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Book Review: John Alexander's new UFO book

Free episodes:

Christopher O'Brien

Back in the Saddle Aginn
Staff member
Raspberries for the conspiracy crowd
by Billy Cox

Review HERE:

If you’re even remotely serious about The Great Taboo, you’ll need to put John Alexander’s just-released UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities on your to-do list. And not just because it’s been endorsed by luminaries as disparate as Burt Rutan, Tom Clancy, Jacques Vallee and Whitley Strieber. Although it may not alter your perceptions, the challenge presented by the retired U.S. Army colonel can’t help but sharpen your critical-thinking skills.

A former Los Alamos National Lab project manager with ties to the CIA, Special Forces, NATO and the National Research Council, to name a few, Alexander has rightfully cast himself as an intel-world insider. Just how deep inside is another matter, but those familiar with his longstanding interest in UFOs are well aware of his curiosities, which have led him to this position:

There’s no government UFO coverup, but the phenomenon is real, sophisticated, and problematic. In UFOs, he lays it all out and, in some cases, names names.

A canny operator navigating federal bureaucracies bedeviled by endless public requests for UFO material, Alexander once convened an informal group of inquisitive scientists under the name “advanced theoretical physics,” the ATP acronym so neutral it would neither threaten those they wanted to approach nor clang word-search bells in UFO-related FOIA probes. Alexander discusses how his ATP was preparing the stage for congressional hearings in 1999, only to get blown off by Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner, who then chaired the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. He also reports a nibble of political interest in 2005, from Virginia Republican Tom Davis, who “allegedly had a sighting of his own.” (Davis ended his 14-year congressional career in 2008.) Alexander blames Steven Greer’s 2001 Disclosure Project press conference in Washington, in which shaky or fraudulent panelists contaminated the legitimacy of impeccable eyewitnesses, for making the issue radioactive again on Capitol Hill.

In establishing the reality of UFOs, Alexander covers a lot of the same ground explored last year in Leslie Kean’s UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record, and the material is largely redundant on that front. He portrays hardcore UFO conspiracy proponents and doctrinaire skeptics as opposite sides of the same coin. What some readers may have trouble accepting is the contention that any form of UFO censorship is the arbitrary product of insecure, hand-wringing mid-level lieutenants, not from the edicts of some deep-black cabal.

As proof, he reminds readers how not a single government employee, military or civilian, has ever been prosecuted for spilling the beans about their on-the-job UFO encounters. The reason is simple — an organizational coverup is a myth. Alexander recounts first-person conversations with a number of perplexed authorities who should’ve been in the know about these things, from former SDI director Gen. James Abramson to H-bomb pioneer Edward Teller. He even appeals to a few WTF sources, like well-connected military-thriller novelist Tom Clancy: “He said he knew we did not have a[n alien] craft ‘because somebody would have told me!’”

What Alexander proposes here is an authority-figure reality check, from whom the sort of secrecy necessary to fund and compartmentalize subterranean UFO research is not only illogical but impossible to maintain. Alexander’s world view is reassuring; for all of its faults, our system of checks and balances still works the way it was intended.

“The notion that secret subelements of the U.S. Government must deny the President access to such information when requested,” he insists, “is false and illegal.”

In many ways, Alexander’s book – and its logic — is a breath of fresh air. But inevitably, it puts him at odds with a source in a book of equal credibility and creates a gap which is difficult to reconcile.
 
Hi Chris

Show suggestion: have John on with Dolan, who is a real grand conspiracist. They know each other and have met several times. It might make for an interesting debate.
 
Richard? Guess you mean Chris. Got too much Dolan on your mind, eh? ;)

That's a great idea, it would make for a real interesting show.
 
Hi Chris,
Great post and you make a valid point,


A former Los Alamos National Lab project manager with ties to the CIA, Special Forces, NATO and the National Research Council, to name a few, Alexander has rightfully cast himself as an intel-world insider. Just how deep inside is another matter, but those familiar with his longstanding interest in UFOs are well aware of his curiosities, which have led him to this position:

How deep is the question :)
 
I listened to Coast To Coast last night, George Knapp's guest was Alexander. I was -terribly- -sleepy- and I tried hard as I could, not to nod off. But I did. At least I got the first hour and ahalf in. Knapp is an awesome interviewer and radio host. I Truly Believe, that if he did a show about laundry lint, it would be intriguing and intense.
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2011/02/20
 
It's hard to understand why a hack like Noory is the "regular" host while an acutal pro like Knapp is only on once or twice a month.
 
