# Are there existing military or diplomatic protocols in place in the event we make ET alien contact? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743 "2009-10-05T23:07:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/1 "2009-10-05T23:07:39Z")
Just curious. Are there specific US government procedures set up for handling potential extra terrestrial alien contacts. Who would be in charge? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/2 "2009-10-05T23:40:19Z")
No matter what happens the president is in charge of the military and the diplomats. The Pentagon has plans for lots of things so they probably have a plan for aliens too. Or at least they had one in the past. The Air Force spent about 18 years looking into UFOs and for some they had no explantion. [Project Blue Book - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/3 "2009-10-05T23:47:46Z")
I vaguely remember reading about some kind of agreement that nation states would not keep contact secret, though could be remember wrongly (or remember sci-fi as fact). As you’d expect googling this kind of thing puts you well into tin foil hat territory but found [this treaty](http://www.islandone.org/Treaties/BH500.html)via the SETI site (which has its own set of [guidelines](http://www.seti.org/Page.aspx?pid=680)). The nearest it has is: > [@](#): > > States Parties to the Treaty shall immediately inform the other States > Parties to the Treaty or the Secretary-General of the United Nations of > any phenomena they discover in outer space, including the moon and other > celestial bodies, which could constitute a danger to the life or health > of astronauts. ---
**Author:** ![strqwert44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@strqwert44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strqwert44)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/4 "2009-10-06T00:12:01Z")
I’d imagine a Freedom of Information Act request would settle the question. Of course, regardless of the information provided, someone will say there is some conspiracy to prevent the “true” infromation from being released through something as banal as a FOIA request. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/5 "2009-10-06T03:35:37Z")
There are are documented plans out there, I’m sure rated “Secret”, to keep “those pesky Commies” from determining what sort of scientific equipment we’d have to make/establish contact to shape the ET opinion to fit our wants. No, I’m not kidding. We plan for enough things, do you really think we want the Vulcans basing their opinions of the human race off of Carnivale down in Rio? Seriously though, I’d put dollars to donuts they’d set up an Emergency Operations Center under the new [National Incident Management System](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Incident_Management_System) constructs. I mean, it’s not an emergency _yet_, but the panic of the national (if not worldwide) population would necessitate the standup of a Federal EOC. Tripler . . . or when the aliens pop out of the spaceship to eat our brains. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/6 "2009-10-06T05:37:11Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > We plan for enough things, do you really think we want the Vulcans basing their opinions of the human race off of Carnivale down in Rio? If they’re Risans instead, we should be a-ok. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/7 "2009-10-06T13:47:21Z")
> [@](#): > > The Air Force spent about 18 years looking into UFOs and for some they had no explantion. I think its important to explain that there’s a difference between not being able to come to a conclusion because lack of evidence (lack of photos/video, trained observers, complete lack of physical evidence, etc) and concluding this stuff to be ET. Blue Book errs on the side of the former, not the latter. While I assume the world’s militaries have some kind of protocol setup, its not published. [SETI has one here, if youre interested.](http://www.setileague.org/general/protocol.htm) There’s probably some level of folly even planning ahead as the event would be mostly unpredictable. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/8 "2009-10-08T04:54:34Z")
Funny, I just asked a guy associated with the Mars exploration what would happen if they found evidence of some sort of life on Mars; i.e., would they have to notify the President before saying anything to the public. He said that there were no protocols in place as far as he knew. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/9 "2009-10-08T19:19:44Z")
That’s for extraterrestrial _life_, not extraterrestrial _intelligence_. Nobody expects to find intelligence on Mars, but there’s a chance we just might find life. Our first contact with other intelligences will almost certainly be via electromagnetic radiation (e.g., radio). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/10 "2009-10-08T21:21:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Our first contact with other intelligences will almost certainly be via electromagnetic radiation (e.g., radio). That’s an interesting concept itself; if by contact is meant a conversation. Obviously several years between transmission and reception. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/11 "2009-10-08T22:06:41Z")
Yes. Kill them and eat them. If they can get here and we can’t get there, that proves they are more advanced than we are. And if our history has shown one thing, it’s that gentle and peaceable native peoples are wiped out, while vicious and cannibalistic native peoples survive. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/12 "2009-10-08T22:18:17Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Yes. > > Kill them and eat them. > > If they can get here and we can’t get there, that proves they are more advanced than we are. And if our history has shown one thing, it’s that gentle and peaceable native peoples are wiped out, while vicious and cannibalistic native peoples survive. Or, that indigenous peoples slay desperate immigrants, because they cannot understand them or their ways. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/13 "2009-10-08T22:20:06Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Or, that indigenous peoples seek to slay immigrants, because they cannot understand them or their ways. I’m an American. We _know_ about wiping out indigenous people. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/14 "2009-10-08T23:59:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s for extraterrestrial _life_, not extraterrestrial _intelligence_. Nobody expects to find intelligence on Mars, but there’s a chance we just might find life. Our first contact with other intelligences will almost certainly be via electromagnetic radiation (e.g., radio). You’re an optimist. I vote for first contact being us on the receiving end of a phaser blast, or functional equivalent thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/15 "2009-10-09T00:01:05Z")
Like I said, via electromagnetic radiation. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-existing-military-or-diplomatic-protocols-in-place-in-the-event-we-make-et-alien-contact/512743/16 "2009-10-09T00:20:36Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’m an American. We _know_ about wiping out indigenous people. Yes, they should have killed Columbus and burned his boats. He recommended enslaving the folks he found.