While it's possible that alien life exists, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn't think the government is keeping it a secret from the American public.
While UFOs have been a hot topic lately, Tyson doesn't believe everything he's heard. In a recent statement to TMZ, he balked at the idea that the United States government could keep such a big secret for so long.
“Do you think the government is that competent, that they can actually keep such a secret?" he said. "Oh, my gosh, when did you get that much confidence in the U.S. government?”
In an era of smartphones and rapidly advancing technology, it's incredibly hard to keep things under wraps. The astrophysicist added if there was an “alien invasion," it would be near impossible for the government to hide it from the public.
“Here’s what I’d rather think: that if we had an alien invasion, more than the US government would know about,” he said. “We would know about it. We, with cameras and smartphones, we are crowdsourcing an alien invasion of Earth because everybody has a camera, high-resolution camera.”
However, that doesn't rule out the existence of extraterrestrial life, as Tyson acknowledged that many supposed UFO sightings still leave unanswered questions, which he believesis worth looking into.
“We have things we don’t understand in the sky. I think the government should investigate them,” he continued. “Because I don’t want to be susceptible to a risk that we don’t otherwise know about.”
Tyson's comments come just one month after the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on UFOs, where a former Pentagon intelligence official testified under oath on that he is “absolutely” certain the government has possession of at least one "nonhuman" craft.
David Grusch, a former Air Force officer, first came forward with the information in June. At the hearing, several other U.S. officers testified to strange experiences among themselves and their staff. Retired Navy admiral and current Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby admitted to some UAP sightings, noting that they “have already had an impact on our training ranges.”
“Now, we’re not saying what they are or what they’re not,” Kirby said. “We’re saying that there’s something our pilots are seeing. We’re saying it has had an effect on some of our training operations. And so we want to get to the bottom of it. We want to understand it better.”
