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Open letter to the U.S. Air Force regarding allegations of UFO disinformation

I sent this letter to the U.S. Air Force on July 11, 2013 to solicit an official response to allegations by ex-special agent Richard Doty of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) that he participated in spreading UFO disinformation. Among his claims, he says he broke into a civilian’s home, created hoaxed documents, and lied to two U.S. Senators. Some of these are criminal acts that he claims he committed on orders from his superiors in the AFOSI. Whether or not this is true, these acts were committed while he was an AFOSI special agent, and I believe the U.S. Air Force needs to respond.

After working with the AFOSI public affairs department on Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) related to this incident, I was told I would be able to speak to someone who could give me an official response. However, once I received the documents I was told they had nothing further to say.

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Allegations of Criminal Misconduct

Air Force Office of Special Investigations Agent Richard Doty claims to have partaken in the acts of misinforming members of congress, breaking into the private residence of a civilian government contractor, and disseminating known forgeries of government documents while on active duty in the 1980s. Furthermore, he claims to have committed these acts on the orders of his superiors at AFOSI.

Although his claims have garnered a large amount of public attention, including having been the subject of several books (including one by New York Times Journalist Howard Blum), and were directly related to the government contractor mentioned above having been temporarily committed to a mental health facility, the U.S. Air Force has yet to comment on the veracity of his claims.

Was the U.S. Air Force involved with these criminal acts, as claimed by Doty, and if not what was done regarding his conduct?

Background

Beginning in the 1980s, Paul Bennewitz began reporting strange lights over the Manzano area of Kirtland Air Force Base, and claimed to have recorded unusual signals emanating from the base (1). Bennewitz was the owner of Thunder Scientific, a humidity company with contracts with Kirtland and several other branches of the military and government contractors (2). He believed the lights and signals were due to extraterrestrial activity (3).

According to documents retrieved from previous FOIA requests, officers at Kirtland looked at his evidence on two occasions and decided not to investigate (1)(3). Bennewitz contacted Senator Harrison Schmitt and Senator Pete Domenici, both of whom made inquiries about the status of the investigation on Bennewitz’s material to Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Richard Doty. In both cases, Agent Doty informed the senators that there was no AFOSI investigation on this matter (3)(4). Likewise, the files do show that after each review of Bennewitz’s material, it was recommended that an investigation not be initiated (1)(3). This is the extent of the material regarding Bennewitz and AFOSI in these files.

However, Richard Doty has since claimed that he lied to the senators on behalf of AFOSI, and that there was a disinformation campaign underway against Bennewitz. According to statements he has made to several associates, and on at least one national radio program, he told Bennewitz there was an investigation and he gave Bennewitz hoaxed material to support this claim (5). The first such document was given to Bennewtiz after Senator Schmitt’s inquiry, and just prior to Senator Domenici’s (3)(4)(14).

According to Doty, and witnessed by others, he continued his campaign to convince Bennewitz that he was actually experiencing extraterrestrial phenomena for several years. New Mexico state police officer Gabe Valdez claimed in interviews with me that he was present when Doty flew Bennewitz over the town of Dulce, New Mexico (6). Doty claims he convinced Bennewitz that there was an alien base under nearby Archuleta Mountain.

It was during this time that Doty claims he was ordered to break into Bennewitz’s residence. He told this to the author of a book on his disinformation activities titled, Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth (7), and to retired U.S. Army Colonel John Alexander (8). Eventually, Bennewitz became so paranoid regarding an extraterrestrial invasion that he had to spend time in a mental institution (5).

Doty continues to spread information on UFOs and aliens he alleges to have received while working for AFOSI (5). Many of the documents he disseminated during his campaign against Bennewitz have grown into huge modern mythologies, spawning books, movies and TV shows.

Although on two occasions the Air Force has stated that documents pertaining to this matter, allegedly dispensed by Doty, are not real (9)(10), they have not spoken to whether Doty was under orders, as he claims, when he lied to the senators, broke into Bennewitz’s home, and dispensed material to Bennewitz making him believe he was under investigation. The question then is not whether the documents are hoaxes, but whether Doty hoaxed these documents under his own volition, or was ordered to do so as a part of a disinformation campaign, as he claims is the case.

If Doty was not acting under orders, this would mean he was forging government documents while he was an active AFOSI agent. In that case, AFOSI needs to respond to whether they were aware of Doty’s activities, and if so, what action was taken. It would be surprising to find AFOSI was not aware of this sort of criminal activity going on for several years by one of their agents. Doty has indicated he was demoted at one point, however, this is not documented in the military records I obtained through FOIA, nor is the reason for this demotion (11). It is also unknown whether this demotion has any relation to the apparent criminal activity related to this case.

The official AFOSI Bennewitz files

These files have been obtained separately through FOIA requests by UFO researcher and author William Moore, Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), and Navy physicist, Bruce Maccabee.  Because of the multiple sources, and the high credibility of Dr. Maccabee and the files released by CAUS, I believe these documents to be legitimate. The USAF has informed the recipients that these are all of the files related to AFOSI and Bennewitz. I am seeking confirmation through my own pending FOIA request (Case # 2013-03291-F). [This was written prior to the fulfillment of my FOIA request, which was fulfilled August 2, 2013, and  included the same documents I reference here. View the documents I received here.]

