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UFOs
"For much too long, the public has been misled by half-truths, by cover-ups, and by outright falsehoods . . . It is time to talk sense to the public about Unidentified Flying Objects," writes Philip J. Klass in The Public Deceived.
338 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
About the author
Philip J. Klass
12 books4 followersAmerican journalist, engineer and UFO researcher, known for his skepticism regarding UFOs.
Klass began his writing career for the magazine Aviation Week.
He is not to be confused with sci-fi author William Tenn, whose real name was also Philip Klass.
Klass began his writing career for the magazine Aviation Week.
He is not to be confused with sci-fi author William Tenn, whose real name was also Philip Klass.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 9, 2025
KLASS CRITIQUES ‘CONSPIRACY’ AND ‘COVERUP’ UFO THEORIES
Author Philip Julian Klass (1919-2005) wrote in the Introduction to this 1983 book, “Are extraterrestrial craft penetrating the airspace over some of this nation’s vital military facilities? Are UFOs abducting innocent persons with increasing frequency… And do they sometimes make physical attacks? If the U.S. government involved in a massive coverup that dwarfs the Watergate scandal both in longevity and importance? Or has the public been deceived by those eager to promote belief in UFOs, abetted by seemingly responsible news media that have shirked their responsibility to investigate thoroughly before publicizing extraordinary claims? For much too long, the public has been misled by half-truths, by coverup, and by outright falsehoods… it is time to talk sense to the public about unidentified flying objects.” (Pg. 3)
He explains, “In late 1969, when the USAF announced it was closing down its Project Blue Book UFO investigations office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base… all its UFO files were transferred to the Air Force Archives… There the files were open to UFO researchers, but because the archives building also contained classified files on other subjects, researchers wanting to visit the UFO archives first had to make arrangements through the Pentagon. Thus an aura of secrecy persisted. Then in the spring of 1976… all of the Project Blue Book files… now were open to anyone without restriction and a microfilm copy of the complete collection could be purchases… [But] another cry of censorship was heard from some UFOlogists. They reported that many of the names of persons who had submitted UFO reports, or been involved… had been blacked out. This was true… [but in 1974] Congress had passed the Privacy Act, and it was this that required the USAF to delete some, but not all, names… If the report came from military personnel or a government employee… [and] if the incident occurred while the person was at work… then the name could remain intact.” (Pg. 5-6)
He notes that some “formerly ‘secret’ CIA documents reveal that there was serious, and justifiable, concern about the ‘UFO problem within the agency and within the USAF---but NOT because there was any evidence that any UFOs were either extraterrestrial and Soviet craft. Rather, because the USSR, with its growng fleet of long-range bombers … could conceivably exploit UFO-mania within the U.S. to stage a surprise attack. The first eyewitness reports of approaching enemy bombers could too easily be dismissed as prosaic UFO report, until the first atomic weapons began to explode…. To publicly disclose … the reason for agency concern, would simply have alerted the USSR to the possibility that it COULD plan to exploit UFOs to mask a surprise nuclear attack.” (Pg. 21)
He reports, “The CIA did not release all of its UFO-related papers in late 1978. It refused to declassify some 57 pages on the grounds that they might compromise U.S. security… [Attorney Peter] Gersten decided to take legal action to try to force the CIA to release the remaining 57 pages, but his request was rejected by the U.S. District Court…” (Pg. 47) Gersten also wants the NSA to release another 135 pages. “These withheld 192 pages … will remain a cause célèbre for the UFO movement. UFO proponents will claim that … these pages would provide the long-sought ‘smoking gun’ and reveal that the U.S. government has … known that UFOs are extraterrestrial craft… the extraordinarily small number of pages being withheld contradicts this desperate hope. If the U.S. government obtained positive evidence that even one UFO was an extraterrestrial craft thirty years ago, that would represent one of the most extraordinary events in history… It is inconceivable that that large bureaucracies collectively would generate a total of only 192 pages of super-secret memoranda over a period of three decades…” (Pg. 49)
