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Sunday, June 22, 2008 - 7:53 PM
At the Mutual UFO Network or MUFON
2007 Symposium in Denver Colorado, UFO researcher Brad Sparks presented
a paper that describes the MJ12 documents as an elaborate
disinformation campaign pepetrated by William Moore, Richard Doty, and
other Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) personnel. http://louis-j-sheehan.bizThe
sources for this information are files dating from 1981 (3 years before
the first alleged MJ12 documents surfaced) that UFO researcher Bob
Pratt gave MUFON before his death in 2005. The information lay hidden
in MUFON's archives until they were digitized as part of MUFON's
Pandora Project and made available to UFO researchers. The paper can be
downloaded from the following reference. http://louis-j-sheehan.biz
MUFON has made the Pratt documents available online at [1].
Of interest will be the paragraph that has a handwritten date of
1/02/82 and states: "3. UFO project is Aquarius, classified Top Secret
with access restricted to MJ 12. (MJ may be "magic"). This project
begun about 1966, but apparently inherited files of earlier project."
The significance of this paragraph is that it ties MJ12 to the
Aquarius document, a known fabricated document, that alleges that Jesus Christ was an alien.
On the other hand, as a personal note from this contributor, the
Aquarius Era (12 being the twelve months of the year, for instance)
began more or less at the same time the same documents were digitized,
de-classified : maybe the reference to Aquarius is solely a temporal
reference to the moment in which the material was supposed to lose it's
status otherwise known as 'Classified Top Secret with restricted to MJ 12'.
This could be the "magic" refered in the comment, necessary for correct
interpretation - the coeherence of this interpretation might come from
the fact that Project Aquarius previous name was Project SIGN.
The Pratt documents also contain the 1982 conversation between Bill
Moore and Bob Pratt discussing the characters and plotline of a
fictional book that Moore wanted Pratt to write. Moore is fixated on
the Truman-Eisenhower transition period in UFO history and two crashed
saucers, both of which figure prominently in the Eisenhower Briefing
Document allegedly leaked to Moore's friend Jaime Shandera in 1984 and
which Moore claims to have no prior knowledge of.
[edit] Membership
All the alleged original members of MJ-12 were notable for their
military, government, and/or scientific achievements, and all were
deceased when the documents first surfaced (the last to die was Jerome Hunsaker, only a few months before the MJ-12 papers first appeared).
The original composition was six civilians (mostly scientists), and
six high-ranking military officers, two from each major military
service. Three (Souers, Vandenberg, and Hillenkoetter) had been the
first three heads of central intelligence. The Moore/Shandera documents
did not make clear who was the director of MJ-12, or if there was any
organizational hierarchy.
The named members of MJ-12 were:
According to other sources[citation needed] and MJ-12 papers to emerge later[citation needed], famous scientists like Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Karl Compton, Edward Teller, John von Neumann, and Wernher von Braun were also involved with MJ-12.
[edit] Reliably-documented UFO activities by purported MJ-12 members
Many of these men had reliably documented activities related to UFOs:
- Vandenberg, as Director of Central Intelligence in 1946, had overseen investigations into the so-called Ghost rockets
in Europe and wrote intelligence memos about the phenomena. Later as
Air Force Chief of Staff, both Vandenberg and Twining oversaw early
U.S. Air Force UFO investigations, like Project Sign and Project Blue Book and made some public statements on UFOs.
- Twining had previously written a famous Secret memo on September 23, 1947
(the day before Truman allegedly set up MJ-12) stating that flying
saucers were real and urged formal investigation by multiple government
organizations such as the AEC, NACA, NEPA, Bush's JRDB, and the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. [2] This led directly to the creation of Project Sign in late 1947.
- Vandenberg met with Bush's JRDB in a suddenly-called meeting on the morning of the Roswell UFO incident (July 8, 1947) and was reported in the press as handling the later public relations crises.[9]
- Bush was directly implicated in 1950-51 Canadian documents heading a highly secret UFO investigation within the Research and Development Board (RDB); this assertion was confirmed by Canadian scientist Wilbert B. Smith[10]
Immediately after the Roswell UFO incident, Bush made public statements
denying any knowledge of UFOs or any relation they might have to secret
government projects.[11]
- Berkner was on the 1953 CIA-organized Robertson Panel debunking UFOs and helped establish Project Ozma, the first radio telescope search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
- Menzel filed a UFO report in 1949, later wrote several UFO debunking
books, and was the most prominent public UFO debunker of his time. Many
conspiracy theorists see this as a "cover-up" for alleged MJ12 - alien
connections.
- Hillenkoetter was on the board of directors of the powerful civilian UFO organization NICAP and made public statements to Congress about UFO reality in 1960.
- The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA), which Hunsaker chaired from 1941-1958, is also known from
documents to have occasionally delved into UFO cases. Other members of
NACA were Bush (1938-1948), Compton (1948-1949), Vandenberg
(1948-1953), Twining (1953-1957), and Bronk (1948-1958).
- Teller was a member of a scientific panel in 1949 at Los Alamos National Laboratory looking into the UFO phenomenon known as the green fireballs
[edit] Professional and social connections between purported MJ-12 members
Research has also shown[12]
that there were many social and professional connections between many
of the alleged members of MJ-12. For example, Bush, Hunsaker, Bronk,
and Berkner all sat on the oversight committee of the Research and
Development Board (RDB), which Bush had established and initially
chaired. Other notables on the RDB oversight committee were Karl
Compton, Robert Oppenheimer, and Dr. H. P. Robertson, who headed up the debunking Robertson Panel,
of which Berkner was a member. As mentioned, 1950 Canadian documents
indicated that Bush headed up a small, highly secret UFO study group
within the RDB. (See also Arguments for below)
Various alleged MJ-12 members or participants would also naturally be part of the Presidential office's National Security Council,
created in 1947. This would include (depending on NSC composition,
which evolved) various NSC permanent members: Executive Secretary
(Souers, Cutler), the Secretary of Defense (Forrestal), the Secretary
of the Army (Gray), National Security Advisor (Gray), and the Air Force
Chief of Staff (Vandenberg, Twining). Other nonpermanent members who
would attend NSC meetings as advisors and implement policy would be the
CIA director (Hillenkoetter, Smith), the head of the Research and
Development Board (Bush, Compton), the President's Special Assistant
for National Security Affairs (Cutler, Gray), and the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs (Twining).
