UFO documents released by CIA are 'real-life X-Files,' expert says

The CIA's decision to declassify more than three decades worth of UFO documents is a "real-life X-Files," according to one expert.

"There's an irony in the UFO community expecting to find a smoking gun in material released by an organization they believe is part of a cover-up, and recent revelations about the Pentagon's AATIP program and the [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena] Task Force suggest anyone looking in CIA files for the answer to the UFO mystery is looking at the wrong agency," Pope said in an email to Fox News. "Perhaps these are the documents the government wants people to see, a bit like a magician who does something flamboyant with one hand, to draw people's attention, while the important thing is going on in his other hand, behind his back." The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was formed in 2007 at the behest of former Sen. Harry Reid, Fox News previously reported. It reportedly ceased operations in 2012, but in 2017 The New York Times reported the Department of Defense was still investigating potential episodes of unidentified flying objects.