He comments on the Travis Walton incident: “[Michael] Rogers and Duane Walton… complain[ed] to Sheriff Gillespie because he was not continuing the search for Travis… veteran Phoenix UFOlogist Fred Sylvanus, tape-recorded the 65-minute conversation with Rogers and Duane Walton, and a copy of the tape was later supplied to me… If Rogers and Duane really believed that Travis had been zapped by a UFO three days earlier… almost certainly Duane would never again see his young brother alive again… Yet never once in the 65-minute interview did with Duane Walton or Rogers express the slightest concern over Travis’s well-being… Nor did Rogers ever voice any regret that he had decided to drive off and abandon his good friend Travis… But it was the comments … [by] Duane… that really surprised … Sylvanus. For example… ‘I don’t believe he’s hurt or injured in any way. [He’ll] be back sooner or later… Don’t feel any fear for him at all… He’s not even missing. He knows where he’s at, and I know where he’s at.” (Pg. 165)
He continues, “In my later discussion with Dr. [Jean] Rosenbaum [a psychiatrist], I asked whether Travis had at any time mentioned a strong prior interest in UFOs. [He] replied: ‘Everybody in the family claimed that they had seen one… he’s been preoccupied with this all most all of this life…then he made the comment to his mother just prior to the incident that if he was ever abducted by a UFO she was not to worry because he’d be all right.’” (Pg. 174)
He reports, “In the early fall of 1966, Look magazine published a blockbuster that would forever change the UFO movement’s acceptable level of credulity: a two-part series describing an alleged UFO abduction of Betty Hill and her husband, Barney. The articles by John G. Fuller, a prelude to his book [‘Incident at Exeter’]… generated the highest newsstand sales in the magazine’s history. Publication in so prestigious a magazine gave the incident an aura of authenticity that would make it world famous. But in fact the incident had been investigated by NICAP representatives nearly five years earlier and its officials had serious doubts about the alleged abduction. This explains why the Betty and Barney Hill incident was not even mentioned in NICAP’s ‘The UFO Evidence.’” (Pg. 269)
He points out, “The U.S. Government has gone to court to try to block publication of books that threaten to reveal important secrets, such as ‘The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence,’ by former CIA employee Victor Marchetti… and ‘The Pentagon Papers,’ by Daniel Ellsberg. But the government took no such action to try to block publication of ‘The Roswell Incident’ [by Belitz and Moore], which claims to reveal the biggest secret of all time.” (Pg.. 282)
He continues, “today, more than three decades after Berlitz and Moore claim that the U.S. government recovered a crashed saucer, our newest military aircraft and their propulsion systems still do not employ any revolutionary new technology that could have been derived from UFOs---only improved versions of traditional technology… But more significant, if Berlitz and Moore are correct, and one UFO was critically damaged more than 30 years ago by a lightning stroke which our ‘primitive’ terrestrial aircraft are usually able to survive, why have there not been any additional UFO crashes during the past three decades? If one is so credulous as to believe that there HAVE been more UFO crashes… surely there are other governments around the globe whose leaders would be eager to publicize a history-making event that occurred in their countries.” (Pg. 283-284)
He asserts, “UFOlogists devise convoluted explanations to explain why UFOnauts for so many years showed no interest in earthlings, but in recent years seem to have developed an insatiable appetite for giving superficial examinations. Yet the UFOnauts never carry a few earthlings back to their native planet for a truly rigorous examination. And why do UFOs, presumably operated by creatures of super-intelligence, only abduct and communicate with dull, uninteresting earthlings rather than seek out more intellectually stimulating subjects?” (Pg. 294)
This book will be of great interest to those interested in ‘skeptical’ perspectives on UFOs.