Therefore the supposed members and participating personnel of MJ-12
would have served on many other high government agencies and could
conceivably have influenced government policy at many levels. (See also
list of supposed current MJ-12 members below, again indicating various individuals who have served in high government positions.)
The purported members were trusted, high-ranking officials who were
often involved in important government projects--they possessed diverse
skills and high security clearances. However, they were not so
recognizable that they would be missed if they were to be called upon
in a secret emergency. If such a group existed, these individuals would
make plausible members.
[edit] History
The history of the MJ-12 papers is highly complex, with a series of often-confusing assertions, counterassertions and debates.
[edit] Arthur Bray's discovery (1978)
In 1978 Canadian researcher Arthur Bray uncovered
previously-classified Canadian UFO documents naming Dr. Vannevar Bush
as heading a highly secret UFO investigation group within the U.S.
Research and Development Board. No name for the group was given. Bray
published excerpts of the documents in his 1979 book, The UFO Connection..
[edit] Aquarius document and Paul Bennewitz connection (1980)
The earliest citation of the term "MJ Twelve" originally surfaced in a purported U.S. Air Force teletype dated November 17, 1980. This so-called "Project Aquarius" teletype had been given to Albuquerque physicist and businessman Paul Bennewitz in November, 1980, by U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations counterintelligence officer Richard C. Doty as part of a disinformation
campaign to discredit Bennewitz. Bennewitz had photographed and
recorded electronic data of what he believed to be UFO activity over
and nearby Kirtland AFB,
a sensitive nuclear facility, which he had reported to officials at
Kirtland, including Doty. Later it was discovered the Aquarius document
was phony and had been prepared by Doty. [13]
One sentence in the lengthy teletype read:
The official US Government policy and results of Project Aquarius is
[sic] still classified TOP SECRET with no dissemination outside
channels and with access restricted to "MJ TWELVE."[14]
As Greg Bishop writes, "Here, near the bottom of this wordy message
in late 1980, was the very first time anyone had seen a reference to
the idea of a suspected government group called 'MJ Twelve' that
controlled UFO information. Of course, no one suspected at the time the
colossal role that this idea would play in 1980s and '90s UFOlogy, and
it eventually spread beyond its confines to become a cultural mainstay."[15]
As Bennewitz was the subject of a disinformation campaign, many
investigators are automatically suspicious of any documents or claims
made in association with the Bennewitz affair. Because the entire MJ-12
affair made its appearance only a year after Bray had made public the
incriminating Canadian documents about the secret UFO committee, one
theory[citation needed]
is that the Project Aquarius teletype was part of a counterintelligence
hoax to discredit the information in the just-revealed Canadian
documents. Thus the various MJ-12 documents could be fake, but the
secret committee described in the verified Canadian documents could
still have been real. (See Arguments for below)
[edit] The Moore/Shandera documents (1984)
What came to be known as the "MJ-12 papers" -- detailing a secret
UFO committee allegedly involving Vannevar Bush -- first appeared on a
roll of film in late 1984 in the mailbox of television documentary
producer (and amateur ufologist) Jamie Shandera. Shandera had been collaborating with Roswell researcher William Moore since 1982.
Just prior to Bennewitz and the Aquarius document, Moore had been
contacted in September 1980 by Doty, who described himself as
representing a shadowy group of 10 military intelligence insiders who
claimed to be opposed to UFO secrecy. Moore called them "The Aviary".
In January 1981, Doty provided Moore with a copy of the phony
Aquarius document with mention of MJ Twelve. Moore would later claim[16] in 1989 that he began collaborating with AFOSI in spying on fellow researchers such as Bennewitz, and dispensing disinformation,
ostensibly to gain the trust of the military officers, but reality to
learn whatever UFO truth they might have, and also to learn how the
military manipulated UFO researcher. In return, Doty and others were to
leak information to him.
Later it would turn out that some of the UFO documents given Moore were genuine[citation needed],
but others were forged by Doty and compatriots, or were retyped and
altered from the originals. Furthermore, the film mailed Shandera with
the MJ-12 documents was postmarked "Albuquerque," raising the obvious
suspicion that the MJ-12 documents were more bogus documents arising
from Doty and AFOSI in Albuquerque.
In 1983, Doty also targeted UFO researcher and journalist Linda Moulton Howe,
revealing alleged high-level UFO documents, including those describing
crashed alien flying saucers and recovery of aliens. Doty again
mentioned MJ-12, explaining that “MJ” stood for “Majority” (not
“Majestic”)
Moore soon showed a copy of the Aquarius/MJ 12 teletype given him by
Doty to researchers Brad Sparks and Kal Korff. In 1983, Moore also
sought Sparks' reaction to a plan to create counterfeit government UFO
documents, hoping to induce former military officers to speak out.
Sparks strongly urged Moore not do this. The previous year Moore had
similarly approached nuclear physicist and UFO researcher Stanton T. Friedman
about creating bogus Roswell documents, again with the idea of
encouraging witnesses to come forward. Also, in early 1982, Moore had
approached former National Enquirer reporter Bob Pratt (who had first published a story on Roswell in the Enquirer in 1980). Moore asked Pratt to collaborate on novel called MAJIK-12.
