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Is Majestic real ?
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In
the UFO research community, the opinion is split. In one corner, Stanton
T. Friedman, who has dedicated over 10 years of research to finding the
truth, Bill Moore and Jaime Shandera believe the documents to be real. In
the other corner are Kevin Randle,Armen Victorian and our old friend Philip
Klass, all of whom have reasons to believe they are faked. |
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To
add to the mystery surrounding the Majestic-12
papers (also known as MJ-12, or MAJIC), a number of other similar packages
have turned up over the last few years. The first was a postcard delivered
to Bill Moore in 1985. Postmarked New Zealand, it suggested him to research
newly declassified documents at the US National Archives. Moore and Shandera
did so, and found a memo confirming the existance of MJ-12,
written by Eissenhower's Special Assistant for National Security, Robert
Cutler, and addressed to Nathan Twining, the US Air Force Chief Of Staff. |
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Between
1992 and 1996, another UFO researcher named Tim Cooper, received a number
of MJ-12 documents, all of which he quietly
shared with Friedman. Several were proved hoaxes but, according to Cooper
and Friedman, two single-page documents appear to be genuine. The first
is a brief instruction to General Nathan Twining (an alleged member of MJ-12)
concerning his activities during a July 1947 trip to New Mexico, the site
of the crashed saucer. The second document is 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'. |
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The
most spectacular new MJ-12 document was posted in 1994 to Don Berliner,
a longtime UFO investigator and science writer. The anonymous roll of film
contained 23 pages of a 'Majestic-12 Group Special
Operations Manual', dated April, 1954. It was a detailed instruction
manual entitled 'Extra-terrestrial Entities and Technology,
Recovery and Disposal'. |
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Because
most of the MJ-12 documents are on film, the original paper or ink cannot
be analysed. However there are many factual details that can be checked,
such as the background of the 12 members of the committee, the dates of
meetings, the style and format of similar documents, and the validity of
the signatures. Clearly, MJ-12 had an all-star cast. As well as Secretary
of Defence Forrestal there were the first three Directors of Central Intelligence,
an Air Force General, an Army General, the Secretary of the Army and five
of the US's most influential scientists. This was the cream of the US's
military, scientific and intelligence communities. If there was to be a
top-secret government group investigating UFOs, this would have been it. |
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1
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Rear
Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter First Director of Central Intelligence
(1947-50). In 1960, he acknowledged there was a UFO cover-up. |
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2
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Dr
Vannevar Bush Chairman of the Joint Research and Development Board
(1945-49). Advisor to the President, and key player in atomic bomb development.
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3
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James
Forrestal First US Secretary Of Defence. In 1949 he had a mental
breakdown and committed suicide (some conspiracy theorists believe he was
murdered) replaced by General Walter Beddell Smith. |
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4
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Nathan
Twining Commander of Air Materiel Command at Wright Field and later,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the US's highest military position.
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5
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General
Hoyt Vandenberg Chief of Military Intelligence during World War II
and second Director of Central Intelligence (1946-47). |
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6
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Dr
Detlev Bronk Biophysicist. Head of the National Academy of Science,
and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of the Atomic Energy Committee.
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7
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Dr
Jerome Hunsaker Renowned aircraft designer and Chairman of the National
Advisory Committe on Aeronautics. |
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8
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Rear
Admiral Sidney Souers First Director of Central Intelligence (1946).
Appointed first Executive Secretary of National Security Council in 1947.
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9
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Gordon
Gray Assistant Secretary of the Army. Became the National Security
Advisor and Director of CIA's Psychological Strategy Board. |
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10
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Dr
Donald Menzel Harvard Professor of Astrophysics, and debunker of
UFOs. Held a Top Secret Ultra clearance and was a security advisor to several
presidents. |
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11
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Major
General Robert Montague Head of the Special Weapons Project at the
Atomic Energy Commission at Albuquerque, New Mexico. |
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12
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Dr
Lloyd Berkener Executive Secretary of the Joint Research and Development
Board. Member of the CIA-funded UFO Committee in 1950s. |
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The
only member in this list who seems out of place is Dr
Donald Menzel, a Harvard University Astronomer. He had written three
anti-UFO books and many papers debunking flying saucers. All but Menzel
were known to have a high-level security clearance, and because of this
many researchers were inclined to think that the MJ-12 documents were bogus.
However in April 1986, Stanton Friedman was allowed access to Menzel's papers
at the Harvard University Archives. He learned that Menzel had a 30-year
association with the National Secutiry Agency and that he also had a Top-Secret
Ultra clearance with the CIA. It has also been proved that Menzel
made numerous visits to New Mexico in 1947 and 1948, paid for by government
expenses. |
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The earliest reference to Majestic is in the
memo supposedly sent by Truman to Forrestal. The memo, which names the
President's science advisor Vannevar Bush, is dated 24th September, 1947.
This happens to be the only day between May and December on which Truman
met with Bush. Forrestal also met Bush that day, and this date is also
significant in that it was the day after Nathan Twining, Commanding General
of the Air Materiel Command (AMC), sent a secret memo to the Pentagon
relating to 'flying discs'. In it Twining
states, 'The phenomenon reported is something real
and not visionary or fictitious'. Also, a flight log from July
1947 shows that Twining had flown to New Mexico on 7th July, 1947. According
to the briefing paper, this was the same day that 'a
secret operation was began to assure recovery of the wreckage... for scientific
study'.
Could this be just coincidence? Genuine or fake,
the MJ-12 documents are certainly the most intriguing to have surfaced
in the history of UFOlogy.
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