MJ-20
The month of May of this year marks the 20th anniversary of the public surfacing of the so-called MJ12 documents. For those unacquainted with the story, the MJ12 saga involves incredible tales of crashed UFOs; dead aliens alllegedly in the possession of the US Government; the possible theft and unauthorized release of - reportedly - highly classified documents; and a shadowy counter-intelligence operation, at the heart of which - some believe - may lie the undeniable evidence that proves humankind is not alone in the universe.
Indeed, so the story goes, MJ12 was a highly secret, elite group - comprised of military, government, scientific and intelligence personnel - created in the 1940s and whose job it was to deal with classified UFO data - such as the reported events at Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. But how did the documents surface?
A brief summary of the background for those not fully aware of the subject:
It was in 1980 that Charles Berlitz’s and Bill Moore’s book The Roswell Incident was published: a book that well and truly brought discussion of all things crashed and ufological into the spotlight. In the wake of the book’s publication, Moore was contacted by a number of intelligence insiders who provided both data and what appeared to be highly classified, official documents on UFOs - the implication being that someone in the US Government, military, or intelligence world wanted to make available to the UFO research community material that would otherwise have remained forever outside of the public domain.
It was as a result of Moore’s insider dealings that a roll of film negative displaying the MJ12 documents was quietly delivered to the home of Moore’s research colleague, Jaime Shandera, in December 1984. Moore and Shandera - along with researcher and author Stan Friedman worked carefully and quietly - and without publishing the documents - for two and a half years in an attempt to determine the authenticity or otherwise of the documents.
However, in May 1987, matters took a dramatic turn when British author Tim Good published copies of the documents - said to have been acquired from a source with ties to the intelligence world - in his book Above Top Secret. And, in the wake of the Good release, Moore, Friedman, and Shandera followed suit.
Then, in the years that followed, countless more documents from the MJ12 stable surfaced -Â predominantly via the researcher Timothy Cooper, who said that he received his copies from, chiefly, an elderly intelligence insider: “Thomas Cantwheel.”
And, since then, the controversy has rumbled on: with countless words written on the subject of MJ12 - such as Stan Friedman’s Top Secret Majic; Ryan Wood’s Majic Eyes Only; and Kevin Randle’s Case MJ-12.
Today, twenty years after they practically changed the UFO field overnight, the MJ12Â papers are still being discussed. Indeed, to some MJ12 is the real deal; to others it is officially-created disinformation to hide the truth pertaining to the murky events at Roswell; and some see nothing more than a gigantic hoax as being the cause. Of course, all of the above is widely known in ufology. So, you may ask, what is my point in raking up what is essentially old news?
Well, it’s this: another angle concerning specific aspects (and I strongly stress the “aspects”-only issue) of the MJ12 story has emerged; and it’s one that involves a late 1970s/early 1980s espionage-based operation to smoke out former Soviet moles in the US. Well, I say that it has emerged - but that’s not entirely accurate. At least not yet. But it will be surfacing - later this year. In May, in fact. Twenty years on from that long-gone day when ufology was practically turned on its head overnight.
These somewhat obscure, Cold War revelations will probably not be of much interest outside of the confines of the UFO community. But make a rumble in ufology, they certainly will. And in a weird, roundabout way, the revelations (which, I must unequivocally stress, are nothing to do with me or my research at all) allow for both orchestrated disinformation and a genuine other-worldly event having occurred at Roswell. Stay tuned.
Â
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Jan 25 2007 
January 25th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Nick,
This new revelation looks like it will be much deeper than I was able to get into or uncover in Project Beta. It sounds as if it deeper than I could have gotten, with my resources. However, it supports the fact that the entire Bennewitz/ MJ-12/ document release drama of the period was based squarely in a disinfo project to vet Soviet moles in the US posing as Ufologists or at least those interested in UFOs.
I hope that this new info source will name names of other well-known Ufologists who were basically taking the same deal as Bill Moore. I have my suspicions, but have kept quiet about it, mainly for privacy reasons, but also since they are only guesses.
