The Government’s (Not-So) Secret Plan for First Contact with Aliens

Deep within government files lies a chilling blueprint for what happens when Earth finally meets beings from another world.

The Birth of an Otherworldly Protocol

Since the beginning of time, humans have gazed at the stars and wondered if they were truly alone. By 1950, the United States government decided wondering wasn’t enough — they needed a plan. World War II had ended just five years earlier, and the Cold War was already casting its shadow across the globe. In this atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, officials created something that sounds like it came straight from a science fiction movie: a seven-step protocol for making contact with extraterrestrial life.

This wasn’t just idle speculation. Government officials had genuinely considered the possibility that Earth might one day encounter beings from distant worlds, and they wanted to be ready. The plan they developed would guide humanity’s first steps into the cosmic unknown — assuming those steps didn’t lead to our destruction.

Step One: Watch From the Shadows

The first phase of the government’s alien contact protocol reads like a spy thriller. Before making any move toward contact, Earth’s representatives would conduct extensive covert surveillance on the alien species. This would all be done remotely, using whatever technology was available to observe without being detected.

The goal was simple yet crucial: gather as much information as possible about these beings before they knew humans were watching. What did they look like? How intelligent were they? What sounds did they make? Every detail would be recorded and analyzed by teams of scientists and military personnel.

This surveillance phase served a darker purpose as well. By studying the aliens from a distance, humans could determine whether approaching them would be safe — or if it would be better to avoid them entirely and find ways to stay hidden forever.

Step Two: Move in Closer

Once initial observations were complete, the plan called for moving to the second phase: closer covert operations. Teams would get near enough to the alien civilization to gather more detailed information, but still without making any form of contact or revealing their presence.

This phase was designed to answer questions that long-distance surveillance couldn’t address. How did these beings interact with each other? What was their society like? Were they peaceful or aggressive by nature? The closer observations would provide intimate details about alien behavior and culture that would be essential for planning the next steps.

Even at this stage, the emphasis remained on staying hidden. The beings under observation would have no idea that Earth’s representatives were studying their every move, cataloging their behaviors, and preparing reports that would determine the future of both species.

Step Three: Assess the Threat

The third step reveals the paranoid mindset that shaped this protocol. Government officials were deeply concerned about one crucial question: were these aliens more advanced than humans? The focus would shift entirely to studying alien military capabilities and technology.

Teams would analyze alien weapons, transportation methods, and defensive systems. They would study how these weapons were used and whether the species showed signs of hostile behavior. Most importantly, they would determine if the aliens possessed technology that could pose a threat to Earth.

If the assessment revealed that the alien species was significantly more advanced or better armed than humanity, the contact mission might be abandoned entirely. The government was prepared to walk away from first contact if it meant avoiding a conflict that Earth couldn’t win.

This step reflected the fears of the era when the plan was created. With memories of World War II still fresh and the Cold War already underway, government officials were acutely aware of what happened when one civilization encountered another with superior technology and hostile intentions.

Step Four: Reach Out From Afar

If the aliens appeared manageable and non-threatening, the protocol moved to its fourth phase: attempting distant communication. This would mark humanity’s first deliberate attempt to make contact with another intelligent species.

The communication might take various forms. The aliens could reach out first, perhaps through radio signals or light patterns. Alternatively, human teams might need to send the first message and wait anxiously for a response. Either way, this would be a delicate dance of trying to establish peaceful contact across the vast gulf between species.

Language would present an enormous challenge. There was no guarantee that humans and aliens would share any common method of communication. The teams would need to find creative ways to convey peaceful intentions and establish that neither species posed a threat to the other.

This distant communication phase also served as a test. Human observers would carefully monitor alien responses to determine if the beings were planning an attack or showed signs of hostility. Any indication of aggressive intent would trigger an immediate withdrawal and reassessment of the entire mission.

Step Five: The Abduction Protocol

The fifth step of the government’s plan contains perhaps its most disturbing element. Once officials determined that the aliens were non-hostile, the protocol called for collecting specimens from the alien world — including members of the intelligent species themselves.

The plan explicitly described this as conducting “non-harmful abduction” of one or two aliens for study and experimentation. The intention was to return the beings afterward, as if nothing had happened. Government officials apparently saw nothing problematic about kidnapping members of another species for scientific purposes.

