Former US President Barack Obama has weighed in on one of the world’s favourite mysteries: whether aliens exist, and what really goes on at places like Area 51.
In a weekend interview with Brian Tyler Cohen on YouTube, the 64-year-old former president was put through a round of quick-fire questions. One in particular has travelled fast around the globe: “Are aliens real?”
Obama’s reply was characteristically calm, and surprisingly direct. “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Mr Obama said. He then addressed the long-running stories that alien bodies and aircraft are hidden away by the US Air Force in Nevada.
He pushed back on the idea that Area 51 is some secret underground storehouse. “And they’re not being kept in … what is it? Area 51,” Mr Obama added. “There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
The topic clearly amused him, but he also suggested it was something he was curious about as he entered the White House. When Cohen asked what he most wanted to know when he became president, Obama didn’t hesitate: “Where are the aliens?” Mr Obama said with a smile.
It’s not the first time he’s spoken about it. In 2021 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Obama said: “The truth is, that when I came into office, I asked, ‘Is there a lab somewhere where we’re keeping the alien specimens and spaceship?’ ,”
That same year, on The Ezra Klein Show podcast, he reflected on how confirmed proof of alien life could shake things up on Earth. “There would be immediate arguments about, like, well, we need to spend a lot more money on weapons systems to defend ourselves. New religions would pop up. And who knows what kind of arguments we get into. We’re good at manufacturing arguments for each other.” He added: “It wouldn’t change my politics at all. Because my entire politics is premised on the fact that we are these tiny organisms on this little speck floating in the middle of space.”
As for Area 51 itself, the US Government didn’t officially confirm the facility’s existence until 2013. It remains off-limits to civilians, with armed patrols guarding the remote site. While the government describes it as a US Air Force training base, the secrecy and heavy security have kept conspiracy theories alive for decades.