Neil deGrasse Tyson is downplaying the importance of the mainstream UAP (f.k.a. UFO) moment once again, this time telling a paparazzo that he’s not convinced the federal government could keep any secrets of the extraterrestrial variety.
Speaking with TMZ at the Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend, Tyson was asked specifically about the issue getting a mention during the first GOP debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“Do you think the government is that competent that they could actually keep such a secret?” Tyson responded. “Oh my gosh, when did you get that much confidence in the U.S. government?”
Asked to elaborate, Tyson argued that potential extraterrestrial visitors wouldn’t only interact with military-related aircrafts. This argument ignores some key facets of the current UAP moment, but I digress.
"Here’s what I’d rather think, that if we had an alien invasion more than the U.S. government would know about it," Tyson said. "We would know about it. With cameras and smartphones, we are crowdsourcing an alien invasion of Earth because everybody has a camera, [a] high-resolution camera... Unless the aliens have a special affection for the U.S. government and the Navy."
Closing out his remarks, Tyson expressed support for allocating a portion of the federal budget for the investigation of unexplained sightings in the sky. See more above.
Of course, Tyson has long been a critic of the larger UAP issue. To be clear, designating something as unidentified does not automatically mean the object in question is extraterrestrial in origin. However, the possibility of such has risen dramatically in terms of mainstream acceptance in recent years, thanks in large part to the work of the Tom DeLonge-fronted company, To the Stars.
In fact, DeLonge himself responded to some of Tyson’s previous remarks back in 2020. At the time, Tyson was criticizing the quality of the footage released as a result of some of TTS’ behind-the-scenes efforts.
According to DeLonge, “People say stuff like this when they are just not invited in.” Adding to that, DeLonge said in a tweet that these kinds of comments “mean nothing to the people in charge of the UFO subject.”
More recently, whistleblower David Grusch spoke under oath about "non-human" biologics he says were retrieved from crash sites.
"As I’ve stated publicly already in my NewsNation interview, biologics came with some of these recoveries," he said during the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency hearing in front of a House Oversight subcommittee in July.
In June, To the Stars co-founder Jim Semivan addressed Grusch’s allegations, noting that he “certainly” believes the whistleblower.
“I think the USG and other governments have no answers, at least answers that would satisfy the people,” Semivan said. “What if we are no longer at the top of the food chain? If we are not, where do we fit in? The questions are endless…and for many people, extremely unnerving. We should all hang onto our hats.”
