Michael Salla is an author and former international relations academic who became a leading proponent of exopolitics, which he presents as the study of the political implications of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth. Since 2003 he has published a long series of books, articles and videos arguing that governments and hidden programs have dealt with extraterrestrial civilizations for decades, claims that no government has confirmed.

Salla's early career was in peace and conflict studies. In the 1990s he published in journals including Security Dialogue, where a 1995 article on Kosovo listed him at the Australian National University, and the Journal of Peace Research, where a 1997 article on the East Timor conflict listed him at the School of International Service at American University. He co-edited Why the Cold War Ended (Greenwood, 1995) with Ralph Summy and wrote The Hero's Journey Toward a Second American Century (Praeger, 2001). His author biographies say he holds a doctorate in government from the University of Queensland, and The Why Files described him in 2026 as having spent years in war zones including East Timor, Kosovo and Sri Lanka.

By his own account, Salla was an assistant professor at the School of International Service from 1996 to 2001 and later a researcher in residence at the university's Center for Global Peace, and he launched Exopolitics.org in January 2003 after being told his research on extraterrestrial affairs had "no place" at the center or the university. In February 2004, as his book Exopolitics: Political Implications of the Extraterrestrial Presence appeared, The Washington Post reported his belief that President Eisenhower had met two extraterrestrials at Edwards Air Force Base. The Eisenhower Presidential Library and the president's son, John Eisenhower, denied that any such meeting took place.

From 2015 Salla concentrated on secret space programs. Insiders Reveal Secret Space Programs & Extraterrestrial Alliances (2015) was followed by books on alleged U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army programs, Antarctica and Space Force, most issued under imprints tied to his Exopolitics websites. He championed Corey Goode, who he wrote had first appeared "in late 2014 as a whistleblower," and in 2022 he published a book on claimed Galactic Federations and councils of extraterrestrial worlds. Filmmaker Darcy Weir included him among the figures examined in Dark Alliance: The Next Generation, a 2026 documentary critical of the secret space program stories promoted on the Gaia streaming network.

Salla remained an active commentator through 2026. In May he agreed with Rep. Tim Burchett that President Trump faced strong opposition to UFO disclosure, which Salla attributed to the "Deep State," and in October he wrote that disclosure involving Nordic extraterrestrials was likely to come from the Trump White House. On October 12, The Why Files released a long interview with him on the Galactic Federation and what it called the new race for space. His path from peer-reviewed work on East Timor and Kosovo to books on secret space fleets has made him one of the best-known writers in the exopolitics movement and a leading outlet for the claimants he promotes.