Former US President Barack Obama has made a statement about aliens that has reignited the debate. In an interview, YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen asked him if aliens really exist. Obama replied, “They are real.” However, he quickly added that he had never seen one himself.
Obama also clarified that aliens are not housed at Area 51, the secret US Air Force base in Nevada. He stated that there is no underground secret facility there. If such a thing exists, it would be a massive conspiracy hidden even from the US President. He was asked:
I asked @BarackObama if aliens are real. pic.twitter.com/ZPw5zT9PfD
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) February 14, 2026
What is Area 51?
Area 51 has been associated with reports of aliens and mysterious UFO sightings for many years. However, the US government officially acknowledged the base’s existence for the first time in 2013. It is said that modern and secret military aircraft are tested there. Interest in UFOs has increased recently. These are now called Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). The Pentagon has created a special office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), to investigate these cases. The US Congress has also passed legislation requiring the government to release more information related to such incidents.
Are aliens real?
So far, no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life has been found. Nevertheless, scientists continue to search. A project called SETI@Home began in 1999. Millions of people around the world participated, using their computers to analyse radio signals from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
In 2020, a cable broke, causing the massive radio telescope to collapse and halt the project. Over 12 billion unique signals were found in 21 years of data. Now, scientists have narrowed these down to 100 potential signals, which are being re-examined using China’s FAST radio telescope.
