SP 16 Memo, Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question
July 1963 internal U.S. government memorandum titled 'Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question,' authored by Maxwell W. Hunter II of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, addressed to Robert F. Packard of the State Department's Office of International Scientific Affairs.
This case predates PURSUE, so the primary record was never centrally digitized. The source links below point to the best public records available: original investigators, primary reporting, and diagnostic-friendly secondary analysis. For PURSUE-era cases, mirrored files render inline further down.
Provenance metadataFields marked “not disclosed” are transparent gaps in the release, not omissions on our end.
- Coordinates
- Not disclosed in this release
- Altitude
- Not disclosed in this release
- Sensor detail
- Not disclosed in this release
- Encounter duration
- Not disclosed in this release
- Witness count
- Not disclosed in this release
- Operational context
- Not disclosed in this release
- Weather / visibility
- Not disclosed in this release
- Chain of custody
- Not disclosed in this release
- Classification
- Not disclosed in this release
Official description
Filed as SP 16 in the Records of the Department of State, RG 59, Central Files 1960-1963. The document is a policy-level discussion memo, not a sighting report, generated in connection with deliberations on the Basic National Security Policy (BNSP) Task I review. It is reproduced in the Foreign Relations of the United States series for 1961-1963, Volume XXV, as Document 383.
Editor's context
Hunter notes the contemporary scientific consensus that the probability of encountering an intelligent alien race within the solar system is negligible, but proceeds to enumerate scenarios and policy implications regardless. Significant historically because within two years of the Brookings Report, executive branch and State Department officials were exchanging written analysis on the policy dimensions of contact, treating the question as warranting at least exploratory staff work.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. filing labelDEPARTMENT OF STATE, RG 59, CENTRAL FILES 1960-1963, SP 16
- StampFOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1961-1963 v.XXV, DOCUMENT 383
- AnnotationAuthor: Maxwell W. Hunter II, National Aeronautics and Space Council, Executive Office of the President. Recipient: Robert F. Packard, Office of International Scientific Affairs, State Department.
- AnnotationMemo opens by acknowledging the 'negligible' probability of intelligent alien contact within the solar system, then proceeds to enumerate policy scenarios anyway, a notable example of contingency planning at a moment when official posture was publicly dismissive.
- AnnotationConnects historically to the Brookings Report (1960) which had similarly considered policy implications of extraterrestrial discovery for U.S. institutions.
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Department of State. "SP 16 Memo, Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question." Released via PURSUE program, 2026-05-08. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v25/d383. Accessed 2026-08-12 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/sp-16-memo-1963.
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