No evidence of alien contact during my presidency: Barack Obama
What's the story
Former United States President Barack Obama has clarified his recent comments about extraterrestrial life on a podcast. During an interview with host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama had said, "They're real but I haven't seen them." This statement sparked a media frenzy with headlines like, "Former US president Barack Obama says aliens are real," and, "They're real: Obama's shock alien claims."
Clarification
'Distances between solar systems are too great'
In a statement on Instagram, Obama clarified his comments. "Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there," he wrote. However, he added that "the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we've been visited by aliens is low." He also said he saw no evidence of contact during his presidency.
Conspiracy theory
Area 51 is a focal point for UFO enthusiasts
Obama's comments come amid a long-standing conspiracy theory that the US government is hiding aliens at Area 51, a secret air force base in Nevada. In 2019, a viral Facebook event called "Storm Area 51" attracted 1.5 million people to storm the base to "see them aliens." The event ended with about 150 influencers gathering at the airstrip, turning into a music festival with few arrests.
Document disclosure
Connection to UFO sightings
Declassified documents from 2013 revealed that Area 51 was used for testing US government projects like the U-2 and Oxcart aerial surveillance programs. These tests led to a surge in UFO sightings. The documents stated, "High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side-effect—a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs)."