White House UFO council will be led by Harvard professor known for controversial alien theories [View all]

Source: CBS News/AP

Updated on: July 1, 2026 / 8:23 PM EDT


A polarizing Harvard University 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. Loeb told CBS Boston on Wednesday that he's excited for the new opportunity and what a breakthrough discovery could mean for the world.

"If they were sure, confident that these objects are human-made, they would file these cases as classified reports within the Pentagon, within the intelligence agencies," 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, in which case it would be the biggest discovery ever made by humanity with huge implications for the future."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/avi-loeb-harvard-ufo-council-aliens/