Part of the Casswiki article series Books
UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Coverup, 1941-1973 by Richard M. Dolan is a compilation of historical material on the UFO phenomenon from the 1940’s to the 70’s. The book does not attempt to force an interpretation on events and primarily approaches the question through actual cases and the responses of various government and military agencies to these cases.
The main thrust of the book can be summarized in the following points:
-
There is a wealth of multiple witness cases where government interest is evident, to the point of dispatching aircraft to intercept the would-be UFO. These situations are not consistent with secret testing of new aircraft and the apparent characteristics of the UFO’s do not resemble any known aircraft. If these were of human origin, the gap between traditional aircraft and these would not be as extreme, specially considering the 1940’s level of technology. UFO’s have throughout the history of the phenomenon had essentially the same inexplicable characteristics.
-
There is a consistent history of government overtly and covertly suppressing serious scientific inquiry into the subject. All credible organizations attempting this have been variously undermined.
-
Secrecy and cover-up and conspiracy towards maintaining status quo are the normal modus operandi of any power structure. If this were not so, the power structure would not last. It is naïve to think otherwise.
-
There is documentation of early mind-control research to the effect of synthetic telepathy, i.e. projecting auditory hallucinations into persons’ brains from a distance, just to cite one example. It is not unreasonable to think that broad scale electrical manipulation of the subconscious of the masses be both a technical possibility as well as a likely reality.
The author has written numerous articles elaborating on the UFO phenomenon and the official response to it. He raises pertinent questions and does not engage in metaphysical speculation. The book is very well-sourced and makes a convincing case for the existence of a cover-up. He also wrote a second volume of this title: UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-Up Exposed, 1973-1991.