# Who in the US Government would have responsibility over a real UFO? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147 "2023-02-21T15:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/21 "2023-02-22T02:54:59Z")
We are thinking only US centric. A more likely question would be if the craft crashed in another country. Say Bolivia. Or Rwanda. Then the question becomes who do they call? And what happens if they don’t call the US? Or would they try to investigate the crash themselves? What if the US detected the crash but wasn’t sure it was from off-world. But knew it was very strange. Then what? A very complicated situation just got a lot more complicated… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/22 "2023-02-22T12:16:46Z")
DARPA. > **[DARPA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA)** > > The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. > Originally known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the agency was created on February 7, 1958, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik 1 in 1957. By collaborating with academia, industry, and government partners, DARPA formula... ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/23 "2023-02-22T14:24:49Z")
So with all these agencies involved there’s basically ZERO chance it’s kept a secret? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/24 "2023-02-22T14:31:57Z")
DARPA is primarily an agency to fund stuff. I don’t think they would be doing the actual work. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2023, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/25 "2023-02-22T22:37:43Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > So with all these agencies involved there’s basically ZERO chance it’s kept a secret? Some of the agencies involved, like NASA, have explicit policies that would prohibit keeping it a secret. And enough of the raw data would probably have been in private (non-governmental) hands to begin with, and scientists, as a class, tend to be very unsecretive. Some of the governmental agencies would probably still try to keep everything secret, anyway. They would fail. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/26 "2023-02-22T22:52:49Z")
I, for one, would welcome our newly crashed overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/27 "2023-02-22T23:09:45Z")
If they landed in the US with no visa, it would be the Border Patrol obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/28 "2023-02-23T02:58:24Z")
delete ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/29 "2023-02-23T03:09:01Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > We are thinking only US centric. Also human centric. Even a society at a much higher technological level than ours might have a one in a million screw up involving a crash. But they’d quickly recover enough so that they would be in charge, not some alphabet agency of a human government. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/30 "2023-02-23T04:04:06Z")
If there were any survivors it would be prudent to keep them safe and as comfortable as possible. We do not want to risk the wrath of a search & tescue mission ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/31 "2023-02-23T04:07:41Z")
DARPA would probably end up involved in figuring out and using that sweet, sweet alien technology. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/32 "2023-02-23T04:13:51Z")
If they land in the U.S., it would be the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition within the Food and Drug Administration, because, as we surely all know, the only reason that extraterrestrials would land on the Earth would be to serve man. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/33 "2023-02-23T04:17:16Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > the only reason that extraterrestrials would land on the Earth would be to serve man This is when the reputation of British food finally pays off. They will eat us last. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/34 "2023-02-23T04:31:59Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Would a medical examination of the aliens include an anal probe? Only if copious amounts of wine are involved. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/35 "2023-02-23T04:35:08Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Why would they risk the NTSB and FAA getting involved? They could pull their pilot licenses indefinitely NTSB is unlikely to punish individual alien pilots. Instead, they would investigate alien procedures and identify any alien systematic process changes that would forestall future alien crash landings. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/36 "2023-02-23T06:01:04Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > A more likely question would be if the craft crashed in another country. Say Bolivia. Or Rwanda. > Then the question becomes who do they call? Ghostbusters. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/37 "2023-02-23T06:28:39Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I, for one, would welcome our newly crashed overlords. The obvious answer would be the president, because when they land and say “Take me to your leader” it’s either POTUS of the UN Secretary General. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/38 "2023-02-23T06:29:37Z")
If the aliens are over 50 years old, it would be a favor to them. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/39 "2023-02-23T10:40:27Z")
To “serve man” can have two meanings, but never mind that now: if they eat Americans, they’ll get [cancer](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-food-additives-banned-europe-making-americans-sick-expert-says/). Perhaps a little less so if they eat only the truly rich, particularly if they slaughter them [personally](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2011/may/27/mark-zuckerberg-kill-animals-meat). If the poor things have to resort to eating Brits, I would recommend they start with the [horses](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5d021689250000ae13e2a7fd.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale). ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147/40 "2023-02-23T12:28:25Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > The obvious answer would be the president, because when they land and say “Take me to your leader” it’s either POTUS of the UN Secretary General. They surely researched us before crash-landing and know that Putin controls the most nukes. But if they are far militarily weaker than I think, António Guterres would be a better choice than Biden. Personally, if I was an alien, I’d think the safer choice is news media. Take me to the President of Reuters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-the-us-government-would-have-responsibility-over-a-real-ufo/980147.md?page=3)