Editing Unidentified flying object (section)

===== White House statement of November 2011 =====
In November 2011, the [[White House]] released an official response to two petitions asking the U.S. government to acknowledge formally that aliens have visited this planet and to disclose any intentional withholding of government interactions with extraterrestrial beings. According to the response:
{{blockquote|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...no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye....|Statement by the White House<ref name="WhiteHouse">{{cite web|last=Larson|first=Phil|title=Searching for ET, But No Evidence Yet|url=https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/searching-et-no-evidence-yet|date=November 5, 2011|publisher=[[White House]]|access-date=2013-09-06|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124052154/https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/Petitions#!/response/searching-et-no-evidence-yet|archive-date=November 24, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="Atkinson">{{cite news |first=Nancy |last=Atkinson |url=http://www.universetoday.com/90717/no-alien-visits-or-ufo-coverups-white-house-says/ |title=No Alien Visits or UFO Coverups, White House Says |date=November 5, 2011 |work=[[Universe Today]] |location=Courtenay, B.C. |access-date=November 6, 2011 |archive-date=January 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118163408/https://www.universetoday.com/90717/no-alien-visits-or-ufo-coverups-white-house-says/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

The response further noted that efforts, like [[Search for extraterrestrial intelligence|SETI]] and NASA's ''[[Kepler (spacecraft)|Kepler]]'' space telescope and [[Mars Science Laboratory]], continue looking for [[life|signs of life]]. The response noted "odds are pretty high" that there may be life on other planets but "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any [[extraterrestrial intelligence|intelligent ones]]—are extremely small, given the distances involved."<ref name="WhiteHouse"/><ref name="Atkinson"/>