After ensuring that aliens "are real," former United States President Barack Obama had to qualify the words thrown during a round of quick questions on a podcast, after the barrage of reactions it provoked in the digital world. The former president later stressed on social networks that under his administration "no evidence" of extraterrestrial contact was identified.

First modification: 02/16/2026 - 18:07 Last modification: 02/16/2026 - 21:53

"There is no evidence that aliens have contacted us," was what the former president of the United States, Barack Obama, had to clarify after the reactions caused by his participation in a podcast over the weekend, in which he stated that aliens are "real."

During a rapid-fire Q&A with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was questioned about the existence of aliens. "They're real," he replied, "but I haven't seen them. And they don't have them in Area 51."

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Hours later, the former president had to rectify the statement with a message on social networks to which he attached the original extract of his participation in the digital program.

"I was trying to stay true to the spirit of the quick round, but since it has attracted attention, let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that there is a good chance that there is life out there. But the distances between the solar systems are so great that the probability that we have been visited by extraterrestrials is low and during my Presidency I saw no evidence that extraterrestrials have contacted us. Really! " wrote Barack Obama

The former president's allusion to Area 51 recalled the secrecy that hangs over that ultra-secret Cold War test site, entrenched in the Nevada desert, which has long fueled conspiracy theories among ufology enthusiasts, the branch of study of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

In 2013, the CIA recognized the existence of the 20,700 square kilometer site, but did not report any extraterrestrial accidents or the possession of alien bodies, as has been speculated for years.

The base has been a test site for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.

Read alsoUFOs: after decades of investigations, the disturbing testimony of a former US agent

More than suspicions

Suspicions of the US Government's concealment of information about extraterrestrial life increased in July 2023, during a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing in which three veterans appeared: former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch and two former fighter pilots.

The uniformed officers denounced the existence of a decades-long secret program to recover and analyze non-human ships. Grusch claimed, based on testimony from colleagues and classified documents he said he had seen, that the US would have recovered "non-human biological" remains at alleged impact sites, although he himself admitted not having directly seen either the ships or the bodies.

The Department of Defense reacted to these testimonies, pointing out that its investigations did not contain "verifiable information" about programs for the possession of extraterrestrial materials.

This version was made official in March 2024 with the publication of a 63-page report from the Pentagon office in charge of these matters, the AARO (All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office). The document condenses decades of evidence of UFO sightings that researchers concluded did not prove the existence of “extraterrestrial technology.”

According to this text, which constitutes the most complete study published by the Pentagon on the subject, most cases are explained by poorly identified drones, balloons, spy planes, satellites or other ordinary objects. The US expressly denied the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

In November of that same year, another report published by the Pentagon revealed nearly 300 new cases studied in 2024 and detailed that, in total, there are 1,652 accumulated reports of sightings, of which the majority have been closed.

However, around twenty incidents were still classified as “of interest” or with anomalous characteristics that required further analysis.

Read also: What are the scientific bases for talking about UFOs and non-human biological remains?

With AP and local media

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