This phase would also involve collecting plant samples and other creatures from the alien world for analysis. All of this would be done to gain a complete understanding of alien biology and capabilities before moving to direct contact.

The irony of this step is striking. For decades, UFO enthusiasts have reported alien abductions of humans. Yet here was evidence that Earth’s first contact plan included abducting aliens first — a reversal that makes one wonder about the true origin of abduction stories.

Step Six: Show Themselves

After completing their covert studies and abductions, human teams would move to the sixth phase: revealing their presence. This would involve conducting a visible flyby of the alien homeworld or civilization, getting close enough for the largest possible number of beings to see them clearly.

The goal was to make sure that alien society as a whole became aware of humanity’s existence. No one would be able to ignore or deny that they had encountered visitors from another world. However, the human representatives would remain completely out of reach during this demonstration.

After revealing themselves, the teams would carefully observe alien reactions. If the beings became hostile or reacted poorly to human presence, the contact efforts would be discontinued immediately. This phase served as a final test to determine whether face-to-face meetings would be safe.

The timing of this revelation would be crucial. By this point, humans would have gathered extensive intelligence about alien capabilities and intentions, giving them the best possible chance of predicting how the species would respond to first contact.

Step Seven: Face-to-Face Contact

The final step of the protocol was the one that would change both civilizations forever: arranging an actual meeting between humans and aliens. This would only happen if all previous steps had gone smoothly and officials were confident that the aliens posed no military threat.

Human representatives would reach out one more time, reiterating their peaceful intentions and proposing an official meeting. They would suggest a specific time and place for exchanging greetings and beginning formal diplomatic relations between the two species.

The ultimate goal was to establish a peaceful, mutually beneficial relationship with the alien civilization. This meeting would mark the beginning of Earth’s entry into a larger cosmic community — assuming everything went according to plan.

However, this step also carried the greatest risks. No amount of preparation could fully predict how such an unprecedented encounter would unfold, or what consequences it might have for both species.

When Earth Thought Contact Had Arrived

Although confirmed alien contact has never occurred, there have been moments when officials believed they might need to implement their first contact protocols. These incidents offer glimpses into how humanity might react when faced with the unknown.

In 1942, a strange object appeared over Los Angeles during World War II. Military forces fired on what they believed was an enemy aircraft, causing panic throughout the city. A mass blackout was declared as officials feared an air raid was underway. The object was later identified as a weather balloon, but for hours, many people genuinely believed they were witnessing an alien invasion.

Another significant event occurred in 1977 when astronomers at Ohio University detected what became known as the “Wow! signal” — a burst of radio waves from space that appeared to be artificial in origin. The scientific community initially believed they had received a message from extraterrestrial intelligence. Later analysis suggested the signal had a more mundane explanation, but it demonstrated how quickly first contact protocols might need to be activated.

The Problems With the Plan

Despite its detailed approach, the government’s seven-step protocol contains several serious flaws that would make it difficult or impossible to implement. The most obvious problem is that the plan assumes humans would be able to easily reach alien civilizations on other planets.

Current technology makes it extremely unlikely that humans could conduct the surveillance, abductions, and flybys described in the protocol. Space travel beyond our solar system remains far beyond human capabilities, and even reaching nearby planets presents enormous challenges.

The abduction phase presents particularly dangerous problems. Alien beings might carry bacteria or viruses that could devastate human populations. Alternatively, they might not survive in Earth’s environment, leading to their deaths and potentially triggering the very conflict the protocol was designed to avoid.

Perhaps most troubling is the assumption that kidnapping members of another species would somehow contribute to peaceful relations. This approach seems more likely to provoke war than prevent it, especially if the aliens possessed superior technology and military capabilities.

Other Nations Prepare for Contact

The United States isn’t the only country that has considered how to handle alien contact. Other nations have developed their own approaches to this unprecedented scenario, each reflecting different priorities and concerns.

The United Kingdom reportedly plans to treat alien contact as a classified matter, keeping the public uninformed while preparing for the event as if it were a natural disaster. This approach prioritizes maintaining social order over transparency.