The first document is a Multipurpose Internal OSI Form dated October 28, 1980, and signed by Major Thomas Cseh. The subject is “Alleged Sightings of Unidentified Aerial Lights in Restricted Test Range.” It states that Bennewitz contacted Doty through Major Ernest E. Edwards. Bennewitz claimed to have “knowledge and evidence of threats against Manzano Weapons Storage area.” On October 26, 1980 Doty, along with Jerry Miller, Chief Scientific Advisor for the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center at Kirtland, went to Bennewitz’s residence and conducted an interview. It is noted that Miller had experience investigating UFOs with Project Blue Book. They reviewed photographs, 8mm film, and recording tapes showing periods of high levels of electrical magnetism emitted from the Manzano/Coyote Canyon area. They noted Bennewitz also had surveillance equipment pointed at the base to record high frequencies (1).

They concluded that there were some type of “unidentified aerial objects” caught on the film, but they could not determine whether they posed a threat. They also found the electronic recording tapes to be inconclusive. They informed FTD [Foreign Technology Division] of their findings who wanted to inspect Bennewitz’s data, and briefed their command. However, it was noted that command “did not request an investigation at this time (1).”

The second file is another Multipurpose Internal OSI Form dated November 26, 1980, and also signed by Major Thomas Cseh. The subject is again, “Alleged Sightings of Unidentified Aerial Lights in Restricted Test Range.” The report describes a meeting that took place on the base on November 10, 1980, between Brigadier General William Brooksher, seven other officers, and Bennewitz. Bennewitz presented film and photographs which he believed to be of alien spacecraft, and described how he believed he was in contact with these aliens. He requested a grant to further research his interactions. One of those present, Dr. Lehman, Director of the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland, told Bennewitz he would help him fill out paperwork to request a grant from the USAF (3).

This document then states that on November 17, Doty advised Bennewitz that AFOSI would not investigate the objects, and that they were “not in a position to evaluate the information and photographs.” It also says that on the date of the report, November 26, 1980, Doty received a phone call from Senator Harrison Schmitt inquiring about AFOSI’s role in the investigation of the sightings reported by Bennewitz. Doty advised Schmitt that AFOSI was not investigating the phenomenon and referred him to another AFOSI district. Schmitt declined and said he would check with the Secretary of the Air Force to determine the correct USAF agency to investigate the phenomena. The final note in this document is that Bennewitz had many conversations with Senator Schmitt, and Schmitt had in turn called Brigadier General Brooksher on multiple occasions regarding Bennewitz’s sightings (3).

The third document is an AFOSI communication form noting a meeting between Senator Peter Domenici and Doty regarding Bennewitz. It is signed by Colonel Frank Huey. It says that the IG [Inspector General] contacted AFOSI to advise them that Senator Domenici wanted to talk to Doty. Colonel Harvell approved the meeting, and Domenici, who was already in the IG’s office, went directly to speak to Doty. The report then says a subsequent check was made with Domenici’s aide, Mr. Tijeros, to find out what they wanted to discuss with Doty. Tijeros said they wanted to know whether AFOSI had conducted a formal investigation of Bennewitz. Tijeros was informed that there was no formal investigation. Tijeros indicated that Senator Domenici will likely make no further inquiries into the matter (4).

These three documents seem to indicate that AFOSI humored Bennewitz by examining his evidence, but did not engage in a formal investigation. Doty served as the point of contact to inform Senators Schmitt and Domenici, as well as Bennewitz, that AFOSI would not be investigating Bennewitz’s alleged alien evidence.

Richard Doty’s claims

The source for the claims I am referring to is a radio show appearance by Richard Doty on February 27, 2005. It was on a night time program called Coast to Coast AM, with a very large international listening audience. Although Doty has done many other interviews, they are almost all in print or online. Often his claims vary from one interview to another, and when pressed on this point, Doty often denies he made the statements. This includes a book he is credited as co-writing titled, Exempt from Disclosure. He claims he did not write the chapter credited to him, although his co-author notes he did sign the paperwork to authorize the book and cashed the checks for payment. Either way, I use the radio interview because it is similar to the core story he has been portraying in other interviews, and is one of the few sources with his verifiable direct statements.

According to Doty, in reference to his visit to Bennewitz’s residence with Miller on October 26, 1980, he says “The report was that this person had sufficient knowledge and the right equipment to tap into sensitive communications equipment and sensitive projects that was (sic) occurring in Kirtland.” The radio host, Art Bell responded, “Alright, somewhere in the mix of all this comes disinformation. In other words, you are going to admit tonight, I believe, that you dispensed disinformation, is that true?” To that Doty responds: “That is absolutely true.” Doty explained that this was done to protect base secrets. He said, “what we did is that we convinced him that what he was picking up wasn’t anything classified from the base, but in fact it was probably of alien origin (5).”

Doty says that Bennewitz also believed there was an alien base under Archuleta Mountain, near Dulce, New Mexico. Doty claims he worked with personnel from Ft. Carson to help perpetuate this idea. Doty explains, “We had a couple of black helicopters, and we had some things planted onto the ground around Archuleta peak, and just to convince him that what he was actually looking at, what he thought, actually was an alien base (5).”