As a result, Pratt always believed that the Majestic-12 papers were a
hoax, either perpetrated personally by Moore or perhaps by AFOSI, with
Doty using Moore as a willing target. Moore, however, flatly denied
creating the documents, but eventually thought that maybe he had been
set up. Noted UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass would also argue[17] that Moore was the most likely hoaxer of the initial batch of MJ-12 documents.
Unlike Pratt, who was convinced they were a hoax, Friedman would
investigate the historical and technical details in the MJ-12 documents
and become their staunchest defender.
[edit] The 1984/1985 MJ-12 Papers
[edit] The Eisenhower briefing document
The film received by Shandera in 1984 consisted of two MJ-12 documents. The main document, dated November 18, 1952, was supposedly prepared by Rear Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, the first CIA director, to brief incoming president Dwight Eisenhower on the committee's progress. The document lists all the MJ-12 members and discusses United States Air Force investigations and concealment of a crashed alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico, plus another crash in northern Mexico in December 1950.
Eisenhower did indeed receive extensive briefings November 18, 1952,[17]
including a briefing at the Pentagon by the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
which would have included alleged MJ-12 members Twining and Vandenberg.
However, Eisenhower’s Pentagon briefing is still classified and thus
the subject matter discussed remains speculative. http://louis-j-sheehan.biz
[edit] The Truman memo
An attached document of one page, dated September 24, 1947, was supposedly written by President Harry Truman, addressed to Secretary of Defense James Forrestal,
authorizing the formation of the group "Operation Majestic Twelve". In
it, Truman stated he wanted ultimate decision-making power to reside
with the Office of the President, after consultation with Forrestal,
Hillenkoetter, and Dr. Vannevar Bush.
One historical detail that perhaps supports the Truman memo's favor
was that this was the only date on which both Forrestal and Bush met
with Truman.[18]
(It is also the day after Gen. Twining wrote a Secret memo saying
flying saucers were real and urged an extensive investigation by
multiple government agencies[citation needed]).
While this doesn’t prove authenticity, it would suggest that if the
documents were hoaxed, the hoaxer(s) had conducted considerable
research. Also, according to contemporary newspapers the
Forrestal/Bush/Truman meeting concerned Bush being appointed by Truman
as chairman of the new Defense Department Research and Development Board under Forrestal's direction.[19] The appointment was made official the following day[20] and Forrestal swore Bush into the post a week later.
[edit] The Cutler/Twining memo (1985)
In 1985, Shandera and Moore began receiving post cards postmarked “New Zealand” with a return address of "Box 189, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia."[17]
The cards contained a series of cryptic messages referring to "Reeses
[sic] Pieces" and "Suitland" (among other terms) that Shandera and
Moore assumed were a code; however, they were unable to "decode" the
seeming message.
A few months later, a happenstance request from Friedman unlocked
the mystery: busy due to previous obligations, Friedman asked Moore and
Shandera to examine newly declassified Air Force documents at the National Archives (NARA) repository in Suitland, Maryland; the head archivist there was named Ed Reese.
After a few days in Suitland, Shandera and Moore discovered yet
another MJ-12 document, the so-called Cutler/Twining memo, dated July 14, 1954. Interestingly enough, the memo turned up in "Box 189" of the record group.[21] In this memo, NSC Executive Secretary and Eisenhower’s National Security Advisor Robert Cutler informed Air Force Chief of Staff (and alleged MJ-12 member) Nathan Twining of a change of plans in a scheduled MJ-12 briefing.[22]
The Cutler-Twining memo lacked a distinctive catalog number, leading many to suspect[17] that whether hoaxed or genuine, the memo was almost certainly planted in the archives.
Moore and Shandera have been accused[citation needed]
of hoaxing the memo and then planting it in the archives. However,
Friedman notes that the memo, unlike the other early MJ-12 papers which
were available only as photos, is on original onionskin paper widely
used by the government at that time. It also has some subtle historical
and other details that a civilian hoaxer would be unlikely to know,
such as a red pencil declassification marking also found with the other
declassified files. Furthermore, NARA security procedures would make it
difficult for a visitor to the Archives to plant such a document; even
the skeptical Klass argued[17]
that NARA security procedures made it highly unlikely that Shandera and
Moore could have planted the Cutler-Twining memo in the archives.
Instead, Friedman has argued that one of the many Air Force personnel
involved in declassifying NARA documents could easily have planted the
Cutler/Twining memo in with other unrelated documents.
However, most researchers have argued[citation needed] that various subtle details point to a forgery (see #Arguments against
for some). However, this doesn’t negate Friedman’s point that the memo
could have been planted by someone in the Air Force). For example, the
date of the alleged MJ-12 meeting does not correspond to any known
meeting of import.
[edit] The FBI investigation
The MJ-12 documents were first made public in 1987 by Shandera,
Moore, and Friedman. Another copy of the same documents Shandera
received in 1984 was mailed to British researcher Timothy Good in 1987, again from an anonymous source. Good first reproduced them in his best-selling book Above Top Secret (1988), but later disowned the documents as likely fraudulent.
After the documents became widely known with the publication of Good’s book, the Federal Bureau of Investigations then began its own investigation, urged on by debunker Philip J. Klass. The MJ-12 documents were supposedly classified as "Top Secret", and the FBI's initial concern was that someone within the U.S. government had illegally leaked highly classified information.http://louis-j-sheehan.biz
The FBI quickly formed doubts as to the documents' authenticity. FBI personnel contacted the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations
(counterintelligence), asking if MJ-12 had ever existed. AFOSI claimed
that no such committee had ever been authorized or formed, and that the
documents were “bogus.” The FBI adopted the AFOSI opinion and the FBI’s
official position became that the MJ-12 documents were "completely
bogus.”