Japan has taken a more straightforward military approach, planning to treat any UFO intrusion into their airspace the same way they would handle violations by aircraft from other countries. This policy makes no distinction between human and alien visitors.

China has adopted a more proactive stance, actively seeking opportunities for first contact with the intention of sending immediate messages to any alien civilizations they discover. This approach reflects a willingness to take the initiative in establishing communication.

The United Nations has established an agreement with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) that requires any organization detecting alien signals to report their findings to the UN. International leaders and scientists would then collaborate to determine what message to send in response.

The Curious Timing of Abduction Reports

One of the most intriguing aspects of the government’s first contact plan is its relationship to reports of alien abductions. Before the seven-step protocol was created in 1950, there were virtually no accounts of aliens kidnapping humans.

Historical records contain scattered reports of strange beings attempting to capture people, but these incidents were never attributed to extraterrestrial visitors. It wasn’t until the mid-1950s that the first widely reported alien abduction cases began to emerge.

The Antonio Vilas Boas case and the Betty and Barney Hill abduction became landmark incidents that established the template for thousands of similar reports that followed. The timing raises unsettling questions about whether the government’s own abduction protocols somehow influenced public perceptions and expectations.

Some researchers have suggested that knowledge of the official plan may have planted the idea of alien abductions in people’s minds, leading them to interpret unusual experiences through this new framework. If true, it would mean that humans, not aliens, invented the concept of extraterrestrial kidnapping.

Expert Warnings About First Contact

Many scientists and experts who have studied the possibility of alien contact are pessimistic about how such an encounter would unfold. They point to humanity’s poor track record in handling major crises and suggest that first contact would likely follow a similar pattern of confusion, panic, and poor decision-making.

Stephen Hawking was among the most prominent voices warning about the dangers of alien contact. He believed that even if initial encounters began peacefully, they would quickly turn destructive for humanity. Hawking compared humans to Native Americans encountering European colonizers — initially curious about the newcomers, but ultimately facing disease, violence, and domination.

According to Hawking’s analysis, any aliens capable of reaching Earth would likely have exhausted the resources of their home planet and be searching for new worlds to exploit. These cosmic nomads would possess technology far beyond human capabilities and might view Earth as nothing more than another planet to conquer and strip of resources.

Other experts have raised similar concerns about humanity’s ability to handle first contact. They point to how poorly governments typically respond to natural disasters and other major events, suggesting that alien contact would trigger similar failures of leadership and planning.

A Protocol for the Unknown

The government’s seven-step plan for alien contact represents humanity’s attempt to prepare for one of the most significant events in the history of our species. Created during an era of global tension and uncertainty, it reflects both the hopes and fears of a civilization taking its first tentative steps toward understanding its place in a larger universe.

Whether this protocol would prove effective in an actual first contact scenario remains unknown. The plan’s assumptions about human technological capabilities and alien behavior may prove entirely wrong when tested against reality. Its emphasis on surveillance and abduction might provoke the very conflicts it was designed to prevent.

What the protocol does reveal is the complex mixture of curiosity, paranoia, and ambition that drives human thinking about extraterrestrial life. It shows a species simultaneously eager to make contact with other intelligences and terrified of what such contact might bring.

The seven steps outlined in this decades-old document continue to influence how governments and scientists approach the possibility of alien contact. As humanity’s ability to detect and potentially communicate with extraterrestrial life continues to advance, these protocols may one day move from theoretical planning to practical implementation.

Until that day arrives, the government’s alien contact plan remains a fascinating glimpse into how one species has tried to prepare for an encounter that could change everything — or destroy everything — depending on how it unfolds.

Sources:
https://weirddarkness.com/discover-the-seven-steps-to-first-contact-the-u-s-governments-secret-plan-for-alien-encounters/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_cultural_impact_of_extraterrestrial_contact
https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/ufo/communication-extraterrestrial-intelligence.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_12
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_Panel
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https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/archaeology-anthropology-and-interstellar-communication/
https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2010/08/11/extraterrestrial-first-contact-in-space-protocols/
https://www.livescience.com/what-happens-when-we-discover-aliens.html
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a39021016/alien-contact-earth-protocols/

NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is not an AI voice.