SUN 44 (Mar 1997)

Magazine Overview

Title: Skeptics UFO Newsletter
Issue: #44
Date: March 1997
Publisher: Philip J. Klass
Focus: Critical examination of UFO phenomena, particularly focusing on alleged document forgeries and questionable claims within the UFO community.

In 1983, Bill Moore Reportedly Discussed Possible Use Of Bogus MJ-12 Type Documents To Encourage New Roswell Witnesses To Speak Out

This article delves into the controversial suggestion by UFO researcher Bill Moore in 1983 to create counterfeit "Top Secret/Eyes Only" MJ-12 documents. Moore reportedly sought the reaction of his friend Brad Sparks, a respected UFO researcher, to this idea. Sparks strongly recommended against it, fearing that factual errors would expose the documents as counterfeit and damage Moore's reputation. Moore explained that his and Jaime Shandera's efforts to find witnesses for alleged crashed-saucer recovery operations in New Mexico had hit a dead end. He proposed using bogus documents to encourage former military personnel to speak out and ignore secrecy oaths. Kevin Randle and Don Schmitt's 1994 book, "The Truth About The UFO Crash At Roswell," is cited as mentioning Moore's desire to create Roswell documents as early as 1982 to "open doors that were closed."

Moore's idea may have been influenced by Sgt. Richard Doty, an agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) at Kirtland Air Force Base. Doty was reportedly involved in the creation of several counterfeit government documents about bogus UFO incidents. Moore later admitted this in his 1990 report, "The MJ-12 Documents: An Analytical Report," co-authored with Shandera. Doty was later transferred and dismissed from AFOSI for submitting bogus claims.

Bogus Doty Teletype Introduces Term 'MJ Twelve'

The term "MJ Twelve" first appeared on a "Secret" teletype message involving UFO photos, dated November 17, 1980, which Doty provided to Moore in early 1981. Moore showed a copy of this teletype to Brad Sparks and Kal Korff on January 17, 1982. Later, Moore provided a copy to a TV show producer. Subsequent investigation by researcher Robert Todd in early 1983 revealed the teletype message to be bogus.

During an April 16, 1983, meeting, Moore discussed a "Top Secret" Project Aquarius document mentioned in the Doty teletype. On October 19, 1984, Moore showed Sparks several pages of a heavily censored Project Aquarius document, dated June 14, 1977, which appeared to be a UFO briefing for President Jimmy Carter. The document stated that MJ12 was solely responsible for its subject matter and had exclusive access to Project Aquarius.

The Moore/Shandera report of 1990 described how Moore obtained the Aquarius document: he received a call instructing him to pick up information, leading him to a motel in upstate New York. There, an individual gave him a sealed envelope containing 11 pages of a "Top Secret / Orcon" document titled "Executive Briefing: Subject: Project Aquarius." Moore photographed the pages and read the text into a tape recorder within the allotted 19 minutes. The courier then collected the pages.

Sgt. Doty Shows Same Aquarius Document To Another Researcher

Linda Moulton Howe reported seeing the same Project Aquarius papers on April 9, 1983, after meeting with Sgt. Doty in Albuquerque. Doty allegedly told Howe that the briefing paper was being shown to her because the government intended to release to her thousands of feet of film showing crashed UFOs and extraterrestrial bodies. Howe never received the alleged films. When Howe's account was published, Doty denied it, but Howe submitted an affidavit. Doty later stated he knew of no secret government investigation of UFOs and had never heard of MJ-12, despite its mention in the teletype he provided to Moore.

Moore claimed his top Washington-based intelligence source, code-named "Falcon," selected Sgt. Doty as his liaison to transmit sensitive UFO documents. The newsletter questions this, noting the inconvenience of a Washington-based source needing a courier from Albuquerque. It suggests that if Moore, "Falcon," and Doty met periodically in Albuquerque, then Doty's denial of knowing about secret UFO investigations would be a lie. Conversely, if Doty was truthful, then Moore's "Falcon" claim is false. The newsletter posits that "Falcon" was likely Sgt. Doty, though both deny it.

Moore Uses UFO-Researcher Lee Graham As His "Leaker-Conduit"

In May 1985, Moore showed the MJ-12 papers to Lee M. Graham, a UFO researcher with a "Secret" clearance due to his job with Aerojet. On June 17, 1985, Graham filed a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Energy, mentioning Majestic 12 and the alleged Truman letter creating MJ-12, and listing its 12 members. Graham erred on the date of the Truman letter and the Eisenhower briefing document.

