Why Harvard Physicist Avi Loeb Doubts Claims That a Secret UFO Legacy Programme Was Hidden From Trump

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb questioned claims on Saturday that a secret UFO legacy programme in the United States could be concealed from President Donald Trump, arguing that information about recovered alien material would reach him.

Former government insiders have alleged that the US has recovered nonhuman material and is competing with adversaries to reverse-engineer alien technology. Trump, however, told 60 Minutes on 8 November that he had neither seen evidence of nor heard about the alleged programme.

The purported programme would involve attempts to understand and reproduce technology from recovered material, a claim extending beyond accounts of unexplained sightings.

Why Avi Loeb Doubts Presidential Secrecy

Speaking to NewsNation Prime, Loeb questioned whether government agencies or federal contractors could withhold an asset of that significance from a US president. His reasoning placed particular emphasis on Trump's interest in the subject.

'If we are in possession of an alien spacecraft or other material that was not manufactured by humans, the information will get to the president,' Loeb told the programme. 'It's difficult to hide it, especially given that President Trump is very interested in the subject.'

Loeb, a Harvard University theoretical physicist, chairs the UAP Science Advisory Council, which was established to advise the Trump administration on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). He pointed to Trump's instructions for his administration to review instances of UAP, placing those directions alongside the president's interest in the subject.

Loeb's position challenges an explanation for the gap between the insiders' claims and Trump's response to 60 Minutes. It casts doubt on the idea that a programme could operate within government or through federal contractors without information reaching the president.

A Presidential Precedent for Avi Loeb's Scepticism

Former president Barack Obama has also questioned the idea that the US holds alien material, including extraterrestrial bodily remains. In comments to Stephen Colbert in May, he focused on the difficulty of maintaining secrecy among people with access to it.

'If there were aliens or alien spaceships or anything under the control of the United States government that we knew about — seen photographs, what have you — I promise you some guy guarding the installation would have taken a selfie with one of the aliens and sent it to his girlfriend,' Obama told Colbert.

Obama's example relied on the possibility of a disclosure by someone guarding an installation. Loeb focused instead on the authority of the presidency and Trump's personal interest, offering a different reason to doubt that such information would remain concealed.

Avi Loeb Leaves the Evidence Question Open

Loeb nevertheless left open the possibility that evidence exists beyond his own experience. His confidence that a president would learn about recovered material did not amount to a declaration that no such material could exist.

'I personally have not seen any such evidence, but it may exist,' he stated, referring to spacecraft remnants.

That qualification separates his assessment of presidential access from his personal knowledge of the evidence. Trump's statement that he is unaware of a federal effort similarly describes what the president knows, without resolving the former insiders' allegations.

Trump's interest has also taken the form of instructions to his administration, Loeb noted. The president has directed officials to review instances of unidentified anomalous phenomena and to declassify some files for the public.