The X-Files creator Chris Carter explains why he's skeptical of the U.S. government's landmark UFO report

The New York Times

"Answers are promised. But answers are always promised," Carter writes in a New York Times opinion piece of the report that is about to be released. "I have never seen a U.F.O. or an alien, as much as I’d like to. But as a result of “The X-Files” I’ve met many people who claim they have. I have seen grainy videos of gray aliens on someone’s back patio. I know an award-winning movie director who told me straight-faced he’d seen a U.F.O. when he was in college. Annie Jacobsen, the author of the terrific book “Area 51,” introduced me to a man who worked at the top secret facility for many years who saw strange craft coming and going on the air base. For a decade I became a magnet for this stuff. The plot of The X-Files was built on a conspiracy theory: The government is lying to you about the existence of U.F.O.s and extraterrestrials. Do I believe the government lies to us? Absolutely. I’m a child of Watergate. Do I believe in conspiracies? Certainly. I believe, for example, that someone is targeting C.I.A. agents and White House officials with microwave radiation, the so-called Havana syndrome, and your government denied it. Will the new report, or any government report, give us clear answers? I’m as skeptical now as I’ve ever been."