The Report

on Unidentified

Flying Objects

by Edward J. Ruppelt

[1956]

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This is Edward J. Ruppelt's memoir of his role in the seminal US Air Force
UFO study projects: Projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book. According to this
account, he coined the acronym 'UFO' and put many of the official procedures for
reporting and studying UFOs in place. An enjoyable read, this book captures the
feel of working for the mid-20th century US military. He describes the changing
attitudes of the USAF about UFOs during the early 1950s: wobbling between
denial, ridicule, paranoia, and genuine inquiry.

A key point of this book is to resolve doubts about the military's role.
Ruppelt makes a strong case that UFOs weren't a top secret weapons system; the
reports were not disinformation by intelligence agencies; nor was there a
concerted effort to cover up UFOs by the US government. Ruppelt does recount
many times when the brass tried to dismiss reports without investigating them
sufficiently. However, this comes across as simply standard-issue military
'cover-your-ass' behavior, not a vast conspiracy.

He gives unique details on some of the most impressive sightings on his
watch. These were largely witnessed by highly trained observers such as radar
operators, fighter and commercial pilots, astronomers, and other scientists,
often during the course of their official duties. The Air Force group that
Ruppelt worked for had access to data on top secret balloon launches and test
flights, so they were able to sort out which reports could be explained in this
way. He consulted with a wide range of scientific specialists, many of whom were
in favor of the extraterrestrial hypothesis, and some who were skeptics.

Fully a quarter of the reports were still unexplained after this rigorous
filtering. Ruppelt is decidedly agnostic, but open-minded, about the reality
behind the 'unexplained' sightings. Unlike Keyhoe, he does not
claim that UFOs are interplanetary spacecraft, only that this is one of the
possible explanations. --J.B. Hare, May 13,
2008.