This is a listing of significant books about various aspects of the UFO Phenomenon. They are broken down into general categories with only one book listed per author. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Rather, a sampling of interesting books. It is not the purpose of this website to prove the existence of the phenomenon. The listed books and authors provide a starting point for those who wish to inquire further. At the end of 1953, a CIA memo lamented the fact that the CIA/Air Force efforts were not able to prevent the publication of two books about the UFO phenomenon in that year.

My book about the current Congressional consideration of UFO/UAPs can be found through many outlets. Links to online purchase of the UFO Briefing Book: A Guide to Congressional Oversight of the UAP Phenomenon and Threat to the Body Politic: Foo Fighters to UAP.

Why is Congress So Interested in UAP?

Publication Date: January 24, 2024

Since the 2017 release of three naval aviation videos of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), congressional national security committees have struggled to understand their broader implications. Congress has adopted multiple rounds of legislation meant to get to the bottom of this enigma. Yet, their efforts have been impeded by the military and intelligence community. Today’s pushback has its origins in historic UFO policies. Many of these policies were established by a CIA secret panel which declared that the public’s interest in UFOs will “result in a threat to the orderly functioning of the protective organs of the body politic.”

Threat to the Body Politic is a historical analysis of official policies about these anomalous craft, up through today’s congressional interest. Beginning in 1953, the CIA and Air Force combined to develop policies to denigrate UAP witnesses who challenged the official narrative that all UFO sightings were the product of mistaken identity, delusion, or hoax. Psychological warfare methods were used on Americans to hide evidence and “debunk” those who documented this mystery.  Using declassified records and the testimony of government officials, Threat to the Body Politic shows how these secretive efforts began and continue to this day. The Book also recommends steps to help Congress understand the broader implications of UAP, whether man-made or not. James P. Lough is a retired government lawyer who wrote The UFO Briefing Book: A Congressional Guide to the UAP Phenomenon (March 2021). It predicted the need for Congress to enact multiple mandates intended to strip away the secrecy around a subject that is both publicly derided and highly classified. Jim uses his experience in constitutional law, government procedures, legislative drafting, and teaching “Decision Making in Urban Communities” at the San Diego State University School of Public Affairs to discuss how to address this enigma. His interest in UFOs comes from having witnessed several at close range over his lifetime.

After the release of the Department of Defense first historical report, Threat to the Body Politic demonstrates how AARO ignored critical evidence in the unclassified record showing a common plan and purpose to “debunk” quality witnesses and evidence of UAP, dating back to at least World War II. The Pentagon report parrots the conclusions of early UAP programs without any critical analysis. While only skimming the surface of the efforts to secretly study UAP, the military, law enforcement and the intelligence community denigrated highly qualified evidence and trained witnesses of craft that demonstrated performance characteristics equal to today’s UAP. The declassified record also shows efforts to prevent high quality witnesses and evidence from coming forward. Using illegal tactics and questionable methods, primarily by the Air Force and CIA, these clandestine programs sought to keep the public and Congress in the dark about these activities.

UFO Briefing Book: A Guide to Congressional Oversight of the UAP Phenomenon

On June 25, 2021, four congressional committees are scheduled to receive a report from the Director of National Intelligence on the efforts of the Defense Department and the 18 intelligence agencies to understand what threat is posed by unknown objects that have interacted with the aircraft from the carriers U.S.S. Nimitz and U.S.S. Roosevelt in 2004 and 2015.  These incidents came to light in a December 16, 2017 New York Times story that revealed three videos taken by Naval fighter pilots.  In early 2020, the Pentagon confirmed the existence of the videos.  The Senate Select Intelligence Committee followed this shocking revelation with a series of questions about the threat these objects may pose to the United States.   

Retired government attorney James P. Lough uses his research skills and knowledge of government operations to prepare this briefing book to demonstrate how Congress can conduct its first serious review of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP).  The briefing book discusses the failed history of Congress to inquire into this subject.  He details the questions Congress needs to ask and shows what legislative and administrative steps that Congress can take if the Pentagon and the intelligence community continue their seventy plus years of refusal to cooperate.

This book is a must read for those who are concerned about continual intrusions into our airspace by high performance objects that possess no known form of propulsion and can disable our most advanced weapons systems.  Are they the vehicles of a foreign adversary who have achieved massive technological breakthrough for which we have no countermeasures?  Are these encounters the product of the imaginations of our highly trained military pilots?  Why does the Pentagon routinely remove records of these incidents and require secrecy oaths of witnesses?  Are these objects evidence that we are being visited by advanced beings from another star system or dimension?  This book gives our elected leaders a roadmap to discovering the answers to these questions. 

The author uses his experience in helping governments investigate misconduct and recommend policies to prevent future occurrences.  He also relies upon his experience in academia teaching graduate students in government how to make decisions in crisis situations.  This guide will help Congress ask the right questions about an issue that may be the most important question of our time.  Are we alone in the Universe? 

Two books by Whitley Strieber are of particular interest. His first book about his own abduction experiences is a must read. Communion: A True Story (1988) is a gripping account of his first remembered experiences with Extraterrestrials known as the “Greys”. The Key: A True Encounter (2011) walks the reader through an encounter with a mysterious 1998 visitor who explained the nature of reality and the coming trials of mankind to Whitley. Many of the details foreshadowed recent scientific discoveries. The types of concerns the visitor raised with Whitley about humanity’s future matched consciously remembered messages that polled highly in a survey of approx. 5,000 Experiencers conducted by the Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Experiences. (Beyond UFOs (2018) By Reinario Hernandez et. al.)