Doty said that this disinformation campaign was an easier way to handle Bennewitz’s collection of sensitive Air Force activities than making him stop. He says, “It was easier for us to have done it that way than to get a warrant, a search warrant and a seizure warrant and seize all of his property and seize his equipment. What would that do? That would cause a lot of publicity, and the wrong type of publicity the base wanted (5).”

Bell asked Doty if he was aware that Bennewitz eventually ended up needing psychiatric care. Doty responded, “Yes, and I visited Paul a number of times.” He continued, “I was trying to convince Paul, and I went to his son to do this, that ‘hey, everything we told you before, Paul, isn’t true.’ And I explained to him why we were doing it, but he never believed me (5). “

Bell asked if he had any remorse for what happened to Bennewitz, to which Doty replied, “…it upset me what happened to Paul. I mean I went and tried to talk to Paul about it, against my commander’s orders. He told me, ‘Hey, he doesn’t have the clearance. You can’t go over there and tell him this stuff didn’t happen.’ But I did anyway, because I was concerned about Paul (5).”

Bell then asked Doty if there were other cases of UFO deception that Doty was involved with. He replied, “…pertaining to just UFOs, it was the four operations.” One of which he said was regarding researcher Linda Howe. He says, “…we invited her to Kirtland, we showed her some information pertaining to UFOs, we showed her a document and tried to bring her in and hook her on a hook, and she took it initially and then we carried on a contact with her over a period of time, meeting her at different locations and providing her with some information.” This is important because Doty has denied bringing Howe to Kirtland in the past, and has also denied showing her anything on UFOs. However, according to Howe, the document she was shown is very similar to a hoaxed document given to another UFO researcher, William Moore (5).

Doty elaborated on his association with Moore, saying, “Bill Moore was recruited by another person within Defense Intelligence Agency to provide disinformation.” In a letter to the editor in the July 15, 2000 issue of Saucer Smear, Doty wrote, “Moore was a coded source for OSI. That means he provided intelligence information that was documented. He was paid for his information. Moore was used to provide disinformation to Ufologists (12).” Although the details change, to my knowledge, Doty has never denied Moore’s involvement (5).

Finally, in regards to all of this, Doty claims in the radio program, “I followed orders. Everything we did was following orders (5).”

Although Doty claims the Bennewitz affair was disinformation, he also claims he was briefed on UFOs when he joined AFOSI. He says the briefing stated, among other things, “[Roswell] was real. We had an alien. It was in captivity up until 1951. He was kept at Kirtland and he was kept at Los Alamos. He died in the later part of 1951.” Doty also claims the alien liked strawberry ice cream and Tibetan music (5).

Hoaxed documents

This section will review hoaxed documents linked to Doty, most of which are connected to the events we have reviewed thus far. We will also review one document that surfaced just prior to Doty’s interactions with Bennewitz. The significance here is that if Doty is to be believed, these documents, which have had a significant impact on the UFO research community and society in general, are official fabrications of the USAF. If these documents were not created in a disinformation campaign, then Doty either alone or with others, participated in hoaxing official government documents.

Moore, the UFO researcher mentioned in the radio program, was co-author, with Charles Berlitz, of the book The Roswell Incident, which was published in 1980. It was the first book on the alleged UFO crash in Roswell. He says that in 1980 he was approached by a high level intelligence official, the same person Doty referenced earlier as working in the DIA, who said he and others knew the truth about UFOs and wanted the information out, so they would help him with his work. Moore gave this man the code name “Falcon” and says the he was told he would work primarily through a liaison that turned out to be Doty. Many have speculated that Doty was Falcon, but Moore denies this (13).

Moore says he began providing Falcon and Doty information on the UFO community and Paul Bennewitz. During a speech at a UFO conference in 1989, Moore said, “My role in the affair was largely that of a freelancer providing information on Paul’s current thinking and activities. I had nothing whatsoever to do with the counterintelligence and the disinformation (13).” However, he later claimed he was involved with dispensing at least one hoaxed document (14).

Moore says he worked with Falcon and Doty until 1984 (13). Rumors of his involvement with government agents eventually lead him to come clean in the aforementioned speech in 1989, at which point he retired from UFO research. In 1990, along with his research partner, Jamie Shandera, he released a document called The MJ-12 Documents: An Analytical Report, which analyzed the documents related to the Bennewitz Affair.

The first hoaxed document Moore examines is not part of the Bennewitz affair, but it does have links to Doty. It is a letter, along with an Air Force Incident/Complaint Report, from Ellsworth Air Force Base, regarding a UFO encounter. The letter claimed the incident had occurred on November 16, 1977, and was subsequently classified on December 2, 1977. The author claims he wanted to get the information out before the Air Force covered it up. The letter was sent to the National Enquirer (14). According to Bob Pratt of the National Enquirer, those named in the letter were questioned, and the letter was determined to be a hoax (15).

It is included in Moore’s report because he says Doty was stationed at Ellsworth at the time (14). Military records for Doty I obtained also show Doty was at Ellsworth from 1976 to 1979 (11). When Moore asked about the document, Doty told him he was aware of the “operation,” to create the document, but did not have any direct involvement (14).

