Washington: Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has promised to release information about Area 51 - a Nevada Air Force base where many believe the US keeps top secret information about extraterrestrial (ET) beings - if she is elected president.

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However, President Barack Obama has no plans to open up government files on the matter, Politico quoted White House press secretary Josh Earnest as saying on Wednesday. 

“I have to admit that I don’t have a tab in my briefing book for Area 51,” Earnest said after he was asked whether the president wants to beat Clinton to the punch before he leaves office. 

The spokesman said he is “not aware of any plans the president has to make public any information about this,” adding that he’s not sure whether Obama has reviewed any government files on extraterrestrial life forms. 

Clinton made the proposal in all seriousness last month during a radio interview and has demonstrated more than a casual understanding of the issue, The New York Times reported. 

When she appeared on talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live recently, the host asked her whether she believes in unidentified flying objects (UFO). Clinton, a noted policy wonk, quickly corrected Kimmel's improper terminology.

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

Her position has elated UFO enthusiasts, who have declared Clinton the first 'ET candidate'.

“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.

The CIA in 2013 declassified certain documents confirming the existence of the Area 51 military base, created as per executive order by late president Dwight Eisenhower in the mid-1950s as a zone in which to test the high-flying U-2 spy plane.

The secrecy surrounding the base for decades sparked an endless number of conspiracy theories, including those that claimed extraterrestrial technology gained from UFOs was being studied there.