★Historically significant

A 1963 memo from the Executive Office of the President's National Aeronautics and Space Council explicitly addresses U.S. diplomatic policy scenarios for alien contact, representing an early official acknowledgment that the policy question existed within the presidential advisory structure.

59_214434_SP 16 [7.18.1963]

Department of StatePDFMemoNo redactionsPURSUE Release 1

2/10

noise or low quality

UAP Insight significance score

Incident date: 7/18/63
Released: May 8, 2026

UAP Characteristics

Evidence Types

Testimony

Government Programs Referenced

BNSP Task I

Official Conclusion

No policy preparation for alien contact is warranted at present; any response will be improvised reactively if contact occurs.

Official Description

This memorandum, dated July 18, 1963, from the Executive Office of the President, National Aeronautics and Space Council, relates to thoughts on the space alien race question. Included are details relating to plans if alien intelligence is discovered, expanding scientific knowledge, the possibility of life on Mars, and diplomatic policy.

Key Findings

→The author, Maxwell W. Hunter II, concludes that current scientific thinking makes alien contact unlikely but not impossible, and that U.S. policy would need to rapidly assess the technological level of any discovered alien race.
→The memo explicitly dismisses flying saucer advocates' claims as difficult to accept, while acknowledging the scientific uncertainty about extraterrestrial life.
→Three scenarios for alien contact are outlined: primitive chemical-rocket Martians, nuclear-capable interstellar travelers, and faster-than-light civilizations, each requiring a different diplomatic response.
→The author concludes that no serious policy preparation will occur before an actual contact event, predicting policy would be 'determined in the traditional manner of grand panic.'
→The memo was sent from the Executive Office of the President's National Aeronautics and Space Council to the Department of State as part of deliberations on BNSP Task I.

UAP Insight Analysis— AI generated, not official

A 1963 memorandum from Maxwell W. Hunter II of the National Aeronautics and Space Council's Professional Staff to Robert F. Packard at the State Department's Office of International Scientific Affairs, offering speculative policy thoughts on what the U.S. government should do if an alien intelligence were discovered. The document contains no UAP incident reports or sighting data; it is a theoretical policy analysis discussing scientific probability of extraterrestrial life and hypothetical diplomatic responses. The author dismisses flying saucer claims while acknowledging the finite possibility of contact and concluding that no serious policy preparation is likely until a crisis occurs.

Analyst Notes

This document contains no UAP incident data, no sighting reports, and no sensor or witness evidence of anomalous phenomena. It is a speculative policy essay dismissing flying saucer claims and discussing hypothetical first-contact diplomacy. The author explicitly states that 'no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless it happens,' indicating the memo was not considered operationally significant even at the time of writing.

Extracted Entities

People

Maxwell W. Hunter IIRobert F. Packard

Agencies & Organizations

Executive Office of the PresidentNational Aeronautics and Space CouncilDepartment of StateOffice of International Scientific Affairs

Locations

Washington D.C.MarsMooncrater AlphonsusAsteroid BeltUranusVenus

Aircraft & Objects

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AI analysis by claude-sonnet-4-6 · May 20, 2026