US government says there's no sign of aliens - yet, There's no sign of ET... yet: White House denies making contact with aliens - but says it hasn't given up hope. The White House has said there is no sign of aliens – but it is still looking.
Staff were responding to a petition that accused the government of covering up contact with life beyond Earth.
Phil Larson, from the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, officially denied knowledge of alien life and denied they had withheld information from the public.
He promised scientists are still on the search for extraterrestrial life.
'The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race,' he wrote in a blog post entitled 'Searching for ET, But No Evidence Yet'.
'There is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye.'
He added: 'However, that doesn't mean the subject of life outside our planet isn't being discussed or explored.
'In fact, there are a number of projects working toward the goal of understanding if life can or does exist off Earth.'
The projects include SETI – the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence – which points ground-based telescopes towards space to listen for any signals.
A NASA spacecraft in Earth’s orbit, Kepler, is also searching for Earth-like planets.
The blog post came in response to two petitions launched by UFO enthusiasts.
The first, signed by 5,387 people, called on the government to disclose any knowledge of or communication with extraterrestrial beings.
More than 12,000 signed a second request for a formal acknowledgement from the White House that extraterrestrials have been in touch with the human race.
This petition states: 'Hundreds of military and government agency witnesses have come forward with testimony confirming this extraterrestrial presence.
'Opinion polls now indicate more than 50 per cent of the American people believe there is an extraterrestrial presence and more than 80 per cent believe the government is not telling the truth about this phenomenon.
'The people have a right to know. The people can handle the truth.'
In response, Larson pointed out that although many scientists believe it is likely there is life somewhere else in the universe, the chance that they are making contact with humans is extremely small, given the distances involved.
Regarding any evidence for alien life, all anyone has now is 'statistics and speculation', he said.
'The fact is we have no credible evidence of extraterrestrial presence here on Earth,' he added.
The Paradigm Research Group, one of the organisations promoting the petitions, said that the response by a ‘low-level staffer’ was unacceptable and that it would begin a new petition campaign.
The petitions were made possible by an Obama administration initiative called 'We the People' which invites the public to suggest issues government they wish the government to discuss.
The White House initially said staffers would respond and consider taking action on any issue that received at least 5,000 online signatures within 30 days. This has since been raised to 25,000 signatures.
Source:dailymail
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