I also wonder if the information release will name the man known as “Falcon?” He was the intelligence pro who orchestrated the whole Bennewitz and MJ-12 epsiodes, as well as the “revelations” of the UFO Coverup Live! program from 1989. I have narrowed my suspicions down to two individuals. Perhaps this will kick me in the behind to name those two and discuss the merits of each for further study by others.
January 25th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Nick;
This may have nothing to do with your post; but, I was wondering if the above has anything to with the sitings of the men in black. Probably was in the mid 80’s, I seen a big black vehicle with a licence plate, Goverment of Canada. Plate# 666. The above subject appears to be not just a USA thing. Not knowing anything regarding the men in black, I never thought much about it at the time. Until shortly after did I start hearing from a few differant people of regarding sitings of these mystery men and the same car I seen. Only one of these stories had to do with the aftermath of a actual ufo experiance. I realize these men maybe part of the MJ12 team; but, a few sitings stood out as they were more alien then human in action.
January 25th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
SasDave:
At this stage, I know little more than is in the post; so don’t have any info on a MIB angle of the new revelations. However, there’s no doubt that there are some seriously weird MIB encounters out there. John Keel’s Mothman Prophecies, or Jim Keith’s book on the MIBs are good places to look. And of course Gray Barker’s “They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers” book of 1956 that kick-started the MIB controversy on a large scale (although there had been may MIB type reports in years, and centuries, before).
January 25th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Greg
It will definitely be interesting to see if there is an outing of Falcon. I have no data on that at all, though, or if it will even happen. Maybe you should just go ahead and put your new Falcon data out there for debate? It’s about time ufology finally got to the root of all that stuff.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Greg,
It was my understanding that Richard Doty was “Falcon”. At least he penned a statement to that effect dated March 3, 1989.
You suspect this not to be the case?
January 25th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
[...] MJ-20 (tags: UFO) [...]
January 25th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
i for one am very interested to hear about this new info. this cold war spook stuff is murky business but it sure is fascinating!
January 25th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Nick,
Give me a few weeks to check with a few other people and I just may do that!
January 25th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Mister ecks,
Yes, it’s often more fascinating to me than the actual UFOs themselves.
January 26th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Ok Nick / Greg - you’ve got my attention.
So can you give us any hints as to the scuttlebutt that causes you to suspect a release of new info is coming?
Could it be related to this news coming out of France?
French to reveal UFO secrets - The Sun Online
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007040056,00.html
SMiles
January 26th, 2007 at 9:17 am
SMiles:
I don’t think that there is a conncection with the French release. However, the scuttlebutt as per the MJ20 post is basically this (and at this stage I know very little more than was in the post): a new book will be published in the UK in May, written by someone formerly with the USAF that will detail how the Soviets planned to use unwitting US researchers (and their own moles too) to try and uncover the truth about Roswell for interested parties in Russia, and that the Americans tried to counter this by confusing the Reds with a mass of faked documents on crashed saucers - to keep the Russians busy chasing false leads and also to try and determine if there were any US based Intel people who were aiding the Kremlin.
At least by May we should know quite a bit more.
January 28th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
[...] The site is due to make its debut in the next two months. Perhaps some documents related to the release of a new book on the Bennewitz/ UFO disinfo shenanigans of the late 1970s and early ’80s will appear on wikileaks as “companion” documents.We should of course await developments with a skeptical attitude. [...]
January 28th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Raven,
Doty is well known to say things that are convenient to the case at hand when he needs to. He also told Linda Howe that he was “Falcon.” I just about as sure as I can be that he was definitely NOT the “Falcon” we have come to know and love. That man was an old spymaster from the OSS days, brought out of semi-retirement for his expertise with Iron-Curtain type counterintelligence operations, such as the Bennewitz/ MJ-12 episode.
February 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 am
Wouldn’t be John Jesus Angleton would it?
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:06 am
Shawnna
No, not JJA. It’s an elderly retired USAF guy who was involved in a disinfo op in the late 70s and early 80s, using UFOs. I actually don’t know his name, but the book contract is apparently signed.