Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who blew the lid off of some the U.S. government's most closely-held secrets, has some bad news for all you alien-enthusiasts.
According to an interview Snowden did on Joe Rogan's podcast which aired on Wednesday, the former intelligence analyst used his chance while he was still employed as a contractor for the National Security Agency, he used his access to search the CIA's vast cache of intelligence for evidence that the U.S. government had once made contact with an alien life form.
"I know, Joe, I know you want there to be aliens," Snowden said. "I know Neil deGrasse Tyson badly wants there to be aliens. And there probably are, right?"
"I do," Rogan said.
Unfortunately for Rogan, deGrasse Tyson and everyone else who's stared up at the stars wondering if we're alone, Snowden said he could not find any evidence on the CIA or NSA servers he had access to, of government officials making contact with E.T.
Snowden also said there was no evidence the government was secretly stashing any aliens away at secret government facilities, like Area 51 in Nevada.
"But the idea that we're hiding them — if we are hiding them — I had ridiculous access to the networks of the NSA, the CIA, the military, all these groups. I couldn't find anything," Snowden said, speaking with Rogan from Russia where he has been living for the past several years.
"Everybody wants to believe in conspiracy theories because it helps life make sense," he told Rogan. "It helps us believe that somebody is in control, that somebody is calling the shots."
However, Snowden allowed the possibility that officials with knowledge about alien contact may have been hidden "really damn well" from contractors like himself, who had direct access to classified information.
Snowden, whose book came out last month, also used his time on Rogan's podcast to shut down several other conspiracy theories, such as the moon landing was faked, or that chemtrails are being used by the government.
"Yes, man really did land on the moon. Climate change is real. Chemtrails are not a thing," Snowden said.
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