Excerpt from The Official NASA Procedures for Contact with Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life © National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Extraterrestrial Affairs, 2029 (Classification Level AAA)

SECRECY

If you are party to primary or secondary contact with IEL, it is imperative that secrecy be maintained. Once the press—and thus, the public—finds out about the existence of the IEL, the responses will be immediate and very difficult to control. Therefore, all interhuman communication will be limited to members of the primary and secondary contact teams and NASA’s Department of Extraterrestrial Affairs. No one will be allowed to contact anyone outside this circle—even family members—until the IEL can be properly assessed. Anyone who violates this directive is guilty of breaking federal law and will be immediately removed from the project and incarcerated.