National Space Council Memorandum: Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question

Source file: 59_214434_sp_16_7.18.1963.pdf Originating agency: Executive Office of the President / National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC) — Record Group 59 Date range: July 18, 1963 Page count: 6 (all read) High-significance pages: 1, 4, 5, 6

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Official Blurb (from war.gov)

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.

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Summary

This document is an internal memorandum classified "OFFICIAL USE ONLY," written on July 18, 1963, by Maxwell W. Hunter II, a professional staff member of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. It was addressed to Robert F. Packard of the State Department's Office of International Scientific Affairs. Its declared subject: "Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question." The document represents a rare senior policy discussion from the era in which government officials openly considered the question of intelligent extraterrestrial life and the diplomatic implications of any such discovery.

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Research Article

Introduction

In July 1963, at the very height of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, an unusual document was written within the Executive Office of the President. Not a report on Soviet reconnaissance satellites, not a launch forecast. Maxwell W. Hunter II, a senior professional at the National Space Council, sat down and wrote to a State Department colleague the question that most of the government preferred to suppress: what would U.S. policy be if an alien race were discovered in space? The document breaks through the institutional conventions of its era and presents an analysis that is cold, systematic, and startling in its candor.

Institutional and Diplomatic Context

The memorandum was sent from the Executive Office of the President, through the National Aeronautics and Space Council, directly to the State Department's Office of International Scientific Affairs. The address to Robert F. Packard marks the document as targeting the intersection of space policy and foreign policy — an extremely sensitive topic. On the first page a "DECLASSIFIED" stamp appears with number NND 93955, indicating that the document was declassified at a later date. In the upper right corner one can identify the marking "SP 1-NASC ISA FILE COPY" along with a handwritten list of initials of individuals who received copies.

The reference to BNSP Task I within the memorandum suggests the subject had arisen in the context of national-security planning within the space policy framework.

Three Types of Alien Race

The core of Hunter's analysis divides possible alien entities into three categories, each demanding an entirely different policy response.

Type One — Chemical Martians: An entity that has developed only basic chemical spaceflight, at a level comparable to current human technology. Hunter concludes that this type "represents no real problem" and that the United States' existing national policy is adequate to deal with it.

Type Two — Interstellar entity: A race capable of traveling between stars in vessels moving at one-half to three-quarters the speed of light. Hunter calculates that if such a race spread from the galactic center at a rate of a twenty-year stop every ten light-years, it would take only 200,000 years to spread across the entire galaxy. Since human remains dating to 1.7 million years have been found, such a span of time "is not unreasonable." An encounter with such a race would require rapid policy revision.

Type Three — Faster-than-light entity: The most consequential type, in which Einstein's theory is only an approximation. Hunter writes that upon encountering such a race, "our policy should be to negotiate fast," given the obvious implications of a civilization that understands and controls the fundamental forces of nature.

Analysis of the 1963 Scientific Landscape

Hunter offers an impressive scientific survey for 1963. He explains how the scientific consensus on life beyond Earth had shifted. Until a few decades earlier, the prevailing theory had been that our solar system formed as the result of a near-collision between two stars — an extremely rare event — implying that we are nearly alone in the universe. By 1963, however, the balance had tipped: the dominant theory held that planetary systems are a natural product of stellar evolution, meaning that most stars could plausibly harbor planets. Furthermore, the biological sciences had traced almost completely the chain of natural events leading from inert molecules to simple living organisms.

The "Flying Saucer" Question and Mars

In a passage directly relevant to UAP research, Hunter addresses the "flying saucer advocates." He notes that he finds it difficult to side with them, but that the "almost total impossibility" envisioned by most scientists is also disturbing to him. With an intellectual care rare for a government official, he writes: "Therefore, I present the problem in current perspective, as I see it."

On the subject of Mars, Hunter notes that some flying-saucer advocates claim that Martians are mining the Moon for natural resources. He analyzes the engineering logic purely on its merits: the escape velocity from Mars is only 16,500 feet per second, and the braking requirement at the Moon is less than 10,000 feet per second, making the Moon a significantly easier destination from Mars than Earth would be. He also notes that the claim — made by some flying-saucer advocates — that the moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos) are artificial space stations, because they were discovered within a single week in the late nineteenth century, is "interesting" in a way that suggests he does not dismiss it out of hand.

Three events from the Moon are presented as "hints" that would have been interpreted as signs of intelligent life were it not for existing scientific confidence: the discovery of warm gases emanating from the crater Alphonsus, infrared scans showing hot spots on the lunar surface, and the fact that no lunar or planetary probe of significance had yet succeeded — despite enormous efforts by both space powers.

Conclusions and Their Significance

In the conclusions section, Hunter crosses an important threshold. He asserts that even if the probability of discovering alien life is low, it is "finite, and perhaps should not be completely ignored." He recommends that in the event of discovery, the first priority should be to determine as quickly as possible which of the three types is involved, and that a policy of "the immediate burying of all Terrestrial hatchets" would be in order.

The sharpest point in the document is saved for last. Hunter notes that if an alien race were ever discovered, U.S. policy would be determined "in the traditional manner of grand panic" — because no one in the government would take the subject seriously until it actually happened.

The Document's Unique Significance

This document is not a report on a specific UAP incident, but its importance to the field of UAP research is considerable for several reasons.

First, it demonstrates that in 1963, senior government officials within the Executive Office itself did not regard the subject as "fringe lunacy" but discussed it as a legitimate policy question. Second, the document crosses departmental boundaries — from the National Space Council to the State Department — reflecting a perception that the question of alien life is also a diplomatic question, not merely a scientific one. Third, the partial acknowledgment of "flying saucer" claims by a NASC staff member hints at a richer internal government discussion than was ever revealed publicly.

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Key People

Name	Role	Function in Document
Maxwell W. Hunter, II	Professional staff member, National Space Council	Author of the memorandum
Robert F. Packard	Office of International Scientific Affairs, Department of State	Addressee of the memorandum

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Locations

• Washington, D.C. (place of writing)
• Mars (central planet in the discussion)
• The Moon (research site and source of "hints")
• Asteroid belt (mentioned in the context of a planet that may have exploded)
• Alphonsus (crater on the Moon, site of warm gas emissions)

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Incidents

Incident	Date	Location	Pages
Discovery of warm gases from the crater Alphonsus	Before 1963	The Moon	3–4
Infrared scans of the Moon showing hot spots	Before 1963	The Moon	4
Failure of significant lunar and planetary probes	Through 1963	Solar system	4
BNSP Task I discussions on alien intelligence	Before July 1963	Washington, D.C.	1
Discovery of the moons of Mars (Phobos, Deimos)	Late 19th century	Mars	3

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Notable Quotes

"The flying saucer advocates claim, of course, that the scientific viewpoint is nonsense, 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." — page 1

"If all of the scientific speculation were to turn out wrong and we were to stumble across an alien race, we would want to know as quickly as possible which of the three types I have indicated it was, as our diplomatic policy would damned well be influenced by the results." — page 5

"At that point, our policy will be determined in the traditional manner of grand panic." — page 6

"In any event, a policy of the immediate burying of all Terrestrial hatchets would likely be in order." — page 5