Author Philip Julian Klass (1919-2005) wrote in the Introduction to this 1983 book, “Are extraterrestrial craft penetrating the airspace over some of this nation’s vital military facilities? Are UFOs abducting innocent persons with increasing frequency… And do they sometimes make physical attacks? If the U.S. government involved in a massive coverup that dwarfs the Watergate scandal both in longevity and importance? Or has the public been deceived by those eager to promote belief in UFOs, abetted by seemingly responsible news media that have shirked their responsibility to investigate thoroughly before publicizing extraordinary claims? For much too long, the public has been misled by half-truths, by coverup, and by outright falsehoods… it is time to talk sense to the public about unidentified flying objects.” (Pg. 3)
He explains, “In late 1969, when the USAF announced it was closing down its Project Blue Book UFO investigations office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base… all its UFO files were transferred to the Air Force Archives… There the files were open to UFO researchers, but because the archives building also contained classified files on other subjects, researchers wanting to visit the UFO archives first had to make arrangements through the Pentagon. Thus an aura of secrecy persisted. Then in the spring of 1976… all of the Project Blue Book files… now were open to anyone without restriction and a microfilm copy of the complete collection could be purchases… [But] another cry of censorship was heard from some UFOlogists. They reported that many of the names of persons who had submitted UFO reports, or been involved… had been blacked out. This was true… [but in 1974] Congress had passed the Privacy Act, and it was this that required the USAF to delete some, but not all, names… If the report came from military personnel or a government employee… [and] if the incident occurred while the person was at work… then the name could remain intact.” (Pg. 5-6)
He notes that some “formerly ‘secret’ CIA documents reveal that there was serious, and justifiable, concern about the ‘UFO problem within the agency and within the USAF---but NOT because there was any evidence that any UFOs were either extraterrestrial and Soviet craft. Rather, because the USSR, with its growng fleet of long-range bombers … could conceivably exploit UFO-mania within the U.S. to stage a surprise attack. The first eyewitness reports of approaching enemy bombers could too easily be dismissed as prosaic UFO report, until the first atomic weapons began to explode…. To publicly disclose … the reason for agency concern, would simply have alerted the USSR to the possibility that it COULD plan to exploit UFOs to mask a surprise nuclear attack.” (Pg. 21)
He reports, “The CIA did not release all of its UFO-related papers in late 1978. It refused to declassify some 57 pages on the grounds that they might compromise U.S. security… [Attorney Peter] Gersten decided to take legal action to try to force the CIA to release the remaining 57 pages, but his request was rejected by the U.S. District Court…” (Pg. 47) Gersten also wants the NSA to release another 135 pages. “These withheld 192 pages … will remain a cause célèbre for the UFO movement. UFO proponents will claim that … these pages would provide the long-sought ‘smoking gun’ and reveal that the U.S. government has … known that UFOs are extraterrestrial craft… the extraordinarily small number of pages being withheld contradicts this desperate hope. If the U.S. government obtained positive evidence that even one UFO was an extraterrestrial craft thirty years ago, that would represent one of the most extraordinary events in history… It is inconceivable that that large bureaucracies collectively would generate a total of only 192 pages of super-secret memoranda over a period of three decades…” (Pg. 49)
He comments on the Travis Walton incident: “[Michael] Rogers and Duane Walton… complain[ed] to Sheriff Gillespie because he was not continuing the search for Travis… veteran Phoenix UFOlogist Fred Sylvanus, tape-recorded the 65-minute conversation with Rogers and Duane Walton, and a copy of the tape was later supplied to me… If Rogers and Duane really believed that Travis had been zapped by a UFO three days earlier… almost certainly Duane would never again see his young brother alive again… Yet never once in the 65-minute interview did with Duane Walton or Rogers express the slightest concern over Travis’s well-being… Nor did Rogers ever voice any regret that he had decided to drive off and abandon his good friend Travis… But it was the comments … [by] Duane… that really surprised … Sylvanus. For example… ‘I don’t believe he’s hurt or injured in any way. [He’ll] be back sooner or later… Don’t feel any fear for him at all… He’s not even missing. He knows where he’s at, and I know where he’s at.” (Pg. 165)
He continues, “In my later discussion with Dr. [Jean] Rosenbaum [a psychiatrist], I asked whether Travis had at any time mentioned a strong prior interest in UFOs. [He] replied: ‘Everybody in the family claimed that they had seen one… he’s been preoccupied with this all most all of this life…then he made the comment to his mother just prior to the incident that if he was ever abducted by a UFO she was not to worry because he’d be all right.’” (Pg. 174)