However, when Stanton Friedman contacted the AFOSI officer, Col.
Richard Weaver, who had rendered this opinion, Friedman said Weaver
refused to document his assertion. Friedman also noted that Weaver had
taught disinformation and propaganda courses for AFOSI and was principal author of the Air Force’s debunking Roswell report in 1994. (Friedman, 110-115)
Timothy Good in Beyond Top Secret also noted that Weaver in
1994 was the Director of Security and Special Programs Oversight of
AFOSI’s Pentagon office, a very high level organization within the
Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. Good commented that AFOSI is
“an agency whose work involves counterintelligence and deception, and
which has a long record of deep involvement in the UFO problem.” Within
Weaver’s office were “special planners.” According to Good, “In Air
Force parlance, the term ‘special plans’ is a euphemism for deception
as well as for ‘perception management’ plans and operations.”[23]
Conducting an interview with one Roswell witness, Weaver himself
admitted, “We’re the people who keep the secrets.” It is difficult to
tell from interviews such as these, as the cold war tactics of deceptions within deceptions are intentionally vague as to where the disinformation and coverup of espionage ends and the government's actual investigation into UFOs begins.
William Moore would later reveal that the whole New Mexico UFO
disinformation scheme was run out of the Pentagon by a Colonel Barry
Hennessey of AFOSI. When the Defense Department phone directory was
checked, Hennessey was listed under the "Dept. of Special Techniques."
Working under him at the time was the same Col. Weaver.
Friedman therefore raised the question as to whether Weaver rendered
an objective intelligence opinion about the authenticity of the MJ-12
papers or was deliberately misleading the FBI as a counterintelligence
and disinformation agent, much like Doty had done with Moore and Howe
earlier.
Journalist Howard Blum in his book Out There
(1990) further described the FBI’s difficulty in getting at the truth
of the matter. One frustrated FBI agent told Blum, “All we’re finding
out is that the government doesn’t know what it knows. There are too
many secret levels. You can’t get a straight story. It wouldn’t
surprise me if we never know if the papers are genuine or not.”[24]
[edit] Arguments for
- The National Archives
contain one document relating to MJ-12, found in 1985, which has been
interpreted as corroborative evidence for the MJ-12 documents being
genuine:
- "Memorandum for General Twining, from Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to the President, Subject: "NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project" dated July 14, 1954.
The memo's advised Twining of a change of scheduling for a planned
briefing following an already scheduled, unspecified "White House
meeting" on July 16.
Cutler was Eisenhower's National Security Adviser. The memorandum does
not identify MJ-12 or the purpose of the briefing (see links). However,
arguments have been made against this document's authenticity; see
below.
- Regarding the Cutler memo, Jim Speiser writes, "The alleged maker
of the memo, Robert Cutler, was out of the country when it was typed.
Researchers counter that Cutler's assistants, James Lay and Patrick
Coyne, routinely sent out memos under Cutler's name, and they point to
the fact that the memo (extant now in carbon copy only) is unsigned."[25]
Stanton Friedman has argued that if the memo had the absent Cutler's
signature on it, it would have proven that it was a hoax. Thus the
absence of signature instead supports its authenticity.
- Nuclear physicist and UFO researcher Stanton Friedman has offered other rebuttal of many arguments against the documents' authenticity. For example, Philip J. Klass suggested that the Cutler/Twining memo was fraudulent, because it was typed in Pica font, while Klass insisted that genuine White House documents of that era were only typed in Elite.
Klass offered $100 for every example of genuine Pica font that could be
presented. Friedman responded, as Speiser wrote in the same article
cited above, "Friedman provides no fewer than 20 such exemplars, more
than enough to win the maximum prize." (Klass paid him $1000, though
Speiser suggests the challenge might more accurately be called a draw:
"Klass' letter specifically called for 'letters' and 'memoranda';
Friedman provides only headings and dates in his initial response.)
Some other Friedman objections to Klass' arguments are provided further
below.
