Harvard professor with polarizing alien theories is picked to lead new White House UFO council

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-ufo-council-avi-loeb-science-uaps-5798dd793b77aeb2d9baa99586ad8a85

Harvard professor with polarizing alien theories is picked to lead new White House UFO council
By COLLIN BINKLEY
Updated 2:39 PM CDT, June 30, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — A polarizing Harvard astronomer known for splashy theories about alien visits has been tapped by the White House to lead a team of outside scientists to study the national security risks posed by UFOs.

Avi Loeb, a cosmologist who studied black holes and served as head of Harvard’s astronomy department until 2020, was recently appointed to helm a new scientific advisory council tasked with investigating the origins of mysterious orbs and other objects reported by military personnel in recent years. It’s part of President Donald Trump’s push to declassify more information about the issue.

Loeb’s team will report to a new White House panel focused on UFOs, now often referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP.

For the last decade, Loeb has been scanning the skies and seas for evidence of intelligent alien life. He began the quest in 2017 as scientists puzzled over an interstellar object soaring by Earth. While others proposed it was a comet or ice chunk, Loeb said it could be a thin “light sail” detached from an alien spacecraft.

Sean Kirkpatrick, a physicist who previously investigated UAP at the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said Loeb is “not viewed favorably” in the scientific community and lacks national security experience. He said the makeup of Loeb’s team suggests the White House is more interested in fringe theories than hard science.

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According to Loeb, the "fundamental question" is if the Ark of Covenant was a device used to communicate with extraterrestrials and if the Jewish people were chosen by a race of aliens and imbued with "information from beyond our planet".[94] As reported by The Forward, Loeb contends that Earth may not be safe for the Jewish people and leaving Earth could be advantageous due to the absence of antisemitism in outer space.[95] Writing on his Medium blog, he has posited that "with long-term thinking, Jewish eschatology could be extended to trillions of years if a Jewish community with its synagogues and extraterrestrial Temple is established".[96]

In 2024, Loeb delivered a speech in which he declared his view that the Messiah will be an alien who arrives from outer space.[97] In 2025, Loeb was the speaker at "Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Jews", an event presented by Lehrhaus.[98]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avi_Loeb