LSAT Question Explanation
PT 108, Section 2, Question 14
StrengthenArgument structure
There have likely been extraterrestrial spacecraft sighted near Earth.
British governmental security agencies don't release enough information about sightings of UFOs, and when researchers ask for more information about UFO sightings they are ignored.
Explanation
This argument is flawed, the conclusion goes too far. The government refusing to release some information about national security agencies seems like fairly normal behavior. Maybe they're keeping the information secret for a reason other than extraterrestrial UFO sightings.
It's surely a possibility that extraterrestrial UFOs have been sighted, we don't know one way or the other. But saying that it's likely they've been sighted just because the government is being secretive about military or intelligence data is not logical.
We're looking for an answer choice that indicates it actually is likely that extraterrestrial UFOs have been sighted, and they aren't withholding the information for some other reason.
Answer choices
This doesn't indicate that the government is withholding information because of extraterrestrial UFO sightings, they just usually withhold information.
This strengthens that there have been sightings of extraterrestrial spacecraft, because it says the only reason the government would withhold information about UFOs is if they were extraterrestrial. This eliminates other explanations as to why the government has withheld information.
This indicates that the government does have something to hide, but doesn't say what they're trying to hide. The conclusion was specifically that they have information about extraterrestrial activity, not secrets in general.
This might be true but doesn't strengthen that the government has seen aliens.
This doesn't help tell us whether or not extraterrestrial spacecraft have been spotted, just that the government has always been consistent in their views about UFOs.