As I’ve said before in articles I’ve written, I grew up in the 1940s when the “canals” did represent intelligent life. This was well past Well’s great program. There was no panic in those days. The presumption of intelligent life on Mars was widely accepted to the point that some started spreading the meme of little green people with eyes extended on stems.
People went about their routines, church, school, business, not at all concerned that we were not the only intelligent life in the universe, even in our own solar system.
The excuse for failing to disclose facts known by government, whatever those facts may be, that “citizens will panic and there will be chaos” if government should reveal facts indicating extraterrestrial intelligent life was shown 80 years ago to be not true.
We can handle it. Secrecy and lies are NOT to protect ordinary citizens. It is to protect the cushy positions of government officials who have lied to us all these years. It is well past time for the secrecy and lies to end.