The second document is a letter sent to a UFO organization called the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) in July of 1980 about a UFO sighting that was witnessed by Craig Weitzel near Pecos, NM. It claims Weitzel was stationed at Dobbins AFB, but was visiting Kirtland. The letter claims a man in a black suit told Weitzel he saw something he should not have and demanded photographs of the object that Weitzel had taken. The man writing the letter claims he was a friend of Weitzel’s, and was himself stationed at Kirtland. He said Weitzel had spoken to an OSI agent named “Mr. Dody (sic)” about the matter (17).

Moore worked with APRO at the time the letter was received. He says the letter was loosely based off a real sighting, but was a hoax. He also says he didn’t know it then, but he found out later that Doty had written this letter. He says Doty told him the letter was meant to draw someone out of APRO who could provide information on Bennewitz, which, as we have seen, Moore eventually did end up participating in (14).

The third document is the first piece of disinformation allegedly given to Bennewitz. Moore says the document was given to him by Falcon and Doty to give to Bennewitz (14). The document was an alleged secret AFOSI teletype dated November, 1980. It was regarding analysis of Bennewitz’s photographs and alleges that this investigation is part of a secret project called Aquarius “with restricted access to ‘MJ Twelve’.” It claims NASA is monitoring the case and that AFOSI is gathering evidence and forwarding it to NASA (18).

Moore says he was given the document in March of 1981, but because he was hesitant to give knowingly false information to Bennewitz, he did not deliver it until late that summer (14). This timing is notable, because it was late summer, specifically July 30, when Senator Domenici went to Kirtland to ask about the Bennewitz investigation (4). Although Bennewitz and Senator Schmitt had already been told there was no AFOSI investigation (3)(4), the receipt of this document could explain why Bennewitz and/or Senator Domenici believed there was an investigation in the summer of 1981.

The fourth document is a list of notes allegedly used to brief President Carter on the UFO situation with bombastic claims of Air Force cover-ups regarding crashed UFOs, alien technology, interactions with aliens, etc. The cover again mentions Project Aquarius and “MJ12” (19). Moore says he was allowed to view and photograph this document in March of 1983 (14). In April of 1983, Linda Howe says she was invited to Kirtland Air Force Base by Doty and shown this document, or one very similar. As noted above, in the radio interview, Doty confirms this (5).

The fifth and final document is an MJ-12 Eisenhower briefing. This document was sent to Moore’s research partner, Jamie Shandera, on December 11, 1984, in a package from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The document was on 35 mm film (14). The document’s content shows similarities to the alleged Carter briefing, including the mention of MJ-12 (20)(14), first referenced in the teletype (18). It was also sent from Albuquerque, where Doty lived at the time and was still stationed at Kirtland AFB. However, Doty denies having created or sent the document (14).

Moore also denies having created the document (14). Allegedly acting on an anonymous tip, Shandera and Moore claim to have found a supporting document in the National Archives on July 18, 1985. This document is a July 14, 1954 memo from Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to the President, to General Twining regarding a “NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project.” It is a short memo and discusses the date and time of a meeting. It does not allude to the nature of the meeting (14). The National Archives has since released a paper outlining 10 points that “pose problems” for the authenticity of the document (22). Otherwise, there has yet to be any verifiable official reference to MJ-12.

The FBI undertook an investigation of the MJ-12 Eisenhower Briefing due to multiple requests. That investigation included a request to AFOSI headquarters inquiring about its authenticity. AFOSI claimed the document to be “bogus,” however, neither they nor the FBI have commented as to the document’s origins (9). To date, AFOSI has not commented on whether they have any involvement with the creation of the documents, as alleged by their own AFOSI agent, who, as demonstrated, was very closely related to the individuals who allegedly were anonymously given these documents, a document which also shares similarities to other documents that he asked to be given to Bennewitz, and had shown Moore and Howe.

According to Doty, “The FBI did an investigation on me because of the MJ-12 documents. It was 88 or 89… They thought I disclosed those documents (5).” If this is true, the results of their investigation have yet to be revealed.

Conclusion

Due to the extent at which the mythology created by Doty’s official or non-official disinformation campaign has worked its way into an alleged hidden history of Air Force and U.S. government secrecy, and due to the negative impact these events had on Mr. Bennewitz and his family, we deserve a response from the Air Force on their involvement, or non-involvement in this matter. Mr. Doty is now a sergeant for the New Mexico State Police, based out of Grants, and he continues to make wild accusations about the Air Force’s secret knowledge of UFOs and aliens. If he was not under orders to fabricate these documents, as he claims, then his employers and those he continues to attempt to perpetrate hoaxes upon, deserve to know this.