I'm a big George Knapp fan as well. But I thought he tossed Alexander one softball after another. Alexander rambled on for hours about how multi-billion dollar government and the elite of private industry can't find their butts with both hands. We know better.

Disclaimer: I haven't read the book. But the gist of Alexander's interview seemed to be: ' Move along. Nothing to see here!' I kept waiting for Knapp to press him as to where film and tape footage (as per the Gordon Cooper incident), and radar tapes, etc. are finally stored.

Again, maybe I just missed it.
 
I'm a big George Knapp fan as well. But I thought he tossed Alexander one softball after another. Alexander rambled on for hours about how multi-billion dollar government and the elite of private industry can't find their butts with both hands. We know better. Disclaimer: I haven't read the book. But the gist of Alexander's interview seemed to be: ' Move along. Nothing to see here!' I kept waiting for Knapp to press him as to where film and tape footage (as per the Gordon Cooper incident), and radar tapes, etc. are finally stored.

I'm listening to Knapp's interview. It's long, that's for sure, and John is singing his usual song. At least he's been 100% consistent over the years. Maybe he's right; who knows?
 
We recorded the interview yesterday for broadcast on Sunday, March 13. Dr. Alexander is a fascinating fellow who appears to have known most everyone as you'll see when you go to his site.
 
Who are the fakes and phonies in the Disclosure Project lineup that Knapp and Alexander refer to in the C2C interview? I've heard Kevin Randle refer to it but no one ever names names. I'm guessing Clifford Stone may be one of them. Is there an article or a list that someone has compiled somewhere?
 
Who are the fakes and phonies in the Disclosure Project lineup that Knapp and Alexander refer to in the C2C interview? I've heard Kevin Randle refer to it but no one ever names names. I'm guessing Clifford Stone may be one of them. Is there an article or a list that someone has compiled somewhere?
I don't know about fakes and phonies but I just finished editing a 15 hour DVD series of "disclosure dialogs" featuring everybody who is anybody in the field except for: Steven Greer, Al Webre, Michael Salla and David Wilcock. Greer seems to be more interested in bodybuilding, his self-appointed role as ambassador to the universe and free-energy devises he touts but never produces, Webre (a lawyer from Yale YIKES!) loves to jump on every hairbrained story or claim that shows up, Salla, king of the strung together correlation, appears to revel in flawed thinking and believes in the most bizarre theories-- like Webre and of course Wilcock (self-proclaimed re-incarnation of Edgar Cayce) is a self-styled prophet who has never been right, to my knowledge. Remember the Nov 27th 2009 "Obama news conference w/ an alien" BS prediction? Guess who gleefully jumped on the bandwagon...? *burp*

Excuse me, I need to go guzzle some pepto-bismal---all of a sudden I got a nasty case of indigestion just thinking about these beacons of truth and light in the UFO field!
 
I don't know about fakes and phonies but I just finished editing a 15 hour DVD series of "disclosure dialogs" featuring everybody who is anybody in the field ...

Well that sounds pretty interesting, when will that be coming out?

I enjoyed your videos from the UFO congress b.t.w. I had to hurl a few catcalls at the monitor though when poor Michael Schratt was up there obviously hawking the debunked Dan Burisch fantasy! Schratt is a talented guy, it's a shame he has thrown in with an obvious hoaxer. I can't figure it out. John Alexander even commented about it without mentioning any names in an interview that ATS did there with him.

But seriously, I've heard that numerous people who appeared at the original Disclosure Project press conference were not who they claimed to be. It doesn't surprise me in the least, I'd just like hear more about it.

Here is the list from Greer's website.