- Perhaps weakly corroborating the authenticity of the Cutler memo was a column written by journalist Dorothy Kilgallen on February 15, 1954,
in which she stated, "Flying saucers are regarded as of such vital
importance they will be the subject of a special hush-hush meeting of
world military heads next summer."[26]
- Citing work by Timothy Good, C.D.B. Bryan notes the existence of a secret memorandum written by Canadian radio engineer Wilbert B. Smith, who had long worked for the Canadian Department of Transportation. Dated November 21, 1950, the memo recommended that the Canadian government establish a formal investigation of UFOs (Project Magnet
was this study). In part, Smith wrote that his own "discreet inquiries"
through the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. had uncovered the fact
that "flying saucers exist", "the matter is the most highly classified
subject in the United States Government, rating higher even than the
H-bomb", and that "concentrated effort is being made by a small group
headed by Doctor Vannevar Bush" into their "modus operandi" (Bryan, 186; [3])
Smith's memo was authenticated by the Canadian government. Good
concluded that this document is a major argument in favor of MJ-12's
reality. Additional documents from Smith and the Canadian embassy named
Bush and the Research and Development Board (RDB) as being needed to
clear a magazine article being written by Donald Keyhoe on Smith's flying saucer theories. [4]
Smith also made some public statements about being loaned UFO crash
material for metallurgical analysis by some "highly classified group"
which he would not name, but indicated it was not the Air Force or CIA. [5]
- In a letter from 1983, Dr. Omond Solandt, director of the Canadian Defence Research Board
(DRB), who had approved Smith's initial UFO study and lent support from
the DRB (according to Smith's memo), confirmed meeting with Bush on a
regular but "informal" basis to discuss flying saucers and Smith's UFO
work. [6]
- Smith's primary source in 1950 was Dr. Robert Sarbacher,
a missile and electronics expert and a consultant for the RDB's guided
missile committee. When contacted again in 1983 by William Steinman,
Sarbacher in a letter confirmed having the 1950 meeting, reconfirmed
that Bush and the RDB were definitely involved, added that
mathematician John von Neumann was also definitely involved and he thought Dr. Robert Oppenheimer
as well. He also reconfirmed that there had been flying saucer crashes
and being told that the material recovered was extremely lightweight
and strong. He was told about small alien bodies. [7]
- In later interviews, Sarbacher would also implicate electrical engineer Dr. Eric A. Walker, the executive secretary of the RDB from 1950-1951 and later President of Penn State University. Walker was contacted by phone in 1987 by Steinman. He was asked first whether he had attended meetings at Wright-Patterson AFB
concerning the military recovery of flying saucers and bodies of
occupants. According to Steinman, he responded, "Yes, I attended
meetings concerning that subject matter." When asked as to whether he
knew about MJ-12, he responded, "Yes, I know of MJ-12. I have known of
them for 40 years." In subsequent interviews and correspondence by
other researchers, Walker became much more evasive. But in two
interviews from 1990, Walker, while saying he thought the MJ-12
documents were not authentic, also admitted he had had nothing do with
MJ-12 "for a long time" but they still existed and were "a handful of
elite", no longer military, and no longer all American. "We have learnt
so much, and we are not working with them, only contact. The technology
is far beyond what is known in ordinary terms of physics."[27]
- Another person to implicate Bush and Walker as likely being
involved was Dr. Fred Darwin, who had been Executive Director for the
Guided Missile Committee for the RDB from 1949 to 1954, to which both
Sarbacher and Walker acted as consultants. Like Sarbacher, Darwin also
suggested John von Neumann, and added alleged MJ-12 member Lloyd Berkner and physicist Dr. Karl Compton.[28]
- Following a famous close encounter with a 300-foot flying saucer while flying from Iceland to Newfoundland on February 10, 1951 [29],
Naval Reserve pilot Commander Graham Bethune relates that he and the
entire crew were immediately debriefed by USAF and Naval intelligence.
In May 1951, Bethune was again questioned by a Naval intelligence
officer. Bethune says he then asked the officer where such reports
ended up. He responded that they first went to "a committee of twelve
men" screening them for "national security impact". If deemed to have
such impact, it would never be sent elsewhere. Otherwise, they would be
sent to USAF or Naval offices handling ordinary UFO cases. [30]
- Although he never used the name "MJ 12", Air Force Brig. Gen. Arthur E. Exon (Commanding Officer of Wright Patterson Air Force Base
from 1964-1966) reported that a secret group of mostly high-ranking
Pentagon officers were somehow involved with UFO studies; he nicknamed
this group the "Unholy Thirteen".[31]
However, this does not necessarily mean Exon's "Unholy 13" and "MJ 12"
were the same group. When Stanton Friedman sent Exon a copy of his 1990
"Final Report on Operation Majestic 12," he reported Exon "strongly
approved" the contents and that the names of the "Unholy 13" group
"were those of high-level personnel he thought would know about what
was happening, not of people he knew to be involved in a control group."[32]
- Author Whitley Strieber in his books Breakthrough (1995) and Confirmation
(1998) claimed his uncle Colonel Edward Strieber, who had spent much of
his career at Wright-Patterson AFB, knew of MJ-12: "My uncle informed
me that he had knowledge of the Majestic project. He spoke of the
delivery of alien materials, artifacts, and biological remains to
Wright Field from the Roswell Army Air Base in the summer of 1947. He
felt sure that the existence of these materials and what to do about
them had been debated at the highest levels of the government. ...In
1991, after I had written Majestic [a partly fictionalized
account of the Roswell incident], my uncle put me into contact with a
general [Arthur Exon] -- an old and trusted friend of his..." Strieber
said Exon told him that everybody "from Truman on down" had known about
the Roswell incident from the day it happened, and that it was known to
be an alien spacecraft "almost as soon as we got on the scene."[31]
- Edward J. Ruppelt, the director of the Air Force's public UFO investigation Project Blue Book, several times in his 1956 book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
hinted that there was another highly secretive UFO government group (or
groups) operating parallel UFO investigations outside the public eye.
For example, in discussing the demoralization of Project Sign personnel following the rejection by Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg of their 1948 Estimate of the Situation
that UFOs were extraterrestrial, Ruppelt wrote that Sign personnel
hardly investigated UFO sightings anymore and instead "More and more
work was being pushed off onto the other investigative organization
that was helping ATIC [Air Technical Intelligence Center at
Wright-Patterson AFB]." Regarding the 1950 investigation of the
so-called Lubbock Lights,
Ruppelt wrote, “The only other people outside Project Blue Book who
have studied the complete case of the Lubbock Lights were a group who,
due to their associations with the government, had complete access to
our files. …they were scientists—rocket experts, nuclear physicists,
and intelligence experts. They had banded together to study our UFO
reports because they were convinced that some of the UFO’s that were
being reported were interplanetary spaceships…”[33]
- UFO researcher and MJ-12 skeptic Brad Sparks, however, says
evidence points to the group described by Ruppelt investigating the
"Lubbock Lights" as being the CIA's Office of Scientific Investigation
(OS/I), not "MJ-12". However, Sparks has also found evidence that the
CIA OS/I division (today called the Directorate of Science and
Technology) became the primary investigative group for the DOD's
Research and Development Board (RDB) starting in January 1949.