Sources

  1. Alleged Sightings of Unidentified Aerial Lights in Restricted Test Range. AFOSI Multipurpose Internal OSI Form. 10/28/1980. Retrieved from: The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report by William Moore and Jamie Shandera. 1990. (View the version of this document I received via FOIA here.)
  2. About Thunder. Thunder Scientific Corporation. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from: http://www.thunderscientific.com/about_thunder/index.html
  3. Alleged Sightings of Unidentified Aerial Lights in Restricted Test Range. AFOSI Multipurpose Internal OSI Form. 11/26/1980. Retrieved from: The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report by William Moore and Jamie Shandera. 1990. (View the version of this document I received via FOIA here.)
  4. Dr. Paul Frederick Bennewitz Congressional Inquiry. AFOSI Communication. 7/30/1981. Retrieved from: The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report by William Moore and Jamie Shandera. 1990. (View the version of this document I received via FOIA here.)
  5. Gov’t Disinformation Programs. Coast to Coast AM Radio Program. 2/27/2005. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from downloaded archive audio file: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2005/02/27. (Transcribed by author – PDF)
  6. Interview with Gabe Valdez.
  7. Bishop, Greg. (2005) Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth. New York: Paraview Pocket Books.
  8. Interview with Colonel John Alexander.
  9. Majestic 12. FBI Records: The Vault. 10/25/1988. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from: http://vault.fbi.gov/Majestic%2012. (Archived PDF copy)
  10. FOIA: KOB-TV REQUEST. 12/3/1983. Retrieved 6/13/2013 from: cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/alien.ufo/UFOBBS/1000/1709.ufo(Archived PDF copy)
  11. Richard Doty’s Military Records. National Personnel Records Center. Retrieved 4/26/2013 via FOIA.
  12. Doty, Richard. 7/15/2000. Letter to the Editor. Saucer Smear. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from: http://www.martiansgohome.com/smear/v47/ss000715.htm (link is no longer active). (Archived PDF copy) (6/15/2000 issue of Saucer Smear, referenced in the 7/15/2000 letters to the editor.)
  13. Moore, William L. 11/1989 & 12/1989. UFOs and the U.S. Government: Part I & II. MUFON Journal. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Part I retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20131011194204/http://www.theblackvault.com/encyclopedia/documents/MUFON/Journals/1989/November_1989.pdf. Part II retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20130421023221/http://www.theblackvault.com/encyclopedia/documents/MUFON/Journals/1989/December_1989.pdf
  14. Moore, William L., & Shandera, Jamie. 1990. The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report. (The document was too large to PDF, so this link contains the pertinent excerpts.)
  15. Ellsworth UFO Letter to the National Inquirer. 1/29/1978. Retrieved from: The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report by William Moore and Jamie Shandera. 1990.
  16. Pratt, Bob. The Ellsworth Missile Silo UFO Hoax. 1983. Retrieved 6/13/2013 from: http://www.mufon.com/bob_pratt/ellsworth.html (link is no longer active). (Archived PDF copy)
  17. Letter to APRO regarding Weitzel UFO Sighting. 7/1980. Retrieved from: The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report by William Moore and Jamie Shandera. 1990.
  18. Aquarius Teletype. 11/1980. Retrieved from: The MJ-12 Documents An Analytical Report by William Moore and Jamie Shandera. 1990.
  19. Executive Briefing: Project Aquarius. 6/14/1977. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20070217061636/http://www.think-aboutit.com/ufo/project_aquarius.htm(PDF copy of the entire document retrieved from Lee Graham, who was given the document by William Moore.)
  20. MJ-12 Eisenhower Briefing. 11/18/1952. Retrieved 6/13/2013 from: http://majesticdocuments.com/pdf/eisenhower_briefing.pdf(Archived PDF copy)
  21. Memo from Cutler to Twining. 7/14/1954. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from: http://www.majesticdocuments.com/pdf/cutler_twining.pdf(Archived PDF copy)
  22. Majestic 12 or “MJ-12” Reference Report. National Archives. Retrieved 6/13/2013. Retrieved from: http://www.archives.gov/foia/ufos.html#mj12(Archived PDF copy)

—–

Prepared by: Alejandro Rojas

After reading this letter, you may agree that the Air Force needs to respond to the allegations posed in this letter. If so, please feel free to use this information to make your own inquires.

Related Links

Our new UFO Special Report examining how these events are associated with the origins of the Majestic 12 documents:

About Alejandro Rojas

Alejandro Rojas is a radio host for Open Minds Radio, editor and contributing writer for Open Minds magazine as well as OpenMinds.tv. For several years Alejandro was the official spokesperson for the Mutual UFO Network as the Director of Public Education. As a UFO/Paranormal researcher and journalist, Alejandro has spent many hours in the field investigating phenomena up close and personal. Alejandro has been interviewed by media organizations around the world, including the largest cable and network news agencies with several appearances on Coast to Coast AM.

22 comments

  1. Just wanted to drop a quick note to say excellent article. Well written and supported with references. That’s how it’s done. Great job.

    By the way, for anyone who might be reading this, the book (alluded to toward the top of this article) by NY Times journalist, Howard Blum, is called “Out There”. It was published in 1990 and so is a bit dated but for anyone interested in the 1980s era of ufology, and the information contained in this article, it’s a very interesting read, the true (I think we can safely assume) story of Blum’s unexpected side trip into the shady world of Government agencies and their involvement in the UFO phenomenon. If you’re not particularly concerned about the condition of the book, but just want the information, used copies can be found on amazon.com for as little as 1-cent + $3.99 S/H.

  2. As one of the first investigators of the MJ-12 affair, in the mid-to-late 1980s, I would like to thank Mr. Rojas for posting this valuable examination of the subject. It seems that each new decade yields additional, well-meaning but hopelessly uninformed victims of this disinformation scheme/con job.

    Of course, Linda Moulton Howe has always demonstrated her willingness to be a doormat for disinformationalists, despite her self-perceived role as Disseminator-of-Truth. But now that we have self-described UFO “historian” Richard Dolan vouching for the legitimacy of the forged documents, I suppose that the average person would be inclined to think that they are indeed genuine.

