Around 1997 there was a signal detection that passed just about every criteria for
being both extraterrestrial and artificial. As the signal data was being analyzed, one
of the lower level guys who worked for The SETI Institute's Project Phoenix called
his girlfriend to tell her they may have finally gotten a real alien transmission.

The news started spreading like crazy until it was determined that the signal came
from a human-made satellite in Earth orbit.

So, not SETI, not Watergate, not much stays hidden thanks to the big mouths of
the human race.

AS Ted Koppel once said when asked about it, a news reporter would give their right
arms to be the one to break the story of all time in regards to the discovery of alien
life, especially intelligent ones.