Harvard Alien Theorist Avi Loeb to Lead Trump UFO Council

President Donald Trump has selected Harvard professor Avi Loeb, a cosmologist known for his controversial theories about extraterrestrial life, to lead a new White House UFO council — formally called the UAP Science Advisory Council. The appointment marks a significant shift in how the administration approaches unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), part of a broader push for transparency that has already resulted in three public releases of classified UFO files.

According to AP News, Loeb’s team will report to a higher-level UAP Governance Board overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The council is tasked with interpreting existing data and recommending how to obtain new data to resolve the nature of UAPs, approaching the issue from a national security perspective.

Who Is Avi Loeb?

Before his turn toward alien theories, Loeb was a widely respected cosmologist who authored hundreds of papers on black holes, galaxy formation, and the early universe. He served as chair of Harvard’s astronomy department from 2011 to 2020, founded the Black Hole Initiative, and was a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) under the Trump administration.

As Wikipedia notes, Loeb was born in Beit Hanan, Israel, in 1962 and earned his BSc, MSc, and PhD from Hebrew University of Jerusalem by age 24. After a long-term membership at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, he joined Harvard in 1993 and was tenured three years later.

His controversial turn began in 2017 with the discovery of ‘Oumuamua, the first confirmed interstellar object. While most scientists concluded it was a natural comet or asteroid, Loeb proposed it could be an artificial “light sail” from an alien civilization — a theory detailed in his bestselling book “Extraterrestrial” (2021). In 2021, he founded the Galileo Project at Harvard, which operates three observatories collecting data on millions of objects to search for extraterrestrial technological artifacts.

The Council and Its Mandate

Loeb’s council includes more than a dozen members with diverse expertise. Among them is Timothy Gallaudet, a retired Navy rear admiral who has publicly warned that UAP are controlled by “nonhuman intelligence” and claimed the U.S. has recovered crashed craft. Also on the team is Ben Lamm, a billionaire entrepreneur working to revive extinct species through his company Colossal Biosciences.

In a Medium post published June 16, Loeb detailed the council’s formation, describing it as an “amazing A-team” that includes experts in physics, data analysis, psychology, oceanography, and anthropology. He emphasized the inclusion of a skeptic or “devil’s advocate” to prevent groupthink.

“The goal of the council is to advise the U.S. government on how to resolve the nature of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs),” Loeb wrote. “This is a detective story that can be resolved with better data.”

The council held its first meeting in June 2026 and has already requested more than 50 videos, images, and documents from the Pentagon related to known UAP incidents. Despite meeting behind closed doors, Loeb has vowed to brief the public and create a website to share findings.

Trump’s Transparency Push

Earlier in 2026, President Trump directed his administration to provide more transparency on UFOs and alien life, leading to the creation of the UAP Governance Board. The Pentagon has since released three batches of UFO files — on May 8, May 22, and June 12 — including decades-old FBI reports and recent military videos showing orbs and other objects.

As CBS News reported, Loeb told the outlet that he is approaching the task from a national security perspective, starting with the assumption that UAP are human-made. “If they were sure, confident that these objects are human-made, they would file these cases as classified reports within the Pentagon,” he said. “The fact that they open up to the scientific community implies that there is a chance that perhaps one or more of these objects might be not human-made.”

Scientific Criticism

Loeb’s appointment has drawn sharp criticism from within the scientific community. Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University who has challenged some of Loeb’s theories, told AP News: “I don’t know what’s going to come of this, but we’re not going to get any closer to answering these questions with him in charge.” Desch has previously described Loeb’s claims as “ridiculous sensationalism” representing “a real breakdown of the peer review process and the scientific method.”

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

As The Guardian noted, some analysts say Loeb’s unconventional thinking about alien life makes his leadership of such an influential committee questionable. The Guardian reported that Loeb’s 2023 expedition to retrieve metallic spherules from the Pacific Ocean floor — which he suggested could be from alien technology — was later shown to have been based on a seismic signal from a passing truck, not a meteor impact.

Public Interest and Implications

The appointment occurs against a backdrop of intense public interest in UAPs. A CBS News/YouGov poll found that 8 in 10 Americans believe the government knows more than it’s telling about extraterrestrial life, 63% believe there is life on other planets, and more than 1 in 5 believe aliens have already visited Earth.

Loeb, for his part, remains undeterred by the criticism. “It’s like a detective story,” he told AP News. “It’s a lot of fun, as long as you don’t pay too much attention to the critics.” He added: “Let’s keep our eyes on the orbs, not the social media.”

What’s Next

The council’s findings could have significant implications. If successful, the group could provide definitive answers about the nature of UAPs, potentially confirming or ruling out extraterrestrial explanations. If controversial, the findings could be dismissed as tainted by Loeb’s reputation, deepening polarization around the issue.

Loeb has promised to stay focused on the science. “At a time when science is not so much celebrated,” he said, “this is an opportunity to actually do good for all sides involved.”

The UAP Governance Board, which will receive advice from Loeb’s council and other advisory groups, met for the first time in June. The coming months will reveal whether this unprecedented blend of academic science and government intelligence can deliver the transparency the administration has promised.