Thanks for the reply.
I knew about salvaging wrecks, but I've never captured ship before, and I don't think I've ever scrapped a ship even in VB versions. I tried yesterday and yes, scrapping does recover at least the intact components, which can then be disassembled. Not sure if missiles should be disassembleable as well. Maybe no one anywhere ever is foolhardy enough to try to disassemble a completely alien warhead.
Also, I got an Alien autopsy research project under biology/genetics, which gave me info on the aliens' environmental tolerances (gravity, temperature, oxygen, pressure). Don't know about intelligence, though.