Uncovering evidence of alien life would be "the biggest discovery ever made by humanity," one expert said. But so far, there's a lot of blurry photos and unconfirmed reports.

NYT Oct 2, 2026
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"Even if one in a million happens to be of extraterrestrial technological origin, it would be the biggest discovery ever made by humanity in the context of science," said Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysicist at Harvard and chairman of the administration's new panel.
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Critics see the government panel as diverting from the sober works of similar past groups and dovetailing with the administration's hostility toward much of mainstream science.

Dr. Loeb is most notable for having theorized that Oumuamua, the cigar-shaped interstellar object that passed through the solar system a few years ago, was alien in origin and "the first sign of intelligent life beyond earth." The hypothesis sparked controversy and plenty of academic pushback.
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"I think it's laughable at the least and a waste of taxpayers dollars at the most. It serves absolutely zero purpose," said Sean Kirkpatrick, who worked under the Biden administration as a director of the Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which leads efforts within the government to track unexplained phenomenon. He said the new council was "clearly meant to distract and push fringe theory."

Michael Shermer, a council member, acknowledged that many sightings are "stuck in this kind of low-information zone" where "you can't quite make out what's going on."
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Dr. Loeb, the council chair, believes improved data collection practices could help going forward.

"We can't go back in time and improve the data," he said.
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Greg Eghigian, a Penn State professor who has studied U.A.P.s, said there was "nothing especially new or earth-shattering in the materials."

"Most longtime U.F.O. researchers I know remain unimpressed by what's been released."
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This year, The Times created a database of about 155,000 unique pages of U.A.P. records from seven countries but found no definitive signs that the mother ship has landed.
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(Peter Skafish, council member)
"The intelligence community was not made to share information," he said. "It exists to collect, analyze, withhold it, keep it secret."

He was cautiously optimistic that the council could pry loose more files. But most members lack security clearances, raising doubts about what they can really do.
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A Word From the 'Devil's Advocate'
Mr. Shermer said the council has met with people who say they have not seen spaceships but "know people who know where these objects are that the government has."

When the council asks "'OK, well, who is that?'" the typical response it gets, he said, is "Well, I can't tell you."

He and Dr. Loeb have a $1,000 bet about aliens being found by 2030.

"I said they won't, he says they will," Mr. Shermer said. "I hope he wins."