Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence

As other reviewers have noted, much of the information here has appeared in other books by Good, such as ABOVE TOP SECRET. And while there is a lot of good documented evidence of the National Security State’s interested in UFOs, there are also too many questionable sources being used. An example of a “factoid” that seems to get repeated in many books like this (Dolan, Blum) is the claim that “in 1962 Arthur Sylvester, Assistant Secretary of Defense, Public Affairs, told the press at a briefing that, if deemed necessary for reasons of national security, information about UFOs would not be furnished ot Congress, let alone the American public.” His footnote for this is Philip Corso, but if you trace it back to its origins it comes from Maj. Donald Keyhoe’s 1973 book Aliens From Space: “On October 29,1962, withholding information from the public was admitted by Defense Department Assistant Secretary Arthur Sylvester. If the ends justified it, he said, it was not wrong to keep the public in the dark. In AF Regulation 11-30, withholding 'in the public interest' is admitted as official policy. In AF Reg. 11-7, it is stated that sometimes information requested by Congress may not be furnished 'even in confidence.'"Note that nowhere does this say anything about UFOs, and the date is crucial – October 29 1962 was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. A few weeks later, Arthur Sylvester was asked by a reporter about JFK's "cold" during the beginning of the missile crisis; and he explained, "it's inherent in government's right, if necessary, to lie to save itself when it's going up into a nuclear war. That seems to me basic." (12/7 New York Times)This persistent misuse and repetition of debunk-able stories is something that doesn’t help the cause of legitimate UFO research. It’s a shame that this kind of thing is mixed in with a lot of otherwise worthwhile material.

I am a confirmed UFO skeptic and have been all my life. As I've gotten older, though I've become more open minded, to include the idea that there is almost certainly other life in the universe. Still, I remain a skeptic with regard to sightings, abductions, etc. To that end, I tend to only consider the most "verifiable" sources when analyzing the UFO/alien phenomenon. Among the sources I feel lend credibility to any serious research are astronauts, scientists, and other professionals who deal with our airspace and space itself.Having myself worked as a senior military intelligence officer for the US Department of Defense (Defense Intelligence Agency), and having worked with most other member agencies of the Intelligence Community at one time or another) I am most interested in military sightings and reports, as I find these - alongside reports from NASA and astronauts/pilots - to be the most credible. To that end, I recommend this book highly and is a must-have for a UFO researcher's personal library.

Wow! What a deep rabbit hole. I just wonder when the truth will be widely accepted by the general public cause something is happening in our sky’s & to humans all over the planet

While "Above Top Secret" may have drawn more attention to date, Timothy Good's latest effort does an excellent job of presenting the overwhelming evidence from a large number of military and aviation sources that cannot be dismissed as scurrilous because of the sheer volume of incidents and unassailable credibility of the many witnesses.This is accomplished as a historical narrative that lays out coherently state of mind, as shaped by current events, of government investigation throughout the 20th century.Mr. Good's "sensible" presentation of what are apparent unsensationalized facts makes his arguments very compelling.

This is an excellent book written in chronological, journalistic style, i.e., there is little personal conjecture - just good reporting (almost everything is footnooted). It reads very similar to Richard Dolan's 'UFO's and the National Security State', though a little less detailed and also a little less dry; both make equally good research companions in my opinion.'Need to Know' covers the last century of official involvement with the UFO phenomenon (more or less) and is rich with quotes and stories from officialdom, especially the military, and more specifically the air forces of the world, with a heavy dose of USAF testimony. Most of the accounts in this book are backed up with photocopies or scanned plates of source documents at the end of every chapter.Being an aviation enthusiast, I really enjoyed Timothy Good's attention to detail in terms of aircraft and flying. If you are like me, you may find some of your own favorite airplanes center stage in some of ufology's most harrowing encounters. Several accounts were completely new to me, and I have in fact read numerous books on this subject....I classify Timothy Good along with more traditional 'nuts and bolts' UFO researchers in that this book treats saucers as physical craft, and tends to stay away from more exotic theories, e.g., alien abduction, inter-dimensional travel, etc. It is as I've said before, primarily a good compilation and historical record without the editorials.All in all I recommend 'Need to Know', even for the casual UFO fan. It's quite long, and for what I paid from Amazon, a very good buy.Happy Holidays everyone,D

