Steven Greer
A former emergency physician who founded CSETI and the Disclosure Project. His witness presentations, films, and proposed methods of initiating extraterrestrial contact have made him one of the most recognizable advocates in UFO culture.
- KNOWN FOR
- The Disclosure Project · CE-5 · UFO documentaries
Sources reviewed September 16, 2026
From medicine to UFO organizations
Greer worked as an emergency physician before making UFO advocacy his principal occupation. He founded the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or CSETI, in 1990 and the Disclosure Project in 1993. The two initiatives emphasize different activities: CSETI promotes attempts at contact, while the Disclosure Project gathers testimony and argues for the release of government information. Their shared premise is Greer’s belief that extraterrestrial visitation is already occurring and that important knowledge about it has been concealed.
Sources: Steven M. Greer: career, organizations, and filmsDisclosure Project briefing: executive summary
The 2001 National Press Club event
On May 9, 2001, Greer organized a widely reported presentation at the National Press Club in Washington. Participants described UFO experiences and alleged government secrecy, while the campaign sought congressional hearings. Its accompanying briefing proposed witness protections, declassification, and restrictions on weapons in space. The event made disclosure advocacy visible as a coordinated political campaign. It was a press conference presenting testimony, however, rather than a congressional proceeding or an official finding about the participants’ accounts.
Sources: Ooo-WEE-ooo Fans Come to D.C.Disclosure Project briefing: executive summary
What CE-5 means in his work
Greer uses CE-5, or close encounters of the fifth kind, for deliberate human attempts to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence. His 1995 lecture describes group participation, consciousness, and peaceful intention as central to that effort. The terminology extends the familiar close-encounter language associated with J. Allen Hynek, whose original categories described reported observations. Greer’s contact proposal adds a different claim: that participants can initiate an encounter. The existence of a named practice does not itself demonstrate communication with an extraterrestrial source.
Sources: The CE-5 Initiative: lecture transcriptClassification systems for UFO reports
Films and the Atacama skeleton
Greer’s screen appearances include Sirius, Unacknowledged, and Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind. Sirius featured the small Atacama skeleton from Chile, whose unusual appearance had attracted speculation about an extraterrestrial origin. Genetic research reported by Stanford Medicine established that the remains were human. That result concerns the specific specimen, rather than every claim made in Greer’s films. It illustrates why a striking appearance or a compelling documentary sequence needs to be checked against the evidence from examining the object itself.
Sources: Steven M. Greer: career, organizations, and filmsMysterious skeleton shows molecular complexity of bone diseases
Disclosure as a broader worldview
The Disclosure Project’s 2001 briefing links alleged UFO secrecy to advanced propulsion, energy technology, and the prospect of peaceful relations beyond Earth. These themes help explain the scale of Greer’s appeal: his campaign promises social and technological change as well as answers about sightings. They also expand what would need to be demonstrated. A witness describing an unusual object, an allegation that records are withheld, and a claim that a suppressed technology could transform energy production each require their own supporting evidence.