Extraterrestrial life: White House claim that it has no proof clearly false, says Jeff Peckman
As conspiracy theorists wonder if the federal government is being forthright about today's nationwide Emergency Alert System test, the White House is under fire from UFOlogists after formally declaring that it possesses no evidence of extraterrestrial life. Jeff Peckman, the man behind Initiative 300, which would have established an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver, thinks the feds are hiding something. Make that a lot of somethings.
Jeff Peckman.
As we've reported, the Barack Obama administration created a program called We the People, which promises an official review and response to any petition posted on a designated website that reaches a predetermined threshold (initially 5,000 signatures, later bumped up to 25,000) within a prescribed period.
Artwork used to promote Peckman's Initiative 300.
A flood of petitions followed -- among them at least two related to extraterrestrial life. One asking the White House to "immediately disclose the government's knowledge of and communications with extraterrestrial beings," has garnered 5,387 signatures at this writing. The other, asking the president to "formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race," was even more popular, passing the 12,000 signature point.
Peckman encouraged Obama to address the ET question during his late October appearance in Denver, but that didn't happen. Instead, the task fell to Phil Larson, who "works on space policy and communications at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy," according to a document affixed to the petitions this week. In the response, on view in its entirety below, Larson writes:
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. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye.
This statement strikes Peckman as disappointing. In his view, "It doesn't seem to be a smart move for them to take that position in light of an overwhelming amount of compelling evidence to the contrary. I think that either this man, Phil Larson, who seems to be a low-level staffer, is deliberately lying, or he's so grossly ignorant of evidence from around the world, from high-level military officers and pilots and government contractors and ordinary citizens, that he's simply not qualified to issue a statement about this issue on behalf of the White House."
Still, Peckman sees the government's actions as positive in at least one respect: "Now that this is on the record, they're going to have to work hard to defend themselves against criticism by eyewitnesses to the fact of an extraterrestrial presence.
Peckman on the campaign trail.
"There's no doubt that the government has been covering up these facts, and that the news media has been involved in this. It all started with the Robertson panel back in the mid-'50s... and since then, the government has been trying to keep this a secret for many reasons. There are elements of protecting the fossil-fuel industry and trying to keep things under control. And how do you do that if you acknowledge that there are more advanced extraterrestrial civilizations -- maybe more than one -- that have an influence on our planet? Clearly, the White House is not willing to be honest and open with the public about this yet."
As for Peckman, he says he's taken a step back from his UFO work to devote himself to "promoting clean energy technologies and different sustainable practices, and getting those clean energy technologies into the market." But he's confident there are plenty of other experts capable of continuing what he sees as a good fight.
"Now that the White House has offered an official response and made false statements, that opens up a can of worms for them," he allows. "And that's a good thing."
Page down to read the full White House response.
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