The first sentence–the Nixon quote–is a fine one. But after that, you try to build your case. You don’t build a case in the first paragraph, instead you try to entice the reader. Transition from the Nixon quote to a simple statement of the controversy that this essay will address.

If your thesis indeed is that the US government should never disclose evidence of extraterrestrials that they may possess, then that’s the last statement of paragraph one.

Then the body of the essay should be organized into concise points. Now, I see two here–(a) the American public would realize that the feds are keeping secrets and trust would decrease [if critical thinking is an emphasis, you might want to ask yourself if the average citizen doesn’t already think the feds are keeping even stupider secrets–and if releasing secret UFO files might not increase trust as a result] (b) the public is not emotionally ready to accept extraterrestiral life [this argument is more solid by comparison]. I presume you have other reasons to advance, such as the likelihood that any government data is tenuous and would not settle anything.

Hope that helps.

If he’s just ex-president Nixon, he has no more right to secret information than any other citizen, so to make your point that even the highest position in the land couldn’t access those secret files, you have to spell it out and make it clear that he was still acting in his capacity as president.

I wouldn’t suggest that creating mistrust is the main reason for not releasing secret information, if any exists. It could always be presented as something that had only been confirmed and that up until that time, there was no solid evidence to prove that extraterrestrials, or their UFOs, were in fact anything more than aberrations in the light band frequencies or electromagnetic manifestations.

The vast majority of people don’t believe the USgovernment is trustworthy in any case. And whether the American public is or isn’t ready to mentally or emotionally accept the fact that they may not be alone in the universe isn’t germane to this issue. If there are proven evidences of extraterrestrials, then the sooner the public knows this, the better. Because if they do, in fact, exist, people are going to have to learn to deal with that fact. Whether they want to or not. Avoiding the issue is like saying people aren’t ready to know that there is another Force 9 hurricane on the way. It might not be pleasant news, but it certainly helps one to do as much as possible to prepare for it.