Ever since it was first spotted hurtling through the solar system, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has maintained that there’s a chance mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is a technological object sent by an extraterrestrial civilization.
He’s meticulously catalogued what he claims are anomalous qualities of the object, which most of his peers believe is a natural comet from a different star system, from its unusually large suspected size to a rotation axis almost perfectly perpendicular to the Sun to a “fine-tuned” trajectory that brought it within spitting distance of Mars and Jupiter.
Loeb has also been angered at NASA’s continued insistence that 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet — which, again, is the opinion of most experts — accusing them of “arrogance” and ignoring his documented anomalies. He also accused NASA of withholding observations by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter while 3I/ATLAS made its closest approach to the Red Planet in October, due to last year’s government shutdown. (The images were eventually released in late November.)
NASA isn’t the government institution that Loeb is taking aim at. In a new blog post, the astronomer pointed out that ufologist John Greenewald Jr.’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiry for “any assessments, reports, or communications maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency referencing 3I/ATLAS” had been pointedly shut down.
The CIA told Greenewald in a formal response to his FOIA that it will “neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records” related to the object — a non-answer that could be interpreted in strikingly different ways.
Greenewald is a well-known name in UFO circles. He founded The Black Vault, an enormous archive of millions of pages of government documents he’s uncovered via FOIA inquiries, including declassified videos of what the Pentagon describes as unidentified anomalous phenomena.
Loeb says he found the answer — and the notable level of secrecy — “surprising,” given NASA’s conclusion that “3I/ATLAS is definitely a comet of natural origin.”
“If this conclusion was clear all along to everyone within government and academia — as NASA officials presented the case, then why would the CIA treat the possible existence of records dealing with a natural comet as sensitive enough to be classified?” he asked rhetorically.
Loeb suggested the government might have investigated whether 3I/ATLAS could pose a threat to national security, perhaps over the possibility of a “black swan event,” which has fascinated the researcher.
If scientists do eventually uncover a probe sent to us by an alien civilization, it could pose a major threat to humanity, Loeb has asserted. He has previously hypothesized that the object could be “akin to a Trojan Horse, where a technological object masquerades as a natural comet.”
Discussions about such a possibility may have been “hidden from public view in order to prevent panic from taking hold for no good reason,” Loeb pondered, especially considering a “black swan event is still regarded as highly unlikely.”
However, this theory presupposes that the CIA even has anything to hide from the public to begin with. After all, in its statement to Greenewald, it didn’t rule out the “nonexistence of records.”
Besides, as more data rolls in, Loeb’s far-fetched theory that 3I/ATLAS is a piece of technology continues to be challenged.
In other words, what would there even to hide if the object does turn out to be a non-threatening lump of ice?
Either way, Loeb isn’t ready to call it just yet. He has advocated for taking a closer look once it makes its closest approach to Jupiter in March.
“Unless we check, we might never know if this swan is white or black,” he concluded in his blog.
More on 3I/ATLAS: Scientists Announce Results After Scanning 3I/ATLAS for Alien Signals
The post CIA Will Neither Confirm Nor Deny Records on 3I/ATLAS appeared first on Futurism.
