Let's face it. The mere mention of a belief in the existence of UFO's (Unidentified Flying Objects), or Extraterrestrials (beings not of this Earth) can often cause people to be marginalized as "kooks," or "flask carriers." It's part of the culture of the phenomenon and it can be intimidating enough to many otherwise inquisitive people that they simply discount the subject out of hand and leave it to the crystal-gripping converts fluent in Klingon and Zeta-Reticulan.
Such an attitude would not be completely unwarranted.
The overwhelming belief is that scientists don't take the phenomenon seriously, so why should anyone else? To be fair, the idea is reinforced by a mountain of "lazy literature" on the subject of UFO's and Extraterrestrial life that is, at best, undocumented pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo and, at worst, shameless yarns peddled by skilled charlatans as serious dialogue to the naive and easily influenced.
Most recently, convicted fraudster Erich Von Daniken's "Ancient Astronaut Theory" was resurrected and given undo credence by the History Channel (do they even do history anymore?) in the exquisitely illustrated episodic "undocumentary" series entitled: "Ancient Aliens." Of course, the idea that Jesus, and Socrates, might really have been space aliens is both controversial and entertaining, and on the surface may even seem compelling to some, but none of it is based on anything resembling facts or science. Unfortunately, all the garbage on the subject leaves such a putrid stink that it renders what should be a legitimate issue of scientific inquiry to the realm of fantasy, science fiction, the National Enquirier and episodes of Montel Williams.
That doesn't mean that there aren't any credible studies out there of the UFO and Extraterrestrial phenomenon based on facts, archival evidence, and unimpeachable observers such as astronauts, military pilots, and nuclear weapons officers.
One such study is Richard M. Dolan's UFO's and the National Security State: Chronology of a Cover up, 1941-1973, (2002).
Unlike most writers on the UFO and Extraterrestrial phenomenon, Dolan is a credentialed scholar who takes a scholarly approach to the subject of UFO's. A university-trained historian of the Cold War, Dolan ponders why a government so interested in the defense of its airspace against an attack by nuclear weapons during the Cold War period would not be profoundly disturbed by Unidentified Flying Objects entering and leaving that airspace at will.
Guess what? They were! Moreover, one need not go looking for it in highly classified documents (or, the "X-Files"); they left ample evidence of it in the public record.
Noted computer scientist, Jacques Vallée, whose pioneering work helped NASA map the face of Mars, called Dolan's work, "the first comprehensive study of the U.S. government's response to the intrusion of UFO phenomena in American skies over the last fifty years."
Dolan's book is painstakingly researched and carefully documented through extensive footnotes to archival government sources available in the public domain in the National Archives. Using those sources, Dolan not only systematically demonstrates that the US government has had a clear interest in the UFO phenomena since WWII, but that it continued to study the phenomenon intensely into the 1970s, even as it denied the very existence of UFO's to the American people through a clear pattern of covert efforts, concealment and campaigns of disinformation.
Unlike most other works in the compendium of UFO literature, this book is well-written, engaging, and most importantly ultimately succeeds in making a compelling case that the UFO and Extraterrestrial phenomenon is about more than the existence of unidentified flying objects being controlled by some unknown intelligence, but about the erosion of our civil liberties by a government intent on keeping such culture-changing information from its citizens.
If you are truly curious and want to learn more about the UFO phenomena, cut through the BS and add Richard M. Dolan's UFO's and the National Security State, to your summer reading list. I guarantee it will change your perception of the the UFO and Extraterrestrial phenomena from one of marginal pseudo-science, to one of the greatest human import.
We hope that after your reading, you'll come back and share your thoughts.
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Listen to a presention by Richard Dolan on You Tube in 12 parts: