White House forms UFO science panel led by polarizing Harvard professor Avi Loeb

AP News reports that Avi Loeb has been appointed to lead a new White House Science Advisory Council tasked with investigating the origins of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The team includes over a dozen scientists and UFO activists, among them retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet and billionaire Ben Lamm. The council reports to a new UAP Governance Board overseen by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, created in response to Trump's directive for greater UFO transparency. Loeb says he starts from the assumption that UAP are human-made, approaching the work from a national security perspective. Critics, including ASU astrophysicist Steve Desch and former Pentagon investigator Sean Kirkpatrick, question Loeb's scientific methods and lack of national security experience. The team has already requested over 50 videos, images, and documents from the Pentagon related to known UAP incidents.