    As I pointedly said to MJ-12 supporters Bob and Ryan Woods, from the podium at the 2012 Society for Scientific Exploration conference, if one is going to have any hope of deciphering the U.S. government’s covert response to UFOs, one must adhere to the fundamental principles underlying academic scholarship or, at least, traditional investigative journalism, to figure out what is real, as opposed to what is not.

    In response, the Woods just stared at their shoes and said nothing.

    Given that the MJ-12 proponents routinely ignore this valid advice, and spout off incessantly about their supposedly-insightful “findings”, it’s no wonder that the bullshit typed-up by OSI Agent Doty, con artist Bill Moore and, later on, hoaxer Tim Cooper, has only gained ground on the Internet over the years, at least among the less-discriminating members of the public.

    Alas, it seems that far too many persons with an interest in UFOs are willing to drink in any tall tale, if it is juicy enough, rather than wade through the meticulous but time-consuming research summaries compiled by persons who have investigated and exposed the nefarious origins of the MJ-12 fantasy. So be it. In the current sound-bite, 140-word, short blog post world in which we all now live, large numbers of humans are destined to have a simple, sound-bite concept of reality. Their loss.

    Hopefully, there are still a few folks who will take the time to read Barry Greenwood’s excellent MJ-12 summary, at
    http://www.greenwoodufoarchive.com/Just_Cause_Greenwood/1987_09_n13.pdf, or my sometimes tongue-in-cheek but nevertheless well-documented MJ-12 expose at http://www.theufochronicles.com/2009/04/operation-bird-droppings.html. I also recommend Chris Lambright’s definitive book about Doty’s interaction with Paul Bennewitz, as reviewed at http://www.theufochronicles.com/2012/05/ufos-filmed-hovering-over-us-air-force.html.

    Please do your homework. The basic facts are indeed available, if one is willing to take the time to discover them. Start by asking yourself whether any “evidence” offered by the MJ-12 proponents would meet the standards of academic or journalistic investigative research. Can even a single MJ-12 “document” be PROVED as genuine, by any accepted definition of that word? The great many documents underlying my own UFO-Nukes Connection research can be VERIFIABLY traced to a given government department or agency. Can the MJ-12 proponents honestly make that claim? No, they can not. All they can offer are their opinions about how it might be POSSIBLE for these supposed documents to be real.

    Whoopee…

    Beyond the so-called documents, there are the many incriminating, behind-the-scene facts that have emerged about the origins of the MJ-12 affair. Facts that resulted in one disgraced UFO researcher, Bill Moore, having to leave the field. Facts that resulted in one OSI agent being exposed as a document-forger. The list goes on…

    If those UFO, ahem, experts who now chase the spotlight in trashy UFO “documentaries” like Hangar 1: The UFO Files actually did a bit of legitimate research on MJ-12–in the scholastic or investigative journalistic vein–they might actually have something valid to contribute to the study of this controversial topic.

    –Robert Hastings
    ufohastings@aol.com

  3. well said Robert

    well said.

  4. That was an awesome read! I hope you get a proper official response. Thanks Alenjandro

  5. Open http://www.thefly.com and figure out ALL those misinforming. if this is too much for you, and you want to scream fraud, fake, conspiracy theory, that’s none of our business. Millions of us are already appllying the info we got from this race of , with whom many share common ancestry.

  6. I still believe…but if we didn’t get any UFO info from the gazillion pages of intel stolen by Ed Snowden…I’m not SURE that it exists anymore.

  7. Hi Defiant,

    Not all of Snowden’s material has been released to the public yet. Importantly, the journalists to whom he entrusted it are on-record as saying that THEY will withhold any material that is judged to be legitimately classified, in terms of national security.

    If–I say if–they are in possession of information relating to UFOs that, for example, confirms UFO tampering with our nuclear weapons, or alien abduction of humans, or whatever, that material may never see the light of day–at least for the moment.

    Please note that one lawsuit in the early 1980s, brought by the group Citizens Against UFO Secrecy against the NSA, confirmed that the agency had over 150 UFO-related documents–which they acknowledged–all of which were allowed to remain classified once the lawsuit was over. So, at least that many NSA UFO files exist, and probably many more.

    Robert

  8. Great article and well done. Thx

    But lets dig into this matter a little deeper, exploring some of the perplexing realities of the phenomena. First lets examine some of the embedded assumptions of the phenomena in question. Starting with what really constitutes an Open Mind? The straight forward simple answer is that is from the individual’s perspective. Next obvious, how many perspective’s and then how many dimensions in perspective? Shit they are infinite! Is it any wonder why no real progress has been made in the last 65 years?

    We will never come to any conclusion to the basic fundamental question of are we along without having some context to do so.

    Assumption at play, We are all operating at the same consciousness bandwidth, including the visitors, realistically and likely very WRONG.

    The evidence is in fact that we are a failed emerging society, blown it numerous time, blowing it again and our so called most brilliant scientist’s stand before wondrous stone megalith energy power station artifacts as the great pyramids of Giza, like a four year old picking their nose proclaiming these otherwise incomprehensible wonders to be silly egolithic tombs for some nondescript individual. GMAFB!!!

