Former US President Barack Obama has weighed in on the long-running debate over extraterrestrials, dismissing claims they are hiding in the highly secretive Area 51 facility.
During his interview with Brian Taylor-Cohen, Obama was asked directly whether aliens existed. He humorously responded: “Well, they’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” before adding, “And they’re not being held in, uh, what is that? Area 51. Unless there’s this huge conspiracy and they’re hiding it from the president of the United States, there’s no underground facility.”
His comments appeared to mock conspiracy theories that the U.S. government secretly houses and studies extraterrestrial life at Area 51, a classified U.S. Air Force facility in the Nevada desert. The base, officially known as Groom Lake or Homi Field, has been operating as a military operations area since 1955. Although the facility’s existence had long been rumored, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did not publicly acknowledge the facility until 2013. Research conducted there remains classified as Top Secret/Sensitive Segregated Information.
The secrecy surrounding Area 51 has fueled decades of speculation about aliens and advanced technology. Public interest was further fueled in 1995 when President Bill Clinton signed an order exempting the plant from certain environmental disclosure requirements, citing national security concerns.
