

Congress, he believes, should now push for the full unredacted release of every secret file.