    OK you might state to get where I’m going with this.

    Try this on for size.

    Reality

    From the Cree Tribe, wired with the Haplogroup X-2 DNA, in my 61st year, 1500 + sweat-lodge trips to the Eagle’s Domain (the great void where all potentiality resides). I’ve lived a wonderful exciting life (lucky in love) and have studied our native cultural wisdom and anybody else’s with any substance.

    This past year I was seriously injured falling a large Alder tree and came to a place in healing retrospection, asking myself what was my relationship with reality? I came away from that with the obvious, “I did not have a functioning relationship with Reality”.

    Every teacher from time immemorial was trying to teach us (without actually saying it of course) that as beings we possessed tremendous unused spirit consciousness resources, and in each their own way, attempted to share their insights on how to access and utilise these, to our benefit. The wisdom of the ages can all be distilled down to onboard brain chemical secretions, specifically the atrophied but golden pituitary and pineal (DMT) glands. The ancients left us the transcendental schematic, the Caduceus Symbol reminding us that the path to enlightenment, was and is brain glandular secretions. The ancient symbol is misunderstood and has been reduced to a shirt logo for ambulance drivers.

    Anyone who has lit a DMT pipe will tell you the brain is capable of processing 10,000 years of intense experiential data in only 10 fr*kin minutes. Unbelievable brain bandwidths are available to each and everyone of us. Our DNA designers did not leave us the owner’s manual and that has left us in this lobotomised brain state with atrophied pituitary and pineal (DMT) glands. Fortunately they can be quickly rejuvenated and brought back on line seriously kicking up the brain bandwidths. Personal Sovereignty is a real achievable possibility.

    For a simple and free duck to water learnable technique to “Kick it up” secreting and rejuvenating the golden brain glands go to: http://fukushima50.blogspot.ca/.

    To the hoard of nay saying sceptics, keep in mind I went from a visionary lifetime advanced technology developer to an out gold making alchemist with this knowledge.

    The reality is we are living in an age of consciousness without a functioning relationship with reality. We need to get over the fact that from a cosmological perspective, we are an emerging civilisation with a multiple history as a failed society in the process of blowing it again for the umpteen time.

    Of necessity, a functioning relationship with reality includes, Gnosticism, Alchemy, ET, Archons, Lockheed Martin Ben Rich’s alumni disclosure, knowledge of the advanced civilisations who built the precision stone megaliths (that we can not build today), being present to nature’s process of creating matter from information encoded energy, LENR, that consciousness and matter are quantumly coupled, rejuvenated pituitary and pineal (DMT) glands, the value of service, a loving family and the wilful intention to have a source connected relationship with reality.

    With these in place we have a chance to be in the cosmic game called life and without them we are basically hooped.

  9. I commend Antonio on the effort, and hope he can rally support for it. Robert has certainly shown incredible endurance to have stuck with the effort all these years and tried to expose the disinformation that is out there. If only everyone would hear him when he says “Do your homework”. I’ll add a thought of my own, which is, “If all you know is what someone else told you, you don’t really know anything.” As Robert said, the basic facts are available if you take the time to find out for yourself. Doty and his superiors targeted Paul Bennewitz, and Doty’s own words in Mirage Men show how little regard they had for Paul’s patriotism. So do not be naive about where we all stand. At least Snowden wasn’t naive about what he was up against. Information is power–so ask yourself what you really know, and do your homework.

  10. RabbitHoleReseacher

    While I praise the investigative efforts of many in the field of UFOlogy…

    I have studied UFO-related information for well over 25 years. I am not a professional investigator, researcher, scientist, or even journalist.

    I have come to the conclusion based on my years of research that we can basically sum up the entire UFO conspiracy in about 3 paths:

    1. Roswell/Government Conspiracy/MJ-12 – I am extremely convinced at this point in my research that this was truly a government cover up started over our thermonuclear weapons to distribute false information that would eventually make it’s way to our Cold War era enemies. More than likely, this was a tactic decided by high-ranking government officials across many of the 3 letter agencies that we know and love today or their predecessors. The disinformation campaign was also carried out within our own borders to keep the public guessing, and additionally to aid in the discovery of any foreign spies or at least to disseminate false information throughout the espionage network.

    2. Alien abductions/missing time/etc. – This is best described by one of the following: psychiatric disorder, physiological disorder, drugs, alcohol, lucid dreaming, etc. Essentially anything BUT alien abduction, missing time, etc.

    3. Mysterious aircraft sightings – From my research this is best described in two ways:
    a. People do know/are not sure of what they are looking at.
    b. Government coverup of new technology.

    I have never once found any information available that could suggest otherwise.

  11. Your article is a valuable lesson about duped “expert patsy” UFO-ET believers, but it is unbelievably naive to request the USAF/OSI, etc. to further any legal action or criminal investigation or detailed explanation regarding Doty. That’s all about 30 years ago during the Cold War involving military secrets!

    Doty should be encouraged to continue to talk about what he knew and did (and not be prosecuted by media) even if some of it continues to be misinformation to cover-up misdeeds. At least Doty has come forward to tell some of the truth which is an EXCELLENT WARNING about other so called “top secret” documents regarding UFO’s that may also likely be fabrications and PSYOPS.

