Alien Contact (part 2)

In 1950, the military designed a series of steps which are intended for the discovery of creatures with human-level sentience. These steps begin with remote surveillance and data gathering, with the goal of determining the capabilities of alien vehicles and weapons (if they have any.) If we judged that alien technology is inferior to ours, we would then begin near approaches—most likely with drones--to their planet to discern whether aliens would react with hostility to our presence. Though this seems logical, can we expect a peaceful reaction to being observed by an alien race? How would we react to an alien craft flying by our planet, or hovering as it observes us and records data? The unknown typically generates fear, and fear often results in aggression.