Are aliens that bad at parking? What we need to ask about recent UFO revelations

A sign outside the Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, Nevada, the closest settlement to Area 51. Photograph: Bridget Bennett/AFP/Getty Images

Another day, another story about the US government hiding the fact that it has retrieved alien spacecraft. You can hear similar claims all the time from conspiracy theorists in certain corners of the internet. Yet what made this particular account international news was that the person talking had apparently been in a position to know.

American David Grusch served 14 years in the US air force. He is a decorated veteran from the Afghanistan conflict, who went on to serve in the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. In these positions, he sat on the US Department of Defense’s unidentified aerial phenomena taskforce from 2020 to 2022.