    See the best UFO documentary I’ve ever seen titled Mirage Men 2013 that exposes more “ufo expert” dupes and patsy fools… some will still make some money or a living doing it too… meanwhile, billions are made in the syfy movie channel universe about it…

    Anything near a military base that is ET-UFO screams PSYOPS mostly by media-hype (Big Money on Science Channel, History Channels, Other ET-UFO Media Sources, and, especially, SyFy Hollywood)… it’s pathetic what people can believe is real. Already, there is a multi-billion dollar UFO industry that is fully supported by media (including this website) that is filled with ET UFO (hoax) sightings and abductions.

    Humanity is mostly a bunch of religious nuts with SyFy UFO ET religion topping the list in the USA with anyone born since the 1950’s saturated by science fiction possibility and conspiracy. This is certainly a multi-trillion dollar business taking into account this long timeline of tv-hollywood science fiction fantasy and conspiracy.

  12. While this article does have a lot of merit we really have no idea what is real or not in regards to the subject matter of government involvement with UFO material. The fact is, if you study disinformation strategies there are numerous methods used to get the results wanted. Mr. Doty could be like a double agent by saying one thing knowing that what is said or shown will be found out to be a hoax which makes people believe that it is all a hoax which is exactly the result wanted. It is basically smoke and mirrors where the truth hopefully cannot be determined. The fact that the US government does no longer comment officially or publicly about UFO subjects should tell you that something is going on. There is evidence as the author has pointed out that the MJ-12 documents are a hoax and Mr. Doty cannot be trusted but this may be what was originally intended from the beginning. If one person(s) is a hoaxer maybe they all are.

  13. I hadn’t thought about any of this in over 20 years. Then I see Mirage Men on netflix and after about 10 minutes I am transported back to my time at KAFB. When the movie was over I decided to spend some time looking at articles and listening to interviews on the topic. I was astounded by the lack of factual information and understanding of what was actually going on and how things really work within the confines of KAFB.

    The narrative Doty puts forth is simply not plausible.

    It was the Cold War. KAFB housed one of the largest nuclear component stockpiles in the world. Sandia Labs was testing highly secretive weapons systems.

    To think that the base commander ordered AFOSI to conduct a misinformation campaign and allow Bennewitz to continue to illegally monitor base operations is laughable.

    There are several other aspects of this narrative that are obvious fabrications, but I won’t bother to explain them.

  14. Good article, however, whoever doty worked for is still not clear. Based on personal experience I do not believe doty worked for the afosi proper. It is not unusual for military personal to be assigned to other groups without oversight. In 1998, while conducting an investigation at rand in santa monica I was set up in a phony sting operation. I didn’t fall for it, but afterwards my vehicle was broken into and my briefcase was stolen. A week later the south pasadena pd called me to come and pick it up. They had retrieved it from a local park after an anonymous telephone caller told them where to find it. In january 1999 I received a telephone call from the afosi in san francisco informing me that my p i business was at risk and they offered to arrange for my office to be debugged. Unfortunately, I didn’t believe them. In september 1999 the shit hit the fan about the same time an upscale attorney neighbor found my telephones were wired to his fax machine and forwarded to upland, ca, I later learned, to the oni. In late 1999 and early 2000 I met with bill moore and he said, among other things, that bennewitz deserved what he got because he shouldn’t have been sticking his nose in matters that were none of his business. He contacted doty for me and doty’s responded by threatening me with “rendition,” if I didn’t stop investigating the ufo issue. In 2003 someone from the af, presumably the afosi, sent a civil rights attorney out to speak with me. From this I concluded doty did not work for the afosi and, in fact, they were at odds with whomever he worked for. These issues are far more muddied and complex than people realize.

  15. There is absolutely NO proof that the MJ12 documents are not real. Doty say’s categorically he did not fake the. Find me the name of the person that did, then you are on the way the proving them a hoax. Otherwise you are no better that the true believers.

  16. I find it extremely negligent of most UFO researchers to continue ignoring the fact that Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, introduced the reality of these circular crafts (now called UFOs) to the modern world. No Ufologists appear willing to objectively investigate, scrutinize, or discuss this subject with Minister Farrakhan (who publicly addresses his relationship to this global phenomena) or his group of researchers. As the author of “UFOs And The Nation Of Islam: The Source, Poof, & Reality of the Wheels,” I implore UFO researchers to dialogue with us. Feel free to approach our data as you would any scientific or academic body of knowledge. I can be contacted via Twitter @iliarashad or via nationbrothers.com website. Best regards.

  17. Once worked with GWU’s Johnathan Turley on the A51 widows’ lawsuits. Have had dealings with USAF and esp. AFOSI for years. When the OSI are looking for agents for special deep work, the prospects aren’t screened for intelligence. They are screened by how they rate on the psychopathy scale.
    Have you ever spoken to Doty? Spent any time around him? He is a classic psychopath. And he isn’t hampered by conscience or guilt. He doesn’t feel empathy. And he would do absolutely anything his superiors told him to do without hesitation. The ideal special agent the AFOSI looks for.
    The last significant study on the prevalence of psychopaths in various environments showed that the presence in the general population is around 1%. The percentage in positions such as corporate executive management is 3-5%. The AFOSI places the greatest value for deep operatives in psychopathic personