Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in New York City last month. Clinton recently promised to release government documents about Area 51, the federally restricted area around Groom Lake in Southern Nevada where some believe the government has kept hidden proof of alien life. Photo by Dennis Van Tine/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is giving hope to a small but committed group of extraterrestrial believers they will finally find out if the truth really is out there.

Clinton has promised to do what presidents for the last 60 years have so far refused: release government documents related to Area 51, the remote section of Edwards Air Force Base in the Nevada desert that many alien enthusiasts believe is the site of alien encounters.


Clinton made the proposal in all seriousness last month during a radio interview and has demonstrated more than a casual understanding of the issue. When she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! recently, the host asked her whether she believes in UFOs. Clinton, a noted policy wonk, quickly corrected Kimmel's improper terminology.

"You know, there's a new name," Clinton said. "It's unexplained aerial phenomenon. U.A.P. That's the latest nomenclature."

For the group of ET enthusiasts, the acknowledgment was high tide in their fight for legitimacy in the eyes of government officials, according to The New York Times.

"Hillary has embraced this issue with an absolutely unprecedented level of interest in American politics," said Joseph G. Buchman, who has spent decades calling for government transparency about extraterrestrials.

Clinton's interest in the issue is buttressed by her campaign chairman, John Podesta, a noted alien enthusiast and devoted fan of the 1990s show The X-Files. Podesta has called for the U.S. government to release what it knows about the possibility of alien life and whether there is evidence the planet has been visited by some form of extraterrestrial life.

As for the ultimate question, does Clinton believe in UFOs (or UAPs)?

"I don't know. I want to see what the information shows," Clinton said in the radio interview. But she added, "There's enough stories out there that I don't think everybody is just sitting in their kitchen making them up."

Unfortunately for Clinton and Podesta, both of whom served in President Barack Obama's administration, they have thus far failed to bring their former boss over to the cause.

Like most presidents before him, Obama has generally laughed off questions about the government's role in covering up proof of alien life.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked to respond to the Times story on Clinton's Area 51 promise, said he was not "aware of any plans that the president has to make public any information about this."