Very good condition book and great price.Timothy Good is one of the best UFO investigators in the community. He has extensive contacts. This book which is over 500 pages details cases where military and Intelligence Agency's/Persons have been involved in UFO cases, be that witnessing UFO's, dealing with crash UFO instances, covering up and lying to the public about the truth that UFO's are real ET's do and have been coming here for a long time. That many air-force pilots have seen, chased, engaged and fired/attacked UFO's and even been destroyed by UFO's. Cases of jet fighter/s and pilot/s just disappearing while engaging with UFO's. That, (some), Admirals, generals and military persons of all ranks have been involved with UFO's in one way or another.The cases and people he talks about are fully referenced and documents, photos etc that he provides are all in this book also. He has many signed witness statements from witnesses. he has many top secret documents in the book many from foir requests.People need to read and see this evidence and this book is just some of the evidence out there and only deals with cases where military and intelligence people are involved. His other books are full of civilian, police, air line pilots, etc witnessing UFO's. the evidence that is available to read or watch is overwhelming and watching TV will not make you a believer because they are part of the cover up. Do yourself a favour and read this book and then you might start to believe and rad more and watch more.Great book.

As a sceptic attempting to approach the subject with an open mind, I was impressed. Early on the author claims to have dismissed unreliable and otherwise explained phenomena but still a lot of his evidence is verbal and third of forth hand. I also have to dismiss any sightings that cannot be corroborated by more than one other witness, of which there are a few. Nevertheless, the documentary evidence, which is a large part of the book's approach to the subject, is convincing. The absence of available material evidence due to alleged government intervention is frustrating, and if true is what prevents me from being totally convinced. The most convincing evidence for me were the anecdotal sightings over cities by multiple witnesses, sometimes tend or hundreds at a time. Still these usually come from journalists who may have another agenda. The book relies heavily on anecdotes from high ranking military officers. These are fascinating but military personnel can be as eccentric as anyone else, perhaps more after a life of high pressure and secrecy. A was not as impressed as I was expected to be. Having said all of that, I am a lot less sceptical of UFOs being of alien origins now than before I read this book and would like to read more.

Tim Good has a lucid, comfortable writing style. And, he references his work amply. The early part of this book is excellent; we get a condensed but cogent summary of pre-"saucer mania"sightings. This era covers the 1930s mystery planes of Scandanavia, sighting from aircraft during WW2,post ww 2 Ghost rockets, and incursions over critical atomic and rocket development sites in from 1945 onward. Unfortunately Good gives credence to the Roswell and other "flying disc" crashes... complete with occupants. And he still persists in plugging George Adamski -- a rank charlatan and fraud. BUT, on the whole this is a crisply written and informative book. Personally,I think the UFO phenomenon is not extra- terrestial in origin. It seems to be para-physical in nature, and the intelligence behind it is quasi-rational. Dr Allen Hynek towards the end of his life, and his long study of the subject, moved away from ET to this viewpoint. We may well never "solve" the mystery, and merely collect and collate information concerning the characteristics and behaviour of the UFOs. Whatever, Tim Good does emphasises with justification that these objects do constitute a potential threat to our security, physical sciences and societal mind-set.

This is an amazing book. If you don't believe UFOs exist or that the subject is important you will after reading this. It's packed with well authenticated and researched accounts of encounters between the military of many countries and UFOs and the heavy pressure exerted to silence military and civilian aircrews who have seen these things. Get a copy while they are still cheap to buy

This was the first book I've purchased about UFO phenomena, so it didn't really know what to expect. "Need to Know" reads like a historical compilation of sighting and abduction accounts, starting in 1930's through to the present day. In addition to this the author hints at his opinions and asks questions about the behaviour of the miliary (how things have been 'dealt with', or covered up).The weight of the evidence gathered in this book to suggest that aliens exist is impressive (around 400 pages), and some of the witness accounts make for very interesting reading. The author has used statements from lots of senior people (military etc) to ensure a high degree of integrity.My only issue with this book is that a lot of the accounts are repetitive (same shaped aircraft, same coloured lights/behaviours etc). Certain accounts however are enough to make you think twice about whether you'd report a sighting yourself.The sad fact here though is that this book is not proof, only evidence. We won't have proof of extra-terrestrial beings until they land and introduce themselves. However, even if only a fraction of the accounts in this book are truthful, then we really should start looking at the sky more often.