For the first time since 1966, US House Intelligence subcommittee began holding a congressional hearing on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) on 17th May. While we wait for answers to emerge, lets continue my exploration of what came from Area 51 - Leaked documents naming a Top-Secret government group dealing with recovered flying saucers. It sounds a lot like the X-Files, but are the papers genuine?
In December 1984, Jaime Shandera, a Hollywood movie producer and UFO researcher, received an unusual package through the post. Inside was just one roll of undeveloped 35mm black and white film. The postmark gave a clue to its origins: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
When processed, the film contained negatives of what appeared to be an eight-page briefing-paper, prepared on 18 November 1952, for President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower. A warning on the first page read, 'This is a TOP SECRET - EYES ONLY document containing compartmentalized information essential to the national security of the United States.' On page two was a list of 12 influential US scientists, military leaders and intelligence advisors. Page three made it clear the paper was about the recovery of a crashed flying saucer and alien bodies near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947.
The last page held a memorandum, dated 24 September 1947 from President Harry Truman instructing his Secretary of Defence, James Forrestal to proceed with 'Operation Majestic-12' (also known as MJ-12, or MAJIC). The memo also names the President's science advisor Vannevar Bush.
But what exactly did this mean?
STARTLING REVELATIONS
The briefing paper explains it all. In July 1947, a 'flying disc shaped aircraft' crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, and 'extra-terrestrial biological entities' (EBEs) were recovered by the military. When President Truman was informed about the crash, he authorized Forrestal to set up a committee to deal with the situation.
In 1952, when Eisenhower became President-elect, he was briefed on Operation Majestic-12 and the briefing paper lists the 12-man committee:
Lloyd Berkner (American physicist and engineer)
Detlev Bronk (prominent American scientist, educator, and administrator)
Vannevar Bush (American engineer, inventor and science administrator)
James Forrestal (the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense)
Gordon Gray (American attorney and government official during the administrations of Harry Truman (1945–53) and Dwight Eisenhower (1953–61) associated with defense and national security.)
Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (the 3rd director of the post–World War II US Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the 3rd Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and the 1st director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA))
Jerome Clarke Hunsaker (American naval officer and aeronautical engineer)
Donald H. Menzel (American theoretical astronomer and astrophysicists)
Robert M. Montague (a lieutenant general in the US Army, deputy commander of Fort Bliss, Texas, commander of the Sandia Missile Base in New Mexico, and head of the US Caribbean Command)
Sidney Souers (American admiral and intelligence expert)
Nathan F. Twining (a US Air Force general, chief of Staff of the US Air Force (1953-1957), and 3rd chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1957-1960))
Hoyt Vandenberg (US Air Force general, 2nd Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and 2nd Director of Central Intelligence)
The final paragraph stresses the need to 'avoid a public panic at all costs', confirming that the government was covering up the truth about UFOs. Are the documents real.
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
Over the years, opinion has been split in the UFO research community. Those that believe include researchers such as UFOlogists Bill Moore, Jaime Shandera and nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman, who sadly died of a heart-attack in 2019 and dedicated over thirty years to finding the truth. Those that believe the paper was a clever fake, include researchers such as Kevin Randle, Armen Victorian and Philip Klass, who sadly died in 2005.
A number of other packages were sent to researchers, adding to the mystery of the Majestic-12. The first was a postcard to Bill Moore in 1985, suggesting a search of newly declassified files at the US National Archives was required. It was postmarked from New Zealand. Moore and Shandera searched the files and found a memo confirming the existence of MJ-12. It was written by Eisenhower's Special Assistant for National Security, Robert Cutler and addressed to Nathan Twining (the US Air Force Chief of Staff and an alleged MJ-12 member).
In 1988, two FBI Agents received similar versions of a memo titled “Operation Majestic-12…” claiming to be a highly classified government document. Their task was to 'discern if the document is still classified' - https://vault.fbi.gov/Majestic%2012. It is reported that in preparation of the official releasing of UFO files by the United States in 2010, under the Obama administration, the FBI marked the MJ-12 document "bogus" on every page.
Between 1992 and 1996, UFO researcher, Tim Cooper, received a number of MJ-12 documents. Several were proved hoaxes but two single-page documents appeared to be genuine, according to Cooper and Friedman. The first was a brief instruction to General Nathan Twining concerning his activities during a trip to New Mexico in July 1947 .
The second document was a memo to President Truman, dictated by US Secretary of State George C. Marshall to his Executive Secretary, R. H. Humelsine. While there is no direct mention of MJ-12 in the memo, the reference at the top reads: 'MAJIC EO 092447 MJ-12'.
THE LATEST
In 1994, an anonymous roll of film containing 23 pages of a 'Majestic-12 Group Special Operations Manual', dated April 1954, was sent to Don Berliner (UFO investigator and science writer). The manual was entitled: 'Extra-terrestrial Entities and Technology, Recovery and Disposal."
In 2016, Scientific skeptic author Brian Dunning agreed with Bill Moore's suspicion that the papers were part of a US government disinformation campaign to deflect attention from secret Air Force projects.
MENZEL'S SECRET HISTORY
From the list of MJ-12 members, Dr Donald Menzel, a Harvard University astronomer seemed to be the odd one out. It seemed clear that everyone but Menzel had high-level security clearance. Menzel had also written three anti-UFO books and many papers debunking flying saucers. This lead many to believe the documents were fake.
However, in April 1986, Stanton Friedman got written permission from Menzel's wife and two University officials, allowing him access to Menzel's papers at the Harvard University Archive. He discovered that Menzel had a 30-year association with the National Security Agency (NSA).
Friedman also discovered that Menzel made a number of trips to New Mexico during 1947 and 1948 on government expenses. Also, he had 'Top Secret Ultra' clearance with the CIA, he had completed highly classified consulting work for major US corporations, he had close connections with the other MJ-12 members, and had advised the government on many classified projects. So it seemed that Menzel did have the necessary background to be one of the MJ-12 after-all.
The other alleged members of the group checked out. All had worked on top-secret projects and were members of various research and development boards. The last-surviving member of the committee died just three months before Jaime Shandera received the film, so, conveniently, none of them could be asked directly about their role. But their comings and goings could be tracked from many sources: telephone logs, correspondence, minutes from meetings, and other papers stored in the presidential libraries and the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.
THE EVIDENCE
The memo of 24th September 1947 from President Harry Truman is significant in that the day after, Nathan Twining, Commanding General of the Air Matériel Command (AMC), sent a secret memo to the Pentagon relating to 'flying discs'. In it, Twining states that, 'The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.'
In addition, a flight log from July 1947 shows that Twining had flown to New Mexico on 7 July 1947. According to the briefing paper, on this date, a secret operation began to assure recovery of the wreckage... for scientific study.' Could this be just coincidence?
EYE FOR DETAIL
Several issues with the documents have been identified. Truman's signature is positioned wrongly and is apparently identical to another document with his signature.
Apparently, the date formats, typefaces, and the style of language used in the documents are different to official, authentic papers of the time.
Friedman spent ten years investigating the hoax claims and still reckoned the papers are genuine. 'I have yet to hear a convincing argument against MJ-12,' Friedman states. 'Frankly, I consider this ensemble of documents the most important classified documents ever leaked to the public.'
If they are fakes, it is likely they were written by someone with inside knowledge. If they are genuine, they prove that the government willfully covered up the truth about UFOs.