Researcher David Rudiak has pointed out that the 1950-51 Canadian
documents mentioning an MJ-12-type group under Vannevar Bush's
direction has them operating precisely out of the RDB, which would
again directly link "MJ-12" to the secret group investigating the
Lubbock Lights, as described by Ruppelt. Furthermore, MJ-12 was
supposed to be the control group, and it would be very much in Bush's
management style to assign investigative responsibility to others
rather than MJ-12 conducting the detailed investigations themselves.[34]
- UFO and paranormal researcher Ethan A. Blight has presented
refutation of many of the arguments put forth by critics of the
documents, especially those of UFO debunker Philip J. Klass, which are
used in the "Arguments against" section below.[35] Stanton Friedman has likewise presented arguments that many of Klass' and other objections are either weak or completely bogus.[36]
Both Blight and Friedman argue that there exists no conclusive evidence
against the authenticity of the documents, which, while not proving the
documents' authenticity, removes much doubt. Both also argue that such
false or misleading arguments are in fact characteristic of UFO
debunkers in general.
[edit] Arguments against
To recapitulate, the original MJ-12 documents are the 1947 Truman
memo establishing MJ-12, the 1952 Eisenhower briefing document, and the
1954 Cutler/Twining memo from the National Archives.
Below are a number of arguments against the authenticity of various MJ-12 documents:
- The FBI investigated the matter, and quickly formed doubts as to
the documents' authenticity. FBI personnel contacted the U.S. Air
Force, asking if MJ-12 had ever existed. The Air Force reported that no
such committee had ever been authorized, and had never been formed. The
FBI presently declares that "The investigation was closed after it was
learned that the document was completely bogus."[37]
- Critics note[38] that the documents are of suspicious provenance.
Shandera and Good both claimed to have received documents from
anonymous senders, and most subsequent MJ-12 documents have surfaced
under equally questionable circumstances.
- Though Good initially thought the documents were genuine, he has since, according to Philip Klass, expressed "suspicions about the new ... documents" due to "some factual anomalies in their content."[39]
- UFO researcher Jerome Clark discusses the MJ-12 documents in the "Hoaxes" section of his The UFO Book, and strongly favors a hoax interpretation. He notes that as of 1998, a mere "handful" of ufologists support the documents' authenticity.
- Another bit of evidence--which perhaps argues against Menzel's
membership, at least--is that in 1949, he reported a UFO encounter to
the U.S. Air Force. It is argued Menzel would have no reason to send a
"confidential" UFO report to the Air Force two years later when he
witnessed two aerial lights he described as "exceptional." Furthermore,
Menzel's 1949 report makes no mention of any such group as MJ-12. See
the main Donald Menzel page for more information and a counterargument.
- Scientific forensic linguistic testing was applied to select
Majestic Documents in 2007 by Dr. Carol Chaski and found scientific
forensic evidence to disprove attributed authorship. Dr. Chaski is the
founder of The Institute for Linguistic Evidence (ILE), a research
organization that validates reliable document authentication techniques
and provides assistance to investigators and attorneys in criminal and
civil trials whenever the authorship of any document is questioned or
suspicious.."[40]
- Nevertheless, the format by the Majestic-12 Documents, with Justification (typesetting) and different fonts and type-sizes, generates right doubts:
The first typewriter with IBM typeballs (selector compensator) and
with it to replaceable fonts was IBM 72, built from 1962, and only the
successors of this machine also had the memory necessary for
Justification (typesetting)
That is the fact that in 1954 no typewriter could have been able to
produce these documents, and although these only one handfuls of people
should be accessible, immediately a printer's factory for her
production was troubled!
[edit] Briefing document and Truman letter
Much evidence has been found, leading skeptics to argue that the briefing document and Truman letter are fake.
- The typewriter used
- The typewriter used for the Truman letter was a Smith Corona model which did not exist until 1962 - fifteen years after the document was allegedly written.
- The typewriter ribbon was worn and the keys were dirty. Truman
documents from the period that are known to be authentic used fresh
ribbons and clean keys.
- The Truman signature
- The signature of Harry Truman on the alleged letter to Forrestal is identical to the one known to be authentic on a letter to Vannevar Bush on October 1, 1947.
The one on the briefing document is 3 to 4 percent larger and bolder,
but this is explained by the fact that photocopiers do not reproduce
things at exactly the same size. They match when the size is corrected
and one is laid over the other.
- Both signatures show a unique slip of the pen when starting the "H".
- The "T" in the October 1, 1947
signature intersected the final "s" in "Sincerely yours". The same
point on the Forrestal letter is slightly thinner, as if the
intersection with the "s" had been modified with liquid paper or the like before photocopying.
- Since two different signatures from one person will always differ,
this shows that the authentic Truman signature from the letter to Bush
was copied onto the bogus letter to Forrestal, which was then
photocopied.
- Date format and name format in the briefing document
- The dates have a superfluous comma after the month, e.g. "18
November, 1952". A comma is not used after the month in this date
format. Every date in the briefing document has this error.
- No known authentic letters or memos from Hillenkoetter has the error of the superfluous comma and none used the prepended zero.
- All known authentic Hillenkoetter letters and memos use "R. H.
Hillenkoetter" as the author's name, whereas the briefing document uses
"Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter".
- Other issues
- The "TOP SECRET/MAJIC EYES ONLY" stamped on the document used a
rubber stamp with movable letters, unlike actual classification stamps.
The "I" was raised slightly.
- Authentic Top Secret documents have a page count and page
numbering: "Page __ of __ pages". The briefing document does not have
this.
- The warnings against copying do not match the wording of actual documents from the period of 1952.
