The White House declares there is “no evidence that any life exists outside our planet” on a new official website, where thousands of Americans had signed a petition asking the government to reveal its search for extraterrestrials.

The declaration, written by Phil Larson, who is described as a “space expert” on the staff of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, also insisted that there have been no close encounters with aliens.

“The U.S .government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race,” Larson writes. “In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public’s eye.”

Larson goes on to explain that just because there is no “evidence” doesnt mean the U.S.  is not actively looking and listening.

“Many scientists and mathematicians have looked with a statistical mind-set at the question of whether life likely exists beyond Earth and have come to the conclusion that the odds are pretty high that somewhere among the trillions and trillions of stars in the universe there is a planet other than ours that is home to life,” says Larson. ”Many have also noted, however, that the odds of us making contact with any of them — especially any intelligent ones — are extremely small, given the distances involved.

“That is all statistics and speculation,” Larson writes, and that  the official Obama administration position is there is no “evidence” of extraterrestrial life.

The White House’s new website for extraterrestrial matters,   We The People, started a little more than a month ago, and so far more than a million people have offered or signed petitions asking for a government response, and 77 petitions have been answered by a team of senior West Wingers.

The White House declined ABC’s request to speak to space expert Phil Larson.