Scenario: An object originating form outside the solar system is tracked as it makes several course corrections, strongly suggesting an intelligent operator, before landing somewhere in the continental U.S…
Is there a governmental agency specifically responsible for investigating? USAF? NASA? If no federal agency has defined/obvious jurisdiction, as a practical matter, who would be the most likely to respond (although I suspect this question would quickly become IMHO)?
The US Space Force should as least be involved and check into it.
As a practical, real-world matter, this would probably be a Maxim 2 situation: A sergeant in motion outranks a lieutenant who doesn’t know what’s going on. Whoever had at least some gloss of authority, and who was first to respond to the situation and show leadership, would end up regarded by everyone else as being in charge, and the legal details would be worked out later. Possible identities of that “sergeant in motion” might be NASA, the USAF, the local police force, the local university, the NSF, the local governor, the President personally, or the UN.
My answer is genuine, not a joke. chronos may have the technically correct answer that materialzes in a few days, but I think the real answer is local law enforcement, i.e. the (city) police or (county) sheriff. No matter where in the U.S. the object lands there will be a police or sheriff’s department that will respond immediately.
Their jurisdiction may not last a long time, but I think a local law enforcement department could make a jurisdictional case that they are just as qualified to handle a non-violent situation as NASA or the military. I think if I were a police chief I might push that point.
I don’t think a particular agency would be in charge. Rather, various federal agencies within the executive branch, under the control of the President, would be directed to respond and perhaps the President (probably) would appoint someone to “lead” the response. Might be someone in the hierarchy of one of the responding agencies, might be some random cabinet member. It’s hard to say because it would be in no small part subject to the President’s whims.
My answer is emphatically not what “materializes in a few days”. Whoever ends up in charge, will get that position by virtue of being the first to show leadership. If they’re not on the scene and doing something within the first hour, they’re not the guys I’m talking about. And you’ll note that I do list the local police as one of the possibilities for who it would be.
Unless they can establish that it’s a national defense or public safety issue, it might just be up to the land owner or manager of the landing site. In many cases, that would be the Department of the Interior. So, Smoky the Bear?
The Secretary of State elbows his way the the front , claiming “Hey, it’s my job to negotiate with foreign powers!”
chronos, my apologies if I seemed to brush away your answer. And I did see the local police reference. My intent was to emphasize the local aspect, i.e., the importance of local law enforcement in such an event.
I walked outside for an hour after my SDMB response (cocktail hour). I live in a rural area and hypothesized the event taking place in an empty field a hundred yards away from my place.
In my scenario the object changes course just before landing, throwing all the ready agencies off. The field is private property but the County Sheriff would have normal jurisdiction. Within minutes after landing the object is being observed by local residents. In 20 minutes the H.C. Sheriff himself shows up with deputies to take charge. From that point on the Sheriff is in charge, period.
There is no activity from the object at this point.
According to your first response chronos, the following paragraph is possible, and I think likely:
I have the FBI showing up four hours later claiming to have jurisdiction. The sheriff, perhaps not so politely, tells them “No you don’t. This is my County and I’m in charge. You two can stay and offer opinions, but stay out of my way.”
The NRA, obvs.
Yup, and if the sheriff has good leadership skills, they just might listen to him. Of course, it’s also possible that the sheriff is quaking ineffectually in his boots just as much as anyone else is, and it’s some other responder who happens to take charge. And I don’t know how long it would take the FBI to show up, but if this thing is detected before entering the atmosphere, even with a last-minute course change, it’s going to take the Air Force a lot less than four hours.
Yep, the OP stated that it had been tracked. So some sort of federal response would take place quickly. While a local police force may get there first they wouldn’t have time to do much more than observe and an bulletin put out to not approach or interfere. I’m thinking some French guy would eventually take command.
You won’t know if they are going to be violent until they start vaporizing people. Then what happens? Wait patiently until Earth bacteria wipe them out?
In real (hypothetical) life: Would some Earthly authority be most likely to order the alien ship to be blown to smithereens before it enters the atmosphere?
“Do you have a license for your alien?”
Any army worth it’s salt has a plan to invade every country on Earth, just in case.
I’ll warrant that the US has a plan to deal with arriving aliens, from language specialists and mathematicians to nuclear weapons. Just In Case.
“They’re in everybody’s eggs.” Everything You Know Is Wrong Firesign Theater
Oh, and it’s also possible that the local police chief is competent, and level-headed, and a good leader, and so on, but still, when NASA or the USAF or whoever shows up, says “Thank God you’re here! I’ve established a perimeter and convinced everyone not to shoot at the thing, but I have no clue where to take it from here.”. In which case whichever agency he hands over the reins to has a good shot at being (and remaining) the folks in charge.
These three guys
If the local police are first on the scene, they will be told to hand over everything they’ve got to whatever governmental agency arrives first and, after being told what will happen if some info and/or item is held back, they will probably do so.
What would happen? Something really scary like a court order?