- The document uses "media" instead of "press", "extra-terrestrial" instead of "alien", and uses "impacted" as a verb--these words were not in common use until the 1960s.
- James Mosley,
who personally knew alleged MJ-12 member Menzel found evidence that
Menzel and alleged co-member Hillenkoetter did not know each other.
- Record searches. Other than the questioned Cutler memo, no other
document mentioning MJ-12 has been found (not even the original
briefing document).
- The National Archives found no record of an NSC meeting on July 16, 1954. A search of all NSC meetings for July 1954 did not find any mention of MJ-12 or Majestic.
- A branch of the National Archives searched NSC records for any listing of MJ-12 or Majestic and found none.
[edit] The Cutler Memo
- The NARA has issued a detailed list of problems which calls the Cutler memo's authenticity into question.
- The document was located in Record Group 341, entry 267. The series
is filed by a Top Secret register number. This document does not bear
such a number.[17]
- The document is filed in the folder T4-1846. There are no other documents in the folder regarding "NSC/MJ-12."
- Researchers on the staff of the National Archives have searched in the records of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, and in other related files. No further information has been found on this subject.
- Inquiries to the U.S. Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council failed to produce further information. http://louis-j-sheehan.biz
- The Freedom of Information Office of the National Security Council
informed the National Archives that "Top Secret Restricted Information"
is a marking which did not come into use at the National Security
Council until the Nixon
Administration. The Eisenhower Presidential Library also confirms that
this particular marking was not used during the Eisenhower
Administration.
- The document in question does not bear an official government letterhead or watermark.
The NARA conservation specialist examined the paper and determined it
was a ribbon copy (i.e. not a carbon copy) prepared on "dictation onionskin."
The Eisenhower Library has examined a representative sample of the
documents in its collection of the Cutler papers. All documents in the
sample created by Mr. Cutler while he served on the NSC staff have an
eagle watermark in the bond paper. The onionskin carbon copies have
either an eagle watermark or no watermark at all. Most documents sent
out by the NSC were prepared on White House letterhead paper. For the
brief period when Cutler left the NSC, his carbon copies were prepared on "prestige onionskin."
- The National Archives searched the Official Meeting Minute Files of
the National Security Council and found no record of an NSC meeting on July 16, 1954. A search of all NSC Meeting Minutes for July 1954 found no mention of MJ-12 nor Majestic.
- The Judicial, Fiscal and Social Branch searched the indices of the NSC records and found no listing for: MJ-12, Majestic, unidentified flying objects, UFO, flying saucers, or flying discs.
- NAJA found a memo in a folder titled "Special Meeting July 16, 1956" which indicated that NSC members would be called to a civil defense exercise on July 16, 1956.
- The Eisenhower Library states, in a letter to the Military Reference Branch, dated July 16, 1987:
-
- "president Eisenhower's Appointment Books contain no entry for a special meeting on July 16, 1954
which might have included a briefing on MJ-12. Even when the President
had 'off the record' meetings, the Appointment Books contain entries
indicating the time of the meeting and the participants ...
-
- "The Declassification office of the National Security Council has
informed us that it has no record of any declassification action having
been taken on this memorandum or any other documents on this alleged
project ..."
-
- Robert Cutler,
at the direction of President Eisenhower, was visiting overseas
military installations on the day he supposedly issued this memorandum
− July 14, 1954. The Administration Series in Eisenhower's Papers as President contains Cutler's memorandum and report to the President upon his return from the trip. The memorandum is dated July 20, 1954 and refers to Cutler's visits to installations in Europe and North Africa between July 3 and 15. Also, within the NSC Staff Papers is a memorandum dated July 3, 1954,
from Cutler to his two subordinates, James S. Lay and J. Patrick Cone,
explaining how they should handle NSC administrative matters during his
absence; one would assume that if the memorandum to Twining were
genuine, Lay or Cone would have signed it."
In addition, although the Cutler memo was supposedly a carbon copy,
it was folded as if it had been in a shirt pocket, which would be
unusual for a carbon copy put in a file. The memo is in the National
Archives; the question is how it got there, and if it is authentic.
A document entitled "SOM1-01: Extraterrestrial Entities and Technology, Recovery and Disposal" (ref. http://209.132.68.98/pdf/som101_part1.pdf)
and found on www.majesticdocuments.com contains paragraphs with
subheads set in the sans serif "Helvetica" typeface. The document
purports to be from 1954 yet the typeface in question was first
designed in 1957 by the Swiss graphic designer, Max Miedinger. The
capitalized sans serif letter "R" (and others) found on many pages
confirms that this typeface is not the much earlier Akzidenz Grotesk
sans serif typeface. This evidence seems to strongly suggest that this
document is a fabrication.
[edit] MJ-12 in later conspiracy theory
Soon after their disclosure, MJ-12 was absorbed into many other alleged conspiracies; Milton William Cooper's works (especially Behold A Pale Horse)
are key in this introducing MJ-12 to a wider, conspiratorially-minded
audience, and have generated significant criticism as unfounded. Some
of these later versions insist that the "M" in "MJ-12" stands not for
"Majestic" but for "Majority".
In the Unofficial X-Files Companion: Volume 2 author N.E.
Genge remarks that according to less extravagant conspiracy theory
lore, Majestic 12 was created with a more humble goal: to cover up alien activities on Earth, and liaise with the aliens to obtain technology in exchange for knowledge and testing on human biology.
[edit] Present-day MJ-12
Many theories suggest that MJ-12's efforts continue to the present.
