Majestic 12: The Secret UFO Briefing the FBI Called Bogus
A supposed top secret briefing for President-elect Eisenhower about a recovered alien craft. The FBI and the National Archives explain why they doubt it.
The Majestic 12 papers claim a secret committee handled a recovered alien craft. An Air Force investigation found the Eisenhower briefing to be fake, the FBI called it bogus, and the National Archives lists reasons to doubt the related memo it holds.
The FBI Vault's "Majestic 12" release explains that in 1988, "two FBI offices received similar versions of a memo titled 'Operation Majestic-12…' claiming to be highly classified government document." The memo "appeared to be a briefing for newly-elected President Eisenhower on a secret committee created to exploit a recovery of an extra-terrestrial aircraft and cover-up this work from public examination." The Vault summary ends with one line: "An Air Force investigation determined the document to be a fake."
The papers first appeared in December 1984, when television producer Jamie Shandera received an undeveloped roll of 35mm film in a package with a New Mexico postmark. The images included a supposed briefing for Eisenhower dated November 18, 1952, and a memo said to be from President Truman dated September 24, 1947. In the FBI file, an official called the document "completely bogus," and the word "BOGUS" was scrawled across the copy in large letters.
A related paper, a July 14, 1954 memo from Robert Cutler to General Twining that mentions an "NCS/MJ-12 Special Studies Project," was found in Air Force records at the US National Archives (Record Group 341). The Archives has published its reasons for doubt. The memo has no Top Secret register number, and nothing related was filed with it. NSC indexes have no MJ-12 entries, there is no record of the NSC meeting it mentions, and Cutler was overseas at the time.
The Archives also points out that its seal only confirms a copy matches what is in its custody: "We do not authenticate documents or the information contained in a document." The same guide says the Archives "has been unable to locate any documentation among the Project BLUE BOOK records that discuss the 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico." On Roswell itself, the guide notes the Air Force's conclusion that the materials recovered in 1947 "were consistent with a balloon device of the type used in a then-classified project."
One Majestic 12 paper really is in the National Archives, filed in a folder of Air Force records. The Archives lists reasons it doubts the paper is genuine.
An Air Force investigation found the briefing document to be a fake, and the FBI called it bogus. Journalist Philip Klass pointed out that the Truman signature appeared to be a pasted-on photocopy. The National Archives lists reasons it doubts the Cutler-Twining memo, including that Cutler was out of the country on the date it bears.