Graham's distribution of his FOIA letters led to rumors of new "Top Secret/Eyes Only" MJ-12 papers confirming the Roswell incident. Barry Greenwood, editor of the Just Cause UFO newsletter, contacted Graham, and the December 1985 issue of his newsletter became the first UFO publication to discuss MJ-12 and list its members. That issue also included a copy of the "Doty teletype message," with a caution that its authenticity was unverified.

Moore and Shandera claimed to have found an unsigned carbon copy of a "Top Secret" memo, allegedly written by Robert Cutler on July 14, 1954, referring to a "MJ-12 Special Studies Project," in a carton of declassified USAF intelligence documents at the National Archives in July 1985. Subsequent investigation showed Cutler was out of the country on the memo's alleged writing date.

How Moore Almost Got "Scooped" In Release Of MJ-12 Papers

The newsletter speculates that Moore's strategy was to publish snippets of the MJ-12 papers in his newsletter, FOCUS, attributing them to alleged high-intelligence sources. This would be followed by releasing the MJ-12 papers to authenticate his sources, allowing him to report any "fanciful tale." However, the MJ-12 papers seemed self-serving by confirming the Roswell scenario. If the papers were sent only to Moore, suspicions might arise that he created them.

An attractive solution to this problem emerged in late May 1986 when Moore was visited by British UFOlogist Timothy Good. Good's book, "Above Top Secret," was scheduled for publication in July 1987. If the MJ-12 papers were published in Good's book shortly after Moore's U.S. release, it could divert suspicion from Moore and achieve international fame for the documents.

In late May 1986, Moore and Good had dinner in Tujunga, California. They made guarded remarks about MJ-12. Graham later learned that "the toast was for the simultaneous release of the MJ-12 document in England and the U.S."

Moore and Friedman were scheduled speakers at the 24th Annual National UFO Conference in Burbank, California, in mid-June. Publicity promised "very startling material." With Good's book due in July, Moore could reveal MJ-12 first, with Good's book providing corroboration. However, Good's publisher decided to hold a press conference on May 29, featuring the book's MJ-12 papers. Moore was apparently informed of this only days before the London conference. Moore, who was running late with the next issue of FOCUS (dated April 30, 1987), managed to release the MJ-12 papers to the U.S. media on May 28, one day before Good's press conference. The MJ-12 papers received widespread media coverage.

The timing of Good's press conference appears to have surprised Moore, as indicated by the April 30 issue of FOCUS, which claimed a "cooperative relationship with a number of well-placed contacts within the American intelligence community." This was followed by heavily censored pages from the Eisenhower briefing, with MJ-12 blacked out. The fact that Moore released complete MJ-12 papers shortly after FOCUS went to mail suggests he was surprised by Good's press conference timing.

Good Credits An American With Good Intelligence Contacts

At Good's press conference, he stated he obtained the MJ-12 papers from "a reliable American source who has close connections with the intelligence community." Both Good and Moore later denied that Moore was this source. Moore's press release accompanying the MJ-12 papers included a disclaimer: "Although we are not in a position to endorse its authenticity at this time, it is our considered opinion, based on research and interviews conducted thus far, that the document and its contents appear to be genuine."

Counterfeit Version Of Authentic USAF Document Discovered

Robert G. Todd's analysis revealed a counterfeit version of a real "Secret" USAF document that suggested a crashed saucer was recovered near Roswell. This doctored document is a counterfeit of a draft Collection Memorandum prepared in late October 1947 by Brig. Gen. George F. Schulgen's office. The original memorandum solicited data from overseas military attaches to determine if UFOs might be Soviet craft. Todd's comparison showed that the counterfeiter added words to imply that top USAF officials knew some UFOs were extraterrestrial craft and deleted words suggesting they suspected Soviet craft.

Bogus Schulgen Memo First Made Public By Bill Moore In 1986

The bogus Schulgen Collection Memorandum (SCM) first appeared in an article by William L. Moore in the July/August 1986 issue of International UFO Reporter (IUR). Moore cited the memo as evidence that "somebody already had considerable data on the operation of flying disks." He also commented that the final version of the memo had been "somewhat reworked before being approved for distribution," which prompted Todd to check the authenticity of Moore's version.

When Todd obtained an authentic copy of Schulgen's draft collection memo from the National Archives, he discovered Moore had published a doctored version. The bogus version is often cited by Roswell crashed-saucer proponents, including Stanton Friedman and Timothy Good. Friedman called it "the first known official mention of the possibility that some of the flying saucers might be extraterrestrial spacecraft."

The counterfeiter not only retyped the memo but also had to counterfeit Schulgen's letter of transmittal to match the typeface. This was complicated by handwritten notes on the original letter. Todd's analysis, detailed in his newsletter THE SPOT REPORT, uncovered subtle clues indicating the forgery.

