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A Harvard University professor known for his polarizing theories about extraterrestrial life has been tapped by the White House to lead a scientific advisory council to study UFOs.
Avi Loeb, who served as head of Harvard’s astronomy department until 2020 and has for years theorized that alien technology may already be on Earth, will join a team studying the national security risks of UFOs, which the U.S. government refers to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
“It’s like a detective story,” Loeb said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s a lot of fun, as long as you don’t pay too much attention to the critics.”
The council will report to a newly established UAP Governance Board, overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to declassify highly requested information surrounding UFOs.
Loeb became a well-known figure in the field for advancing theories that intelligent alien life may have already visited Earth. The Israeli American drew attention in 2017 when he suggested that an interstellar object called ‘Oumuamua that zipped through the solar system was actually alien technology rather than a naturally occurring phenomenon.
He later founded the Galileo Project at Harvard to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life, and in 2023 he led an expedition that recovered metallic fragments in the Pacific Ocean that he suggested may have come from alien technology.
His work and theories have made him a celebrity among UFO circles but also exposed him to criticism from many of his scientific peers.
“I don’t know what’s going to come of this, but we’re not going to get any closer to answering these questions with him in charge,” Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University and a frequent Loeb critic, told the AP.
A former Pentagon official, Sean Kirkpatrick, also questioned Loeb’s appointment, telling the AP that he is “not viewed favorably” by much of the scientific community and lacks national security experience.
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