CJS Decision 2024

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe in extraterrestrials, and with the United States leading the world in UFO sightings, the topic has resurfaced in political debates. Last Tuesday, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand called for another UFO hearing, prompting the question: Why are Americans obsessed with UFOs?

Gillibrand confirmed that another hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), formerly known as UFOs, will take place in November this year. She wants the Senate to review the latest developments in the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), a task force she helped create to streamline communication between the military and intelligence agencies about UFO sightings after public interest in the domain surged.

Created by Manuel Scheuernstuhl

Source: Ufo Sightnings Worldwide, SigmaLabs, September 2024

Between October 2022 and September 2024, the U.S. logged 234,657 UFO sightings—the highest reported worldwide. According to Pew Research Polls, 65 percent of Americans believe in extraterrestrial life, while 51 percent think military-reported UFO sightings point to evidence of intelligent life. 

The sheer size of the U.S. military may explain the high number of sightings, says Shell Avanant, a PhD student at Teachers College at Columbia University who researches cryptids like Bigfoot and aliens. This year alone, the U.S. will spend around $842 billion on its military, the largest in the world, boasting 13,000 military aircraft — compared to just 4,000 total in the entire European Union. 

“There are many things flying around in remote areas that people might mistake for UFOs,” Avanant said. In fact, there have been several incidents where Americans mistook Satellites from starlink, a solar eruption, meteor fireballs, and other flying objects for UFOs.

While the abundance of flying objects in the United States might explain the high number of UFO sightings, it does not fully address why many Americans associate these sightings with extraterrestrial life. 

Greg Eghigian, a professor of history and bioethics at Penn State University and author of a book about the history of UFO sightings, traces this belief back to the Cold War era. 

“The Cold War was not just about geopolitics. It also gave us an explosion of techno-scientific development, like the space age and new surveillance technologies,” Egighian said. “With these advancements, there was also deep existential anxiety about the destructive potential of weapons like atomic bombs.” 

He adds that this anxiety became intertwined with UFOs, with people suspecting that UFOs could be proof of alien life because they saw what humans were able to unlock with the power of atoms. Out-ofthisworld threats suddenly seemed plausible. This anxiety has persisted, fueling continued fascination with extraterrestrial life and making UFOs a recurring issue in American politics and pop culture.

Beyond historical factors, the fascination with extraterrestrial life could have to do with broader social concerns. Avanant suggests that  preoccupation with aliens is a reflection of the existential anxieties people face today around issues like climate change, war, and the threat of nuclear conflict. 

“Aliens could be a kind of substitute for revolution,” Avanant said. “They symbolize the notion that things do not have to be the way they are, that alternative ways of existing might be out there, waiting to be discovered.”

 American politicians have  publicly discussed UFOs since the 1940s and 50s, with calls for government transparency being the most consistent theme, explained Eghigian. It was around this time that Americans began voicing concerns that the government classified too much information or “[kept] too many things secret from the general public," said Eghigian. These concerns gained renewed political attention after 2017, when The New York Times exposed a secret Pentagon program investigating military encounters with unidentified objects. Since then, incidents like Navy pilots' claims of UFO sightings, the shutdown of Chinese spy balloons, and new transparency laws have kept the issue in the public eye. Lawmakers like Gillibrand and Senators Marco Rubio and Chuck Schumer have advocated for greater disclosure, often citing the potential threats to national security.

According to Eghigian, today's politicians include UFOs on their agendas for various reasons, many of them pragmatic. Some use the topic to attract media attention or to advance broader goals, such as discussions of defense spending. For example, Eghigian suspects that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has leveraged the UFO discussion to challenge government spending, scrutinizing how taxpayer dollars are allocated. Other politicians may be raising the issue to align themselves with public sentiment, he added. 

"Especially in this age where we are swimming in a sea of rumor-mongering, with a lot of skepticism about the ‘deep state’ and conspiracy theories, politicians can use that for being somebody who speaks truth to power, who says ‘I want disclosure of secret information’,” said Eghigian. “This sounds really good to the ears of a lot of people."

Eghigian is unsure about the motives behind Schumer and Gillibrand’s push for more UFO hearings. "I think some people see this as a way to leverage another set of conversations," he said. 

However, when speaking with other journalists, Eghigian found many were puzzled by Chuck Schumer’s involvement. "Schumer is the one who many people say he had never seemed interested in this topic before. I am not quite clear on why he has pushed this," Eghigian said. "But Schumer is a very savvy politician—he doesn’t do anything without careful thought, so something is definitely going on."

While politicians discuss the topic for various reasons, and most of the public believes extraterrestrial life is behind UFO sightings, the impact on voters is less clear.

Created by Manuel Scheuernstuhl with the use of ChatGPT

Source: PEW Research Center, 2021

Maria Guinnipmar, a New York resident who follows UFO discussions in online forums, like the subreddit r/Unexplained, said, "I do not think it will affect who I vote for. There are more pressing political issues, but I do find it fascinating when government officials testify about UFO activity." 

This sentiment aligns with broader data: while many believe in extraterrestrial life behind UFOs, the same study suggests that 87 percent of Americans don't view UFOs as a major threat, while issues like cyberattacks, misinformation, and foreign influence are seen as far greater concerns​. With roughly six in ten Americans seeing a minor or major threat to the United States in TikTok, even the social media platform is considered a more significant threat to national security than UFOs​.