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- >>Second of two-part excerpt from "Just Cause", newsletter of Citizens Against
- UFO Secrecy, regarding the controversial "Aquarius" memo, and "MJ 12".
- _______________
-
- What about the data in the "MJ12" report? The date is immediately telling.
- September 18, 1947, is the birthday of the CIA, the official first day of
- their existence! Is it a coincidence or a tell-tale clue to the document
- being phony? Or could this report have been one of the first orders of
- business for the flegdling CIA?
-
- The connection of the 1947 Roswell incident to this affair makes sense. Based
- on the information unveiled by Bill Moore, Stan Friedman and others, the
- Roswell crash was clearly a major topic in high government circles. It
- strains credibility to think that piles of metallic debris would have been
- sent to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio from New Mexico for analysis if the
- material were simply parts of what should have been an easily-recognizable
- radar reflector balloon to Army Air Force officers. After the arrival of the
- material at Wright-Patterson and wherever else it may have gone, official
- documentation ceases. No useful government files describing analysis of the
- debris have been unearthed. Obviously analysis took place somewhere. Where
- is the report? If the Roswell object were a strange device of some sort, then
- involvement of the individuals listed as MJ 12 would make sense.
-
- My first thoughts upon seeing this list of people is that if a UFO had crashed
- and was recovered, this would be the kind of panel that I would want to put
- together to investigate the matter. All of these individuals were at the top
- in their respective areas of experience during the late 1940's and had the
- added benefit of government experience behind them. The Majestic 12 indeed!
-
- A number of them were later involved in the UFO phenomenon. In fact, fully
- half of the panel would make a mark on UFO history during and after 1947:
-
- o Hoyt Vandenberg - said to have read the now-famous 1948 "Estimate of the
- Situation" and subsequently ordered it downgraded and destroyed for lack of
- evidence that UFO's were interplanetary.
-
- o Roscoe Hillenkoeter - Former board member of NICAP and proponent of UFO
- reality.
-
- o Vannevar Bush - Mentioned in the formelry top secret Canadian "Smith memo"
- of November 21, 1950, as the head of a "concentrated effort" to study UFOs.
-
- o Nathan Twining - Authored a well-known September 1947 Air Force memo
- strongly endorsing the serious nature of UFOs.
-
- o Donald Menzel - Author of 3 books debunking the UFO phenomenon.
-
- o Lloyd Berkner - member of the CIA's "Robertson Panel" of 1953.
-
- Panel members' background show that most had connections to either the
- National Security Council or the Research and Development Board (R&DB). The
- R&DB figures prominently in testimony given to us by Dr. Robert Sarbacher
- and CAUS is convinced that UFO file material exists in the R&DB's holdings at
- the National Archives.
-
- Another curiousity. General Twining's pro-UFO "flying discs" memo (see CLEAR
- INTENT, pp.213-214) dated September 23, 1947, comes only five days after the
- MJ12 report. Could Twining's possible connection to an MJ12 panel have had
- an influence on his wr iting of the 9/23/47 memo?
-
- The listing of Vandenberg and particularly Donald Menzel as MJ12 members is a
- major curiousity since both had later negative involvement in UFOs. If an
- MJ12 Panel concluded that UFOs were real, Menzel's and Vandenberg's debunking
- would seem illogical. Or would it?
-
- If a singular incident of high national security importance occurred, like a
- Roswell incident, such could be classified more highly even that the H-Bomb,
- as the Smith memo so aptly put it. As study of the phenomenon progressed,
- secrecy would be of the utmost importance and any effort to diffuse the
- interest of the public and non-need-to-know personnel would be encouraged.
- Therefore, General Vandenberg, by batting down Project Sign's "Estimate of
- the Situation", would be preventing undue attention from
-