Harvard professor with polarizing alien theories is picked to lead Trump administration UFO council

FILE - Harvard physicist Avi Loeb, left, listens arsenic erstwhile NASA astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison speaks during a property conference, April 12, 2016, successful New York.

Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

FILE - A pistillate looks astatine a UFO show extracurricular of the Little A'Le'Inn, successful Rachel, Nev., the closest municipality to Area 51, July 22, 2019.

John Locher/AP Photo/John Locher

FILE - A patron passes a coating wrong the International UFO Museum and Research Center successful Roswell, N.M., connected June 10, 1997.

Eric Draper/AP Photo/Eric Draper

WASHINGTON (AP) — A polarizing Harvard astronomer known for splashy theories astir alien visits has been tapped by the Trump medication to pb a squad of extracurricular scientists to survey the nationalist information risks posed by UFOs.

Avi Loeb, a cosmologist who studied achromatic holes and served arsenic caput of Harvard’s astronomy section until 2020, was precocious appointed to helm a caller technological advisory assembly tasked with investigating the origins of mysterious orbs and different objects reported by subject unit successful caller years.

Loeb’s squad volition study to a caller sheet focused connected UFOs, present often referred to arsenic unidentified anomalous phenomena, oregon UAP. The sheet was established by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It’s portion of the propulsion announced by President Donald Trump successful February to declassify much accusation astir the issue.

“It’s similar a detective story,” Loeb said successful an interview. “It’s a batch of fun, arsenic agelong arsenic you don’t wage excessively overmuch attraction to the critics.”

For the past decade, Loeb has been scanning the skies and seas for grounds of intelligent alien life. He began the quest successful 2017 arsenic scientists puzzled implicit an interstellar entity soaring by Earth. While others projected it was a comet oregon crystal chunk, Loeb said it could beryllium a bladed “light sail” detached from an alien spacecraft.

His theories person won praise successful UFO circles but often enactment him successful struggle with world peers. Other astronomers impeach him of making exotic claims with small evidence. Some chafe astatine his wont of skipping the adjacent reappraisal process and bringing claims straight to the public.

Steve Desch, an Arizona State University astrophysicist who has challenged immoderate of Loeb’s theories, said Loeb uses flawed methods to scope chaotic conclusions astir alien beingness — each portion shunning a much established subdivision of subject searching for beingness beyond Earth.

Loeb’s relation connected the administration’s caller sheet casts uncertainty connected the full endeavor, Desch said.

“I don’t cognize what’s going to travel of this, but we’re not going to get immoderate person to answering these questions with him successful charge,” Desch said.

The squad includes scientists, UFO activists and a billionaire

Loeb brushes his critics aside, saying they deficiency the imaginativeness to see caller ideas. He’s promising a grounded attack to his enactment for the Trump administration. As helium analyzes UAP, he’s starting with the presumption that they’re the enactment of humans, helium said, approaching it from a nationalist information perspective.

Nonetheless, helium envisions an result wherever his enactment could pb to thing bigger. If the authorities invests successful amended information postulation connected UAPs, Loeb said, it could settee the alien statement erstwhile and for all.

His hand-picked squad includes much than a twelve scientists and UFO activists. Among them is Timothy Gallaudet, a retired rear admiral who has warned astir UAP controlled by “nonhuman intelligence,” claiming the United States has recovered crashed aircraft. Also connected the squad is Ben Lamm, a billionaire moving to revive extinct species.

After its archetypal gathering past month, the squad sent a petition to the Pentagon asking for much than 50 videos, images and different documents related to known UAP incidents. Loeb’s radical meets down closed doors, but helium has vowed to little the nationalist and make a website to stock findings.

“At a clip erstwhile subject is not truthful overmuch celebrated, this is an accidental to really bash bully for each sides involved,” Loeb said.

New UAP committee created successful effect to Trump’s bid for transparency

Earlier this year, Trump directed his medication to supply much transparency connected questions of UFOs and alien life. So far, the Pentagon has released 3 batches of files ranging from decades-old FBI reports to much caller subject videos showing orbs darting oregon soaring done the sky.

Trump’s directive led to the instauration of a UAP Governance Board overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The committee met for the archetypal clip successful June, and is supported by Loeb’s squad and respective different advisory groups, the bureau said.

It comes arsenic a bipartisan radical successful Congress pushes the White House to spell further, with immoderate Republicans amplifying claims the U.S. is hiding grounds of alien encounters. The White House has encouraged anyone with accusation to travel forward. A Pentagon bureau that investigates UAP says it has seen nary grounds of alien life.

Loeb said helium doesn’t bargain into cover-up theories. “My content is the authorities is baffled by not being capable to infer the quality of immoderate of these objects,” helium said.

Before looking for aliens, Loeb studied achromatic holes and galaxies

Before helium became known for his alien theories, Loeb was a respected cosmologist who authored hundreds of papers, specializing successful achromatic holes and the commencement of galaxies. He served arsenic seat of Harvard’s astronomy section for astir a decade.

Loeb’s vocation took a crook with his “light sail” mentation successful 2017, which helium presented successful a insubstantial and aboriginal a book. He went connected to recovered the Galileo Project astatine Harvard, with a stated ngo to hunt for artifacts from alien civilizations.

His squad drew attraction successful 2023 erstwhile they utilized magnets to retrieve hundreds of tiny spheres from the level of the Pacific Ocean, adjacent the imaginable tract of a 2014 meteor crash. After analyzing the metallic “spherules,” Loeb suggested they came from a distant satellite or, alternately, from alien technology.

Other scholars challenged the claim, saying it was astir apt volcanic stone oregon ember ash.

Sean Kirkpatrick, a physicist who antecedently investigated UAP astatine the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said Loeb is “not viewed favorably” successful the technological assemblage and lacks nationalist information experience. He said the constitution of Loeb’s squad suggests the Trump medication is much funny successful fringe theories than hard science.

The White House did not respond to a petition for remark astir the criticism.

Loeb, meanwhile, said helium aims to travel the subject without distraction. “Let’s support our eyes connected the orbs,” helium said, “not the societal media.”

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This communicative was archetypal published June 30, 2026. It was updated July 1, 2026, to close that the sheet was established by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence successful effect to President Donald Trump’s February directive connected the issue, not by the White House itself.

June 30, 2026|Updated July 1, 2026 3:47 p.m.