beckenba@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (Joe Beckenbach) (03/15/88)
--
[My apologies for removing the standard '>' in my included
material; somehow I have to get around my site's injunction that more
new stuff should appear than included from previous postings.]
The debate has raged in skeptics for a while about the validity
of the Majestic-12 documents. From Phoenix, AZ comes some new evidence:
++++ begin included text
Skeptics Digest Sunday, 13 Mar 1988 Number 14
Today's Topics:
Operation Majestic-12 (3 messages)
Zen Master Rama
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Date: Sunday, 13 March 1988 14:18 est
From: James J. Lippard <Lippard at HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS>
Subject: MJ-12
To: skeptics at BCO-MULTICS
I recommend reading "The MJ-12 Crashed-Saucer Documents" by Philip J. Klass,
pp. 137-146 in the Winter 1987-88 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer. This is
the first of two articles on the subject by Klass.
The MJ-12 documents were released to the public on May 29, 1987 by William L.
Moore, Stanton Friedman, and Jamie Shandera. These documents claim that the
U.S. government recoverd a crashed flying saucer and four extraterrestrials
in mid-1947 (as Moore claimed in his 1980 book THE ROSWELL INCIDENT,
co-authored with Charles Berlitz). The documents also describe the recovery
of another crashed saucer from Dec. 6, 1950 on the Texas-Mexico border.
The documents claim that on Sep. 24, 1947, President Truman created a
top-secret panel of 12 scientists, military leaders, and intelligence
officials called Operation Majestic-12 (MJ-12). This panel was to examine the
crashed saucer.
The claims are made in three documents:
1. A "Top Secret" memo from Truman to Defense Secretary Forrestal, dated
Sep. 24, 1947, authorizing MJ-12.
2. A "Top Secret/Eyes Only" MJ-12 document used to brief President
Eisenhower, dated Nov. 18, 1952.
3. A "Top Secret" memo from Robert Cutler, special assistant to Eisenhower,
to General Nathan Twining, USAF chief of staff, dated July 14, 1954.
Moore claims that #1 and #2 were received in mid-Dec 1984 by Jamie
Shandera, an LA TV writer-producer, on an undeveloped roll of 35mm film, from
an anonymous sender. Moore has refused to send Klass a photocopy of the
postmark of the envelope.
Shandera immediately contacted Moore even before the film was processed,
without knowing what was on it. This immediately raises several questions.
1. Why would the film be sent to Shandera, who is not a UFOlogist? 2. Why did
Shandera know the film would be of interest to Moore even before it was
developed?
The contents of these two documents raise further questions of
authenticity. The Eisenhower briefing document indicate that the briefing
officer was Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, who was head of the CIA in 1947
when MJ-12 was allegedly created. But in fall of 1950 Hillenkoetter left the
CIA to return to sea duty as commander of the Seventh Task Force and did not
return for duty until late 1951 to become commander of the Third Naval
District in New York. Why would he brief Eisenhower rather than the chairman
of MJ-12, who had remained in the U.S. since 1947?
The dates in this document are *all* of the form "18 November, 1952".
Standard date style is "November 18, 1952", standard military style is "18
November 1952". Who uses the form "18 November, 1952"? William Moore.
Single-digit dates in the document are also all preceded by zeros, a practice
not used (by the military) in 1952 and only in limited use today. Who uses
dates of the form "01 August, 1950"? William Moore (who started putting the
zeros on single-digit dates in 1983--about a year before the film was sent to
Shandera).
The other document which was on the film, the Truman memo, has an authentic
Truman signature. However, this could easily have been put on with the aid of
photocopying. Moore and Friedman had both visited the Truman Library in
Independence, Missouri prior to the mailing of the film to Shandera.
The Truman memo differs significantly from all other Truman memos of the
time period. The MJ-12 memo was composed on a relatively inexpensive
typewriter with a worn ribbon and keys that had not been recently cleaned,
unlike all other Truman memos of the time. Truman was also blunt and to the
point, but the MJ-12 memo contains verbiage like "It continues to be my
feeling that any future considerations relative to the ultimate disposition of
this matter should rest solely with the Office of the President following
appropriate discussions with yourself, Dr. Bush and the Director of Central
Intelligence."
Finally, in all genuine Truman letters to cabinet members, he begins "My
Dear Secretary Foo" and puts the full name and address of the recipient in the
lower left corner of the page. In the MJ-12 memo, the lower left corner does
not have Forrestal's name, title, and address, and the memo begins "Dear
Secretary Forrestal".
The third document, the Cutler/Twining memo, was allegedly discovered by
Moore in July 1985 in a box of declassified documents at the National
Archives. Moore mentioned this document at a 1985 MUFON conference, but did
not release it to the public for two years. More curious is that Moore did
not give any copies of these documents to Stanton Friedman, his principal
collaborator, until 1987. More on this later.
The National Archives has looked into the matter of this memo. Their
investigation (reported in a letter dated July 22, 1987, from Jo Ann
Williamson, chief of the military reference branch of the National Archives,
which I have typed in as a separate message) showed many problems with this
document.
