Time got away from me this weekend. I hope this is not too difficult to read. It's loosely based on the quote -

It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract. - Alan Shepard

When I go to editing mode the format looks like what I want with the summary indented and in a different font. After posting it all turns into the same format.

The Universality of Poltics

The president watched out the window as they took down the viewing stands from his inauguration. Behind him a door opened and closed. General Powell, the head of the Space Force, entered carrying a folder.

"Another top secret briefing folder? Put it on the stack."

"The protocol on this one is for me to hand it to you and stand by as you read and answer questions. Then I’ll take it and activate the self destruct," the general said.

"How very Mission Impossible of you," he took the folder and opened it. The title was, "Attempts to Contact Earth by an Extraterrestrial Race." The president looked at the general and said, "Your kidding me."

"No, Mr President. One of your campaign promises was to come clean about aliens. We thought it best to get this to you ASAP."

The president moved to a sofa to sit. He started reading.

Attempts to Contact Earth by an Extraterrestrial Race

Summary

Starting at least in 1908 and continuing at thirty nine year intervals events have occurred that have been interpreted to be attempts to contact earth by an extraterrestrial race. The first known attempt caused the massive explosion at Tunguska in Siberia. It was followed by alien spacecraft debris found near Rosewell, New Mexico in 1947. In 1986 two events occurred which could be related. The first is the space shuttle Challenger explosion and the second the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Finally in 2015 an earthquake in Nepal is believed to have been caused by an alien ship materializing below ground.

The president looked up from the paper. "Oh, come on. You expect me to believe this. You picked events every forty years and strung them together."

"If you continue reading Mr President you will find that a device was discovered in Tunguska that is now believed to be a homing device. It was recovered by a secret British expedition during the chaos following the Russian revolution. During the second world war it was transported to the US and kept at Los Alamos to keep it from falling into Nazi hands."

"And that is what brought the flying saucers to Rosewll?" the president asked.

"That is what we believe."

The president looked down at the paper. "So why the Challenger accident if the device is in Los Alamos?"

"NASA borrowed the device and had it on the shuttle. They hoped that by having it in space the alien craft would have an easier time. Out timing was off a little."

"So what happened to it?" the president asked. He paged toward the end of the report. "Oh."

"It was recovered by a Russian spy ship and taken to a secret base near Chernobyl. After that explosion we lost track but the earthquake in Nepal seems to indicate that the Chinese acquired it and had it in a lab in the Himalayas. We reacquired it during the relief efforts."

The president turned to the last page. "And now it is in orbit aboard a military satellite."

"It seems like the safest place. Would you like to prepare a press briefing to reveal this to the public?"

"Do we have any other hard evidence other than this ‘homing device’?"

"After the NSA developed quantum computers we were able to decrypt some of the other information we found."

"And?"

"Reports to their government. Mostly the reports are about about cost overruns, schedule delays and analysis of the failed attempts to contact us. There is nothing about how the technology works. The press briefing, sir?"

"The next likely attempt is well after my second term isn’t it?"

"Yes sir."

"I don’t think I’ll go to the public and tell them that for over a hundred years aliens have been trying to contact us. That we stole some device from the Russians only to lose it back to them and then to the Chinese and had to steal it back from them." The president paused. "I think I’ll let whoever is president at the time of contact make that decision. That will be all General."

"Yes sir, Mr President," the general turned and left.