Sean Parnell is an American Army veteran, author and political figure who has served since February 2025 as chief Pentagon spokesman and as the secretary's assistant for public affairs, a post now styled assistant to the secretary of war. In 2026 he became one of the main official voices for the government's UFO records releases, announcing traffic figures for the new War.gov/UFO portal, previewing upcoming tranches and endorsing the administration's waiver of nondisclosure agreements for people with UAP information.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1981, Parnell earned degrees from Duquesne University and was commissioned through its ROTC program. As an infantry platoon leader in the 10th Mountain Division, he served a 16-month deployment in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and received two Bronze Star Medals and a Purple Heart before leaving the Army as a captain in 2010. He recounted that deployment in the memoir Outlaw Platoon, written with John R. Bruning, and later published several military thrillers.

Parnell entered electoral politics as a Republican. He narrowly lost the 2020 race for Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district to Democrat Conor Lamb, then sought the 2022 Senate nomination with Donald Trump's endorsement before withdrawing in November 2021 after losing a custody case involving his children. Trump named him chief Pentagon spokesman in February 2025, and he also serves as a senior adviser to Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Department of War opened War.gov/UFO on May 8, 2026, as the public home of PURSUE, the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters; its first release contained 159 files from the department, the FBI, NASA and the State Department. The next day Parnell posted that the site had received "nearly 500 MILLION hits" in its first 24 hours, citing "unprecedented levels of transparency," and on May 18 he said more than a billion users had visited and that a second release was being processed. Further tranches followed on May 22, June 12, July 10, August 7 and September 18, and he promoted several by quoting individual case reports from them. On July 21 he said the department "fully supports" President Trump's directive waiving nondisclosure agreements so that former employees and contractors with UAP information could come forward through AARO and PURSUE.

Parnell's role in the UAP record is that of the department's public messenger rather than an investigator, and his posts framed the release program around public access and audience size. UFO commentators have used replies to him to press for material they say remains withheld, including cellphone videos reportedly recorded over the Cheyenne Mountain complex in 2023, and some noted that the September tranche included no images of the non-human biologics that whistleblowers have alleged exist. As the official who announces each tranche, he has become the most visible Pentagon face of the 2026 UFO records effort.