Astro, you ask why alien civilizations would travel thousands of light years just to observe us. It's simple. Because they can! Why do you choose to take a new path when you're out walking in the woods? Because you can, and you're nosy and you want to see how interesting that path is. Why does a dog lick his balls? Because he can!
I see absolutely nothing strange about civilizations that are much, much more advanced than we are coming to observe us. If you were so super intelligent -normal, for them- and you had some hyper-driven space ship and a life-long free ticket to ride, wouldn't you go planet hopping? I sure as hell would! Jeez, you think our weed's good? Who knows what they're growing on Lalonde!
You asked why a governing body would want to cause death and so many million dollars of damage to their own assets. 'Cuz they're fuckwads that should be shot. Or hanged. See 9/11.