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361 Over the next year, I circulated a draft detection agreement to many interested people, making numerous changes in the text in response to their comments. At the 1988 International Astronautical Congress in Bangalore, India, I proposed a course of action for moving this agreement forward. A finished text was endorsed by the International Academy of Astro- nautics in April 1989 and by the International Institute of Space Law and other international nongovernment organizations shortly thereafter. At the suggestion of Czech legal scholar Vladimir Kopal, the document was called Declaration of Principles on Activities Following the Detection of Extra- terrestrial Intelligence." This Declaration, more commonly known as the First SETI Protocol, is an informal agreement among searchers, not among governments. Adher- ence is entirely voluntary; there are no enforcement provisions. The docu- ment enunciates three basic principles: verify the nature of any detection in cooperation with other searchers; after verification, publicly announce the discovery; do not send communications to the detected alien intelli- gence until international consultations have taken place. Other provisions spell out scientific procedures such as recording the evidence and protect- ing the appropriate wavelengths. Most SETI researchers have adhered to these principles. Meanwhile, astronomer Jill Tarter and others had been working on a “Signal Detection Protocol” for the NASA SETI program that formally got under way in October 1992. This document went into much more detail about procedures. Four scenarios of detection were outlined, with rules tailored to each case: a confirmed detection of evidence indicating extra- terrestrial intelligence, a signal that turns out to be an unsuspected natural phenomenon, an ambiguous signal, and a hoax. The authors of this protocol were highly sensitive to a premature release of information, stating: “Throughout the verification and confirmation phase, it is imperative to restrict knowledge of the activities to the smallest possible number of people.” In the case of a confirmed or ambiguous detec- tion, the protocol required the approval of more senior officials before a press conference could be scheduled by NASA’s public affairs office. The NASA Administrator was obligated to inform the President and the National Space Council prior to an announcement. Similarly, NASA’s Office of Legislative Affairs was to notify the Chairpersons and ranking minority members of key committees and the majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress in advance. A fan. 4h RTAQA 2. ae ane natn d Tanta 2d wtb eed After the NASA program was canceled, Tarter and others prepared a similar Signal Detection Protocol for the SETI Institute’s Project Phoenix. No member of the Project Phoenix team, SETI Institute management, or the cooperating scientific team was to discuss verification and confirmation activities with anyone outside of the Project. In the case of a confirmed signal, the Project Scientist (Jill Tarter) was to inform the Board of Principles, Protocols, and Declarations