He reports, “In the early fall of 1966, Look magazine published a blockbuster that would forever change the UFO movement’s acceptable level of credulity: a two-part series describing an alleged UFO abduction of Betty Hill and her husband, Barney. The articles by John G. Fuller, a prelude to his book [‘Incident at Exeter’]… generated the highest newsstand sales in the magazine’s history. Publication in so prestigious a magazine gave the incident an aura of authenticity that would make it world famous. But in fact the incident had been investigated by NICAP representatives nearly five years earlier and its officials had serious doubts about the alleged abduction. This explains why the Betty and Barney Hill incident was not even mentioned in NICAP’s ‘The UFO Evidence.’” (Pg. 269)
He points out, “The U.S. Government has gone to court to try to block publication of books that threaten to reveal important secrets, such as ‘The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence,’ by former CIA employee Victor Marchetti… and ‘The Pentagon Papers,’ by Daniel Ellsberg. But the government took no such action to try to block publication of ‘The Roswell Incident’ [by Belitz and Moore], which claims to reveal the biggest secret of all time.” (Pg.. 282)
He continues, “today, more than three decades after Berlitz and Moore claim that the U.S. government recovered a crashed saucer, our newest military aircraft and their propulsion systems still do not employ any revolutionary new technology that could have been derived from UFOs---only improved versions of traditional technology… But more significant, if Berlitz and Moore are correct, and one UFO was critically damaged more than 30 years ago by a lightning stroke which our ‘primitive’ terrestrial aircraft are usually able to survive, why have there not been any additional UFO crashes during the past three decades? If one is so credulous as to believe that there HAVE been more UFO crashes… surely there are other governments around the globe whose leaders would be eager to publicize a history-making event that occurred in their countries.” (Pg. 283-284)
He asserts, “UFOlogists devise convoluted explanations to explain why UFOnauts for so many years showed no interest in earthlings, but in recent years seem to have developed an insatiable appetite for giving superficial examinations. Yet the UFOnauts never carry a few earthlings back to their native planet for a truly rigorous examination. And why do UFOs, presumably operated by creatures of super-intelligence, only abduct and communicate with dull, uninteresting earthlings rather than seek out more intellectually stimulating subjects?” (Pg. 294)
This book will be of great interest to those interested in ‘skeptical’ perspectives on UFOs.
March 7, 2017
A very interesting and entertaining read. Klass's style of writing is very engaging, and the material is sufficiently interesting that it is hard to stop reading explanations of possible UFOs. Klass is clearly a skeptic, and he makes this clear throughout the book. He also gives very convincing accounts. As he says, prosaic explanations are available for all of the cases he knows (and certainly, all the ones he portrays here). This seems to be generally the case, and I am unaware of cases where absolutely no prosaic explanation is available (I'd be happy to be pointed towards cases that have no prosaic explanations). The book is a bit old, and seems to have too strong of a belief that polygraphs are good lie-detectors, but otherwise an interesting read to see some of the explanations for some UFOs.
May 23, 2012
I'm pretty much what you'd call a skeptic when it comes to occult subjects like UFO's, ghosts, sasquatch, etc. But I love to read about them, all sides of the issue. This book is definitely on the skeptical side, but is probably one of the best books I've read on the subject. Phil Klass knows his stuff when it comes to aeronautics and radar and though at times technical, the analytical breakdowns of the famous UFO cases covered is riveting to read. I would almost describe it as following a detective as he reasons out the events of a crime.
When he was alive, Phil Klass recieved enourmous amounts of invective regarding his skeptical stance. Very little, if any, of it was deserved.
Anyone who has a passing interest in UFOs (even if they consider themselves believers) should read this. It may not convince you of anything, but the analysis is first-rate.
When he was alive, Phil Klass recieved enourmous amounts of invective regarding his skeptical stance. Very little, if any, of it was deserved.
Anyone who has a passing interest in UFOs (even if they consider themselves believers) should read this. It may not convince you of anything, but the analysis is first-rate.
July 23, 2016
An oldie, but still worth reading. De arguments against UFO's have not changed, the stories of the believers, however, have become unbelievably "out of this world".
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews