Impending alien contact -- destroy or not

[TraderEd]

Seeking title/author -- a ship has entered the solar system & discussions of meet or destroy take place.

 

[chrispenycate]

More information than that would be greatly appreciated. Do humans have established space travel? (and if not, how are they intending to destroy the intruder?) Is there communication as the alien approaches, and about how fast is it coming in? (ie. how long is there for debate before a decision is essential?

I've got several possible culprits, but need to narrow the field; anything extra retained could be helpful, even what the cover looked like.

 

[The Great Snook]

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and go with Footfall by Niven and Pournell

 

[TraderEd]

Thanks for your responses -- it wasn't Footfall. The only thing I can remember is some "laws" were developed (similar to Robotic Laws) -- it is these laws I'm really interested in (tired of debating this with folks swayed by ET & Close Encounters) ... seems we decided to intercept & destroy,