  • Merle Shane McDow: US Navy Atlantic Command
  • Lt. Col. Charles Brown: US Air Force (Ret.)
  • "Dr. B"
  • Lance Corporal Jonathan Weygandt: US Marine Corps
  • Maj. George A. Filer, III: US Air Force (Ret.)
  • Nick Pope: British Ministry of Defense Official
  • Larry Warren: US Air Force, Security Officer
  • Sgt. Clifford Stone: US Army
  • Master Sgt. Dan Morris: US Air Force, NRO Operative
  • A.H.: Boeing Aerospace Employee
  • Officer Alan Godfrey: British Police
  • Sgt. Karl Wolf: US Air Force
  • Ms. Donna Hare: NASA Employee
  • Mr. John Maynard: DIA Official
  • Dr. Robert Wood: McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Engineer
  • Glen Dennis: NM UFO Crash Witness
  • Sgt. Leonard Pretko: US Air Force
  • Dr. Roberto Pinotti: Italian UFO expert
  • Dr. Paul Czysz: McDonnell Douglas Career Engineer
  • Astronaut Edgar Mitchell
  • John Callahan: FAA Head of Accidents and Investigations
  • Michael Smith: US Air Force Radar Controller
  • Franklin Carter: US Navy Radar Technician
  • Neil Daniels: United Airlines Pilot
  • Lt. Frederick Fox: US Navy Pilot
  • Captain Robert Salas: US Air Force, SAC Launch Controller
  • Prof. Robert Jacobs: US Air Force
  • Harry Allen Jordan: US Navy
  • James Kopf: US Navy Crypto Communications
 
Chris,

Wish you had had a chance to read the book more thoroughly before the interview.
The book is definitely one that should be read by all those with a serious interest in
the subject of the paranormal and ufos in particular and the function of some of our government and military institutions as seen through this author's views and anecdotal examples. It is important to note... while reading it, and the glowing endorsements,.... not only what is said, but also what is not said.

Chris and Gene,
When you have a moment, please look over this review from a blogger
who seems to have read the book quite closely and has made some useful comments
in summarizing its contents. Pay particular attention to what he has to say under the
heading of "Speculations."

UFOs - scientific research: New book alert - John B Alexander

Chris,

Could you be specific about the book that takes an equally credible opposite view? Is that Dolan's work? Then, yes, a Q & A between Dolan and Alexander might prove informative... or just produce a lot of "bobbing and weaving." Both guests get to
ask the questions along with the hosts.

I echo many of the comments presented here about George Knapp, but one needs to keep in mind George does these shows for "fun" as well as the money and that comes across in the whole tone of the program. Once it becomes "a job" that just might change.
It was very clear (to me) that John A. was allowed to skate past the probing question of
where.... all the reports and photos that we know have been submitted and which should be of paramount interest to "someone," have eventually come to rest.

Do you really believe that they ALL must have been tossed, at some point, as a matter of routine "house cleaning" or are gathering dust at some mid-level (chain of command) file until they are... eventually tossed? Isn't that a stretch, when the Roswell case made it very clear that reports and concerns about "novel debris," whatever the source, went to the highest levels of government? After that, to be routinely shipped to Dayton for analysis...or possibly someplace else....hmmm, Now where might that be?...Probably not to a lockable standard file cabinet buried deep within the Penatagon.

Speaking of Dayton, has anyone ever compiled a list of UFO cases specifically related to Dayton? The pattern of sightings there might prove as interesting as that offered in the list of all those cases which include nuclear installations or materials in storage.

What do you think the ufo community's response will be now that it appears the
delta or triangle shaped craft are not ours, NIDS hypothesis and observations to the contrary? It would seem the vast majority of ufo shapes don't have to conform to any
sort of atmospheric aerofoil design, but for some reason these do. Hmmm, what could be the reason for that? Doth JBA's collected comments of protest-- about the militaries' lack of large aerofoil carrying capacity-- constitute excessive protest?

As to the current use of advanced weapons here's a bit of speculation on what military policy might be: No use until we have the countermeasure. No use until there is a unique and demonstrable need for the specific capabilities of this item. No use if there is a possibility it might somehow fall into enemy hands either whole or in part (This rule being subject to some unpublished set of "exception" criteria). No use if the singular advantage of total surprise and victory would be sacrificed with regard to its use in/for possible future and more vital engagements where the "enemy" would not have sufficient wherewithall to develop effective counter measures or offer any significant form of retaliatory response. Conversely, what if an early show of force (capability) would forestall an engagement, provided potential enemies were made aware of the capability, but were in no position to gain access to it or develop suitable counter measures? Hmmm....I wonder...haven't we already used this tactic effectively in other ways?
 
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