Another Major Roswell Crashed-Saucer Proponent "Abandons Ship"

Kent Jeffrey, who organized the International Roswell Initiative, will soon reveal that he no longer believes an ET craft crashed in New Mexico in 1947. This follows Roswell researcher Karl T. Pflock's revised view that "no flying saucer or saucers crashed in the vicinity of Roswell or on the Plains of San Agustin in 1947."

Jeffrey, an international pilot, is expected to explain his change of heart in an upcoming MUFON UFO Journal article. His views began to change after studying "Secret" documents, such as a November 8, 1948, letter from Col. H.M. McCoy, Chief of the Air Materiel Command's Intelligence Dept., which reported that the exact nature of sighted flying objects could not be established without physical evidence, such as from a crash.

The newsletter compliments Jeffrey and Pflock for their intellectual honesty. It predicts that Stanton T. Friedman will not become a "Roswell Incident skeptic-convert," suggesting he would accuse ETs of being "government disinformation agents" if they told him the Roswell Incident did not involve a crashed saucer.

Santilli's "Alien Autopsy" Copyright Claim To Be Tested In Court

Ray Santilli has avoided having Eastman Kodak test a strip of his "Alien Autopsy" film to verify its 1947 processing claim. A trial slated for March 31 in the Federal Circuit Court in Los Angeles may provide new insights. Kiviat Productions and Trimark Pictures are suing talk-show host Chuck Harder for selling unauthorized home videos of SCAM (Santilli's Controversial Autopsy Movie). Harder's attorney is expected to argue that if Santilli's and Kiviat's claims are true, the film is U.S. government property and cannot be copyrighted. Santilli himself is not a party to the U.S. litigation.

In England, Santilli's company has initiated legal action against Marshall Cavendish, a British publisher of UFO Magazine, for printing photos from SCAM without authorization. The magazine's editor, Graham Birdsall, is a critic of SCAM's authenticity.

New Video Interview With Alleged SCAM Cameraman Could Be Key

Santilli's recent decision to sell TV rights to a short home video of an alleged interview with the SCAM cameraman could damage his copyright claims. In the video, the cameraman claims to have shot the film and expresses regret for betraying his country. However, the man in the video appears younger than his alleged late 80s, and his answers are prepared. Bob Shell, editor of Shutterbug magazine, characterized the video as "a piece of crap" and "not an interview."

Philip Mantle, a British UFOlogist, is the only other person besides Santilli and his associates who has spoken to the alleged cameraman by telephone. Mantle received a call arranged by Santilli and spoke for about 15 minutes. Mantle has reportedly made trips to London to see the video interview, but Santilli has found excuses to prevent him from doing so.

Shell expressed frustration and anger that Santilli had not provided a film sample for testing or an interview with the cameraman, stating, "I would like to bring this thing to closure."

Short Shrift:

• Kevin Randle's new book, "The Randle Report," disavows some of his former "Roswell witnesses" but maintains that "there is no doubt in my mind, based on the evidence I have seen, that there was an alien spacecraft that crashed outside of Roswell."
• A British company selling UFO-abduction insurance paid one client one million English pounds ($1.6 million) for a "transparent webbed claw" to substantiate his claim. The "abductee," Joe Carpenter, was later revealed to be Joe Tagliarini, an unemployed courier, and the insurance company's managing director, Simon Burgess, was a no-longer-licensed insurance broker specializing in unusual policies.
• The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) has purchased a 480-acre ranch in Utah from Terry Sherman, who claimed to have seen UFOs and mutilated cattle. NIDS, founded by Robert T. Bigelow, will construct an observation facility on the ranch.
• SUN predicts that NIDS will be disappointed, suggesting UFOs will avoid the ranch. This prediction is based on the experience of Ed Walters of Gulf Breeze, Florida, whose UFO sightings stopped after he moved from his old home.
• The rumor that SUN's editor is writing a book on the "Roswell Incident" is true, with a working title of "ROSWELL: THE CRASHED SAUCER THAT DIDN'T."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The Skeptics UFO Newsletter, under the editorship of Philip J. Klass, consistently adopts a skeptical stance towards UFO claims, particularly those involving alleged government cover-ups, document forgeries, and sensational eyewitness accounts. The newsletter prioritizes critical analysis, evidence-based reasoning, and the exposure of potential hoaxes and misrepresentations within the UFO community. Recurring themes include the examination of purported UFO documents (such as MJ-12 and the Schulgen memo), the scrutiny of high-profile UFO cases (like Roswell), and the debunking of controversial claims (such as the "Alien Autopsy" film). The editorial stance is one of rigorous investigation, aiming to separate credible evidence from speculation and fabrication, often highlighting the role of individuals who may have intentionally misled the public or researchers.