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Yesterday, President Trump announced in a speech, accessible here, that the first releases of the UFO files will be coming out very soon. Below is a transcript of a new interview I had last midnight on the Jesse Weber Live of NewsNation, available in video form here. Jesse’s questions are marked with JW, and my answers with AL, respectively.
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JW: After New developments in a growing showdown over UFO secrets and what the government may be holding back. A top House lawmaker demanded answers right now after the Pentagon apparently missed a Tuesday deadline to turn over 46 classified UFO videos. And the footage spanning the globe reportedly shows tic-tac-like objects over war zones near U.S. bases inside restricted airspace. And this includes a 2023 incident where an F-16 reportedly shot down an unknown flying object over Lake Huron. The Pentagon has said that its UFO office is working with the White House and other agencies to consolidate records and, quote, facilitate the expeditious release of never-before-seen UAP information. President Trump also promised the release will happen. Here’s what he told the crowd in Phoenix today: “I recently directed the Secretary of War. How good is Pete Hegseth doing? It’s related to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena. And I figured this was a good crowd for this because I know people. You’re really into that. So, I’m pleased to report today. I thought I’d save it for this crowd because you’re a little bit out there. That this process is well underway and we found many very interesting documents I must say and the first releases will begin very very soon.”
But there’s no clear timeline, and obviously there are questions about whether there is a disclosure, whether there’s a delay. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, the chair of the task force for the declassification of federal secrets, says she is prepared to issue a subpoena to force those videos out into the open. Earlier today, she met with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who joins me now. Good to see you, sir.
So, you met with Representative Luna today (as described here). What did she tell you? I mean, is she confident that the files are going to be released soon?
AL: It was an interesting discussion. Among many other things, I described with my team the latest developments in the Galileo project that I’m leading, where we monitor the sky. We are seeing millions of objects. We are trying to figure out whether any of them is an outlier relative to human-made technologies. We don’t just need to wait for the U.S. government to tell us what’s in the sky. We can look up and use the best sensors, the best artificial intelligence algorithms. So that’s the part that I related to her. And, of course, she is trying to push for the release of data from government.
Now, we don’t know exactly what the data entails. Some of it was never seen before outside government. Based on conversations I had with the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office in the Pentagon, there may be some data within the FBI that could be quite interesting. That’s what they told me a year ago. And that is, of course, a completely different matter than classified military data.
JW: Are we ready for this? Why do I say that? Representative Tim Burchett said if the public saw the things he’s been briefed on, it would keep us up at night worrying about it. Is something going on here where there’s a concern that we might not be able to handle it?
AL: I don’t think that’s a valid concern. I know that Representative Luna, along with Representative Tim Burchett were shown some materials. And she also describes it as very puzzling and intriguing. And I really am looking forward to seeing it so that I can analyze it with the scientific tools that I have. Because after all, you know, it’s not a matter of belief or conviction or impression or opinion. It’s just a matter of looking at the data and figuring it out.
These are objects in the physical reality that we all share and we should be able to figure them out or at least say that they are not human.
JW: Is that what it is? Is it actually beings or is it spacecraft? Is it aircraft that is the concern and what you’re hearing from Representatives Burchett and Luna?
AL: as far as I know, we are dealing with objects that cannot be easily understood.
And there is no evidence, as far as I heard, for any beings. Of course, we heard the testimony from David Grush about it, but I haven’t seen any thread of evidence leading to that. And also, I asked the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office representatives, and they claim that they haven’t seen anything related and they have access to all information within the government.
Now, it’s also possible that this is compartmentalized, that different parts within the government, or in fact, some of it might be within corporations like Lockheed Martin that we don’t have access to. So, this could take a while for us to see everything.
JW: So in other words, you’re saying it could be red tape, not a cover-up.
AL: I don’t think the government would keep a secret for so long knowing what these objects are. I think the reason that some of this information is not released is primarily because intelligence officers or military personnel prefer not to be embarrassed about not figuring out what’s in the sky. They’re getting paid to do that. And in addition, some of it is classified because the data was collected by classified sensors. That’s fair. So there are many, many reasons for keeping it under wraps. But I think it’s really important. for scientists to look into it and the public to be aware of what it means.
JW: All right. We will wait and see. Avi Loeb, thank you so much. Good seeing you. Have a great weekend.
