59_214434_SP_16_[7.18.1963].pdf

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 
NATION AL AERO N A UT I C S 
and SP A CE 
WASIDNGTON 
MEMORANDUM FOR 
18, 1963 
Mr. Robert F . Packard 
Office of International Scientific Affairs 
Department of State 
WashiY'2~/ 
SUBJECT: Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question 
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During recent discussions the question has occasionally, though 
rarely, arisen that perhaps we should consider the policy question 
of what to do if an alien intelligence is discovered in space. Some 
discussion of this occurred, as you will recall, during deliberations 
on BNSP Task I.…

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of two stars would be an extremely rare event, it followed that there 
would be very few other planetary systems in the universe and, in-
deed, perhaps this was the only one. Religious belief said, further-
more, that life was a gift bestowed by God. This was a relatively 
undisputed point since no scientific data existed to bridge the gap 
between non-living and living materials. 
The situation today is vastly changed in these respects. The most 
widely held theory of stellar formation would predict the formation of 
planetary systems to be a natural consequence of stellar …

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probably existed on our other planets. Some of the discussions about 
life on Mars at the turn of the century seem to indicate a strong urge 
to want to find intelligent life elsewhere. Today, the situation is 
completely reversed, and although intelligent life is considered quite 
probable among the stars, it is held to be quite unlikely within the 
solar system. We seem more eager to listen with Ozma than to look 
closely at Canali. 
One school of flying saucer advocates claims that the Martians have 
been mining our moon for natural resources for some time. At first 
thoug…

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to spill around to this side. (2) The infra-red scans which show hot 
spots. These would be interpreted as indications of cities or at least 
mining camps. (3) The fact that no lunar or planetary probe of signi-
ficance has been successful, in spite of major efforts on the part of 
two very successful earth orbitfaring nations. It would be supposed 
that someone was denying us deep space. (The other-side-of-the-moon 
pictures from Lunik III show no details of consequence, and the same 
can be said of the data from Mariner II compared to what we had already 
known about Venus from earth-b…

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throughout the whole system. Since the earliest known remains of 
man have recently been dated at approximately one million seven-
hundred thousand years, a sustained drive for merely two hundred 
thousand years may not be unreasonable. Of course, if we were to 
run across representatives of this kind of interstellar race, they 
would not be nearly as tame as the previously hypothesized chemical 
Martians, and our policy would need to be revised accordingly. 
Fortunately, travel time restrictions would inhibit their ability to 
bring all forces to bear, in case we should devel…

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the moment to prepare for these possibilities (the only body of writing 
on the subject available in an emergency is science fiction), because 
no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless 
it happens. At that point, our policy will be determined in the tradi-
tional manner of grand panic. 
Maxwell W. Hunter, II 
Member, Professional Staff 
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