Beyond UFO Secrecy, the self-published book by John Greenewald Jr., draws on formerly classified government documents to determine whether the American government is hiding knowledge of UFOs from the public. Do UFOs fly through the night sky? Do aliens walk among us? More importantly, is the American government hiding such knowledge from the public?
John Greenewald Jr., creator of the government conspiracy website The Black Vault, purports to answer such questions in his newly released book, Beyond UFO Secrecy. The self-published book draws on formerly classified government documents the author obtained through freedom of information requests.
Obviously, a hunger that goes beyond The X-Files exists for such knowledge. Just released, Greenewald's book already has shown up on Amazon's list of the top 25,000 books -- out of the 2 million books it sells -- and it has been ordered from every U.S. state and six countries, according to Greenewald.
The author claims his book shows that a UFO cover-up is undeniable, and he attempts to use government documents to prove it. The 21-year-old author has dug up UFO reports submitted to the U.S. government, most of them dating back decades.
The first report Greenewald uncovered was that of the 1976 "Iran Incident," in which two American fighter jets scrambled over Tehran after spotting a UFO with pulsing strobe lights and what appeared to be a smaller vessel with the so-called mother ship. At one point, the Defense Intelligence Agency report details how one of the pilots lost power and communications and initiated a dive to escape the UFO.
Even more interesting than such reports, however, are the files Greenewald dug up from the 1950s, in which the CIA's Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects discusses "debunking" programs designed to reduce public interest in flying saucers.
Such debunking programs were to consist largely of educational films showing first the UFO and then the explanation. The anti-UFO propaganda sprang from the government's concern that the emergency reporting channels would be overwhelmed with false information, and that the public would be subject to mass hysteria and "greater vulnerability to possible enemy psychological warfare."
Greenewald also shows, with documents obtained through Canada's Access to Information Act, that the North American Aerospace Defense Command still collects information on UFOs even though it insists it does not.
Does Greenewald prove that UFOs regularly zip around in U.S. airspace? Yes, in a way. Beyond UFO Secrecy documents past UFO reports and demonstrates that the government took the reports seriously enough not only to collect them, but also to debunk them.
But does the book prove that UFOs exist? That would be going too far.
Most of Greenewald's book consists of government attempts to explain what UFOs were. In one report, the CIA panel wrote: "It was interesting to note that none of the members of the Panel were loath to accept that this earth might be visited by extraterrestrial intelligent beings of some sort, someday. What they did not find was any evidence that related the objects sighted to space travelers."
The book suffers from poor writing and weak arguments. It is full of awkward phrasing and eccentric punctuation. Greenewald often interprets the UFO documents clumsily, and -- perhaps lazily -- fills the book with reproductions of the files in all their blacked-out glory.
Overall, it's a book for those who already believe the truth is out there.
Black Vault Illuminates Secrets
UFO Seekers Search for Respect
Outing UFO Clues Good for Ratings
