ssible sighting of the same V-shaped light formations
at other locations on the same night; the story of a group of
scientists who detected mysterious nuclear radiation when UFO's were
sighted; and all of the facts behind such famous cases as the Mantell
Incident, the Florida scoutmaster who was burned by a "flying
saucer," and headline-capturing sightings at Washington, D.C.

I showed them what few photographs we had, the majority of which
everyone has seen, since they have been widely published in magazines
and newspapers. Our collection of photographs was always a
disappointment as far as positive proof was concerned because, in a
sense, if you've seen one you've seen them all. We had no clear
pictures of a saucer, just an assortment of blurs, blotches, and
streaks of light.

The briefings included a description of how Project Blue Book
operated and a survey of the results of the many studies that were
made of the mass of UFO data we had collected. Also covered were our
interviews with a dozen North American astronomers, the story of the
unexplained green fireballs of New Mexico, and an account of how a
committee of six distinguished United States scientists spent many
hours attempting to answer the question, "Are the UFO's from outer
space?"

Unfortunately the general public was never able to hear these
briefings. For a long time, contrary to present thinking in military
circles, I have believed that the public also is entitled to know the
details of what was covered in these briefings (less, of course, the
few items pertaining to radar that were classified "Secret," and the
names of certain people). But withholding these will not alter the
facts in any way.

A lot has already been written on the subject of UFO's, but none of
it presents the true, complete story. Previous forays into the UFO
field have been based on inadequate information and have been warped
to fit the personal biases of the individual writers. Well meaning
though these authors may be, the degree to which their books have
misinformed the public is incalculable.

It is high time that we let the people know.

The following chapters present the true and complete UFO story,
based on what I learned about UFO's while I was chief of Project Blue
Book, the Air Force's project for the investigation and analysis of
UFO reports. Here is the same information that I gave to Secretary of
the Air Force, Thomas K. Finletter, to the Air Force commanders, to