For example, UFO researcher Bill Hamilton says he has identified the
present-day members of MJ-12. Gordon Novel, a shadowy figure associated
with various CIA conspiracies, Watergate, and the Jim Garrison investigation of the Kennedy assassination,
in a recent interview, further adds that most are Americans with a few
foreigners. Allegedly they were involved with Kennedy's murder because
Kennedy wanted to end the cover-up. They are major world power brokers
and manipulate events behind the scenes in a bid for total world power.
Supposedly a key motivation behind the cover-up is reverse-engineering
captured alien technology in order to obtain such domination. Moreover,
many criminal acts have been committed towards this end, including
numerous murders to maintain security and control of international drug
trafficking to pay for the huge research and security costs. Novel background and interview
Another person to say that MJ-12 still existed was Dr. Eric Walker (see Arguments for
above). When originally contacted, Walker said he had known of their
existence since their creation in 1947. Similar to Novel, Walker in a
later 1990 interview said the current membership was mostly American
but had added some foreigners. They were a highly elite group of
individuals and Walker repeatedly discouraged interviewers from trying
to learn more, saying there was nothing the average person could do.
[edit] References in popular culture
- WPRT Paranormal Radio with Captain Jack
- Majestic 12 is an animated group of weak superheroes from Zatch Bell!.
- In television, this conspiracy has largely inspired several TV series:
- The X-Files, in which they are often referred to as "The Syndicate" and Mulder receives a top secret file regarding MJ-12. They are first spoken of in the episode "Anasazi."
- Dark Skies (1996-1997), in which the name MJ-12 is specifically used and has later notables as members, such as Robert Kennedy, astronomer Carl Sagan, CIA director Allen Dulles, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The Kennedy assassination was supposedly engineered by MJ-12 because President Kennedy wanted to make the alien presence public. Columnist Dorothy Kilgallen was also supposedly murdered by MJ-12 for knowing too much.
- In Stargate SG-1
there is a fictional government organization known as "The Trust",
whose goals are similar to that of Majestic 12; Procuring new alien
technology and covering up all alien activity.
- An episode of Serial Experiments Lain featured a brief overview of the Majestic-12 conspiracy.
- The Majestic-12 conspiracy (or ones like it) makes a prominent appearance in several computer, video and roleplaying games:
- Deus Ex and its sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War feature their own Majestic 12, as a rebel faction of the Illuminati.
- The Delta Green supplement to the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, features Majestic-12 as a major antagonist organization for the player characters to investigate and fight against.
- The alternate-reality game Majestic is inspired by the conspiracy.
- Perfect Dark features a similar conspiracy.
- Majestic Twelve is the name of the fourth Space Invaders game in Japan. It is called Super Space Invaders '91 internationally.
- In Destroy All Humans!,
The human enemies which pose the most threat to Crypto are known as
"Majestic", and its leader mentions "Majestic 12" among her final
words. In the second, an English branch of the society is called M16 (a
parody of MI6).
- Political satirist Christopher Buckley parodied Majestic-12 in his novel Little Green Men.
- The committee is featured in Robert Doherty's Area 51
novel series, in which all but two of the top members are
"reprogrammed" by an alien computer found in South America. The main
characters of the series (who are not members) are sometimes referred to as "the new Majic-12" or "Majestic-13."
- Alien abduction claimant Whitley Strieber wrote a novel called Majestic
in 1989, which dealt with the formation of MJ-12 following the alleged
UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947. His 2006 novel The Grays,
while not making specific reference to the term MJ-12, relates the
story of a similar governmental organization called simply "the Trust."
- Majestic-12 also appears in Scarecrow, a recent action novel by Matthew Reilly,
albeit in a slightly different form. The group in Matthew Reilly's
novel is a group of the world's richest business men, who operate in
the shadows, bringing different leaders into and out of power when it
suits them. Also they were responsible for attempting to bring about a
change in the world superpowers, a change Scarecrow prevented.
- MJ-12 is one of a line of computers sold by PC maker Alienware.
- MJ13 are a British rock band who take their name from the Majestic 12 and the 13 months of the Mayan Calendar.
- American punk-rock band U.S. Bombs on their CD Covert Action perform a song called Majestic Twelve about the thirteen families who rule the world.
- Foo Fighters singer/guitarist Dave Grohl's publishing company is named "M.J.-Twelve Music".
- The last line of the blink-182 song 'Aliens Exist' goes "I'm not like you guys, twelve majestic lies". Writer of the song, Tom DeLonge (Vox, Guitar) is a strong believer in all things paranormal.
- The Dutch Reggae group Beef have a song named 'Top Secret' concerning Majestic 12 on their album Beef.
- Majestic 12 is the name of a model of inline-skates that were produced by the company Roces (as of 2005 they are named M-twelve).
- MJ-12 was a shadow group of multinational corporation officials, who wanted to secure Noah's Ark in order to usher in the apocalypse, according to manga comic series Spriggan.
- Record 'Channel Zero'
by artist 'Canibus', contains a couple of references to Majestic 12;
"Approximately fifty years ago, under the direction of president Harry
Truman, and in the interest of national security, a group of twelve top
military scientific personnel were established...", "...MJ twelve is
not majestic...".
- A company called Majestic 12 developed the computer game Cricket Captain for D&H Games.
- Majic 12 was also a Hungarian demogroup.
- The Metal Gear
series of video games occasionally makes references to a clandestine
group known by several names, which is generally referred to as the
Patriots. In an account of the groups history, it is said to have 12
members, which may be a reference to Majestic-12.
- A rock band from Wilmington, NC are called The Majestic Twelve.
- A game company called Majestic Twelve Games makes pen and paper tactical war games, including the popular starship combat board game Starmada.
- The Starsea Invaders trilogy by Harry Stine features extensive alien encounters on earth, and active MJ12 cast
- Band "Clutch" references MJ 12 as damning us to hell in the song "Animal Farm" from their self-titled album.
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