59_214434_SP 16 [7.18.1963]

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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
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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. This memo contains some miscellaneous thoughts
on the question.
The consensus of scientific view says, with quite good reasons, that
the p~ssib.lity of running across an alien intelligent race in our solar
system • s negligible.
This is due primarily to the presumed unsuit-
abili
of conditions upon other planets to support life as we know it.
The ..!.!Ying saucer advocates claim, of course, that the scientific
viewpoint ~sense, and that there is overwhelming evidence of
such beings. In my own mind, I find it difficult to side with the flying
saucer advocates, but the almost total impossibility envisioned by
most scientists also is disturbing. Therefore, I present the problem
in current perspective, as I see it.
Up until a few decades ago it seemed very improbable that intelligent
life existed anywhere outside of the solar system. The chief reasons
for this were a combination of scientific theory, scientific knowledge,
and religious belief. The most widely accepted scientific theory as
to the formation of the solar planetary system held that it was a re-
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f sult of the near collisfon of two stars. Since such a p r ~cise ne: r-miss
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