Back to the point about Moore not informing Friedman for two years. In May
1984, British UFOlogist Timothy Good told the British news media about the
MJ-12 documents, which he said he had obtained from a "reliable American
source." Moore refuses to say if he was this source, but it seems fairly
clear that he was. It is curious that Good received copies before Friedman.
Klass, who was in Phoenix last weekend to give a lecture at ASU, proposed the
theory that Moore was "trying out" the documents on another subject before
giving them to Friedman.
All alleged MJ-12 members are dead. The documents correspond directly to
Moore's theories of coverup (e.g. in 1982 at a Toronto MUFON conference, Moore
said that Dr. Vannevar Bush, president of the Carnegie Institution, would have
been a good choice to set up a project dealing with a crashed UFO. The Truman
memo has MJ-12 set up by Bush and Forrestal.)
One of the alleged MJ-12 members was Dr. Donald Menzel, well-known
as a UFO skeptic. He has written extensively debunking UFOs.
(Some UFOlogists, such as John Lear, have stated that they think Philip
Klass is a member of present-day MJ-12.)
Citizens Against UFO Secrecy, which accuses the government of a
UFO-coverup, characterized the MJ-12 documents in the September 1987 issue of
its newsletter Just Cause as "a grand deception and, consequently, a giant
black eye on the face of UFOlogy."
I heard a rumor last weekend (from a MUFON person) that William Moore is
quitting the UFOlogy business for unknown reasons.
Jim Lippard
Lippard at BCO-MULTICS
------------------------------
Date: Sunday, 13 March 1988 15:21 est
From: James J. Lippard <Lippard at HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS>
Subject: MJ-12: National Archives letter
To: skeptics at BCO-MULTICS
The following is the complete text of the National Archives
letter from Jo Ann Williamson.
National
Archives____________________________________________________
<seal> Washington, DC 20408
Date : July 22, 1987
Reply to
Attn of : Military Reference Branch
Subject : Reference Report on MJ-12
To : The Record
The National Archives has received many requests for documentation and
information about "Project MJ-12". Many of the inquiries concern a memorandum
from Robert Cutler to General Nathan Twining, dated July 14, 1954. This
particular document poses problems for the following reasons:
1. 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.
2. The document is filed in the folder T4-1846. There are no other
documents in the folder regarding "NSC/MJ-12".
3. The Military Reference Branch (Edward Reese) has conducted a search in
the records of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Headquarters US Air Force, and in other related files. No further information
has been found on this subject.
4. Inquiries to the US Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the
National Security Council failed to produce further information.
5. The Acting Director of the Freedom of Information Office of the National
Security Council informed us 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.
6. The document in question does not bear an official government letterhead
or watermark. The NARA conservation specialist (Mary Ritzenthaler) examined
the paper and determined it was a ribbon copy prepared on "dictation
onionskin". The Eisenhower Library has examined its collection of Cutler
papers. All documents created by Mr. Cutler while he served on the NSC staff
have an eagle watermark in the onionskin carbon paper. For the brief period
when Mr. Cutler left the NSC, his carbon copies were prepared on "prestige
onionskin".
7. The Judicial, Fiscal, and Social Branch searched the Official Meeting
Minute Files of the National Security Council and found no record of a NSC
meeting on July 16, 1954. A search of all NSC Meeting Minutes for July 1954
found no mention of MJ-12 nor Majestic.
8. The Judicial, Fiscal, and Social Branch (Mary Ronan) searched the
indices of the NSC records and found no listing for: MJ-12, Majestic,
unidentified flying objects, UFO, flying saucers, or flying discs.
9. The Judicial, Fiscal, and Social Branch (Mary Ronan) found a memo in a
folder titled "Special Meeting July 16, 1954" which indicated that NSC members
would be called to a civil defense exercise on July 16, 1954.
10. The Eisenhower Library states, in a letter to NNMR, 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 Cutlers 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
Coyne, explaining how they should handle NSC administrative matters during his
absence; one would assume that if the memorandum to Twining were genuine, Lay
or Coyne would have signed it."
<signature>
JO ANN WILLIAMSON
Chief, Military Reference Branch
Military Archives Division
+++ end included text
If the Majestic-12 documents were real, then this is indeed a massive
coverup. If the Majestic-12 documents are faked, then this is the doings of a
man wanting attention no matter what. I'll take the results of Occam's Razor,
at least until some really solid, undeniable evidence comes up.
Are there any people reading this newsgroup who were in the US
military during the Truman years, or have relations who were? Let's get some
[yeah, I know, informal] evidence to check on the date assertion given in the
National Archives letter. If anyone has access to the Truman Presidential
Library, here's a good quick project. Let's have some private cross-checks,
shall we?
--
Joe Beckenbach (CS BS '??) I'D RATHER BE ORBITING
There's more cross-over than you think between groups,
even taking this warning into account. :-)