--- title: "Skeptic Takes Aim at Claims of Government’s Alien Spacecraft" description: "Noted UFO debunker and science writer Mick West questioned a far-fetched account about a government coverup of alien spacecraft." date: "2023-06-08" modified: "2023-06-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/skeptic-takes-aim-claims-government-alien-ufos" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "aliens" - "ufos" --- # Skeptic Takes Aim at Claims of Government’s Alien Spacecraft ![Noted UFO debunker and science writer Mick West questioned a far-fetched account about a government coverup of alien spacecraft.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Earlier this week, [*The Debrief* published]() a head-scratching account of a former intelligence official who's now alleging that the US government has been covering up the existence of retrieved alien spacecraft. The far-fetched account left us with plenty of glaring questions. It's essentially a full-blown UFO conspiracy theory that suggests we've been visited by aliens on several occasions — while the government hid any evidence of "intact and partially intact vehicles" and their "dead pilots" — which sounds more like "The X-Files" than a credible story. Now, noted UFO debunker and science writer Mick West has chimed in on the report, pointing out that even the limited claims we've heard don't necessarily add up. "Dave \[Grusch\] claims that the US has 'quite a few' alien craft that crashed or landed," West [tweeted](). "Why, then, is the evidence of their alienness only 'isotopic ratios' and 'strange heavy atomic metal arrangements?'" "That is analysis you'd do on fragments of metal," he concluded. "Not an intact craft." He also pointed out that Grusch's account isn't even first-person — it just relies on things he says he's heard from unnamed third parties. "Unfortunately, he's not seen them or any photos of them, the craft, or the technology," West wrote in a [follow-up](). "But nonetheless, he assures us it is true." Skepticism aside, if Grusch's account were to be taken at face value — again, something we definitely wouldn't recommend anybody doing at this point — West acknowledges that it'd be [very cool](). "It would be wonderful if it was true," West [told *NewsNation*]() during an [interview]() that also featured Grusch earlier this week. "I would love to find evidence of alien visitors." Yet Grusch's revelations are just too good to be true, according to West. "But UFOlogy has been a subject that has been filled with promises we're always being promised that disclosure is just around the corner the government is going to tell us what they know and this just seems like another one of those promises," he added. During the interview, West also questioned why a government would want to keep such a revelation secret for so long. So what could've led to Grusch making these claims? West pointed out that countries have been reverse-engineering technologies of their adversaries for a while now, and that some people working on these efforts may have become "convinced that they were working on alien technology." At the end of the day, there just isn't a whole lot of evidence to support Grusch's wild claims. "All we have is he's heard other people tell him things and that's really not good enough as evidence," West concluded in the interview. **More on the report:** *[We're Deeply Skeptical, But a Government Whistleblower Claims the US Has Recovered "Non-Human" Spacecraft]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()