[ray__]

Even leaving aside arguments for the viability of extraterrestrials coming to our planet and then accidentally being detected by us, I rarely see anyone discuss the boring human aspect of stories like this–namely that there is simply no way that information about a close encounter wouldn't leak.

Even the largest successful government coverups (MKULTRA, Iran-Contra, etc.) required far fewer people to be "in the know" than would be required for something like a crashed or observed alien spacecraft. In addition to this, the people who would have to be in the know would not be a community of high-ranking intelligence officers who are dedicated to their mission. It would be janitors, construction workers, commercial radar operators, and the like. There is no way that people like this could be motivated to keep an existential threat like this under wraps.

[themodelplumber]

Isn't this why it's claimed that people employed by the government were told to intentionally spread some really wild stories? So that it seems like everybody's got a leak to share, reducing the impact of any other legitimate leaks of that nature?