Harvard astronomer Professor Avi Loeb, appointed last month by the White House to lead a new UFO advisory council, has said US officials are “baffled” by mysterious objects tracked by the military over decades and are turning to scientists because they may not be human-made.
Prof Loeb, who heads a team of more than a dozen experts, told Fox News Digital the government’s outreach signals genuine uncertainty. He said: “The fact that they are reaching out to scientists like myself indicates, in my mind, that they are baffled by what they are seeing, and they think that maybe it’s not human-made." The council is reviewing four batches of declassified UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) materials released by the Trump administration.
UAP is the official term encompassing objects observed in the air, underwater and in space. Prof Loeb’s group will report to the UAP Governing Board under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
An ODNI official visited Prof Loeb at home in early June to recruit him. His team is examining public disclosures but has requested 50 additional videos, images and documents from Pentagon and other agencies. Access has so far been blocked on national security grounds, primarily to protect sensitive sensor technology from adversaries.
Prof Loeb’s mission is to determine whether the phenomena are advanced foreign technology or something non-human. He said: “In the second case, if it’s not human-made, then that’s the biggest discovery ever made by science, and the US government has the privilege of ushering in this new realisation that we have a neighbour visiting us."
He cautioned that many sightings will prove mundane — space junk, satellites or broken debris. Prof Loeb said: “Unless they manoeuvre in ways that cannot be explained by gravity, you should assume that they are space junk." However, he highlighted cases involving unusual movement reported by US Navy pilots during training exercises in 2014 and 2015.
The astronomer, who directed Harvard’s astronomy department until 2020, is no stranger to bold claims about extraterrestrial visitors. He gained prominence in 2017 after the discovery of ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to pass through our solar system. Prof Loeb argued it displayed anomalous characteristics consistent with a light sail from an alien civilisation, disputing explanations that it was a natural remnant of a Pluto-like world. He later founded the Galileo Project at Harvard to search scientifically for extraterrestrial artefacts.
The White House push for transparency began in February when President Trump ordered the declassification of files related to UAPs and aliens amid “tremendous interest”. The latest batch of materials was released by the Department of War on Friday. Loeb noted that one widely discussed image from the 1969 Apollo 12 mission, showing apparent unidentified phenomena on the Moon, has been attributed by authorities to cosmic rays.
Beyond analysis, the council aims to recommend improved sensors for future detections. Prof Loeb said better technology would help distinguish potential Chinese drones or other threats from truly anomalous objects, bolstering national security regardless of the origin.
While tempering expectations, Loeb praised the administration’s openness. His work could prove pivotal if any cases defy conventional explanation. The possibility of non-human intelligence would represent a paradigm shift for science and humanity.
Prof Loeb’s appointment and comments arrive as public and political interest in UAPs continues to grow, with figures such as Neil deGrasse Tyson urging fuller disclosure. The Harvard professor’s council operates strictly on already-declassified or requested materials, but its findings could shape future government policy on one of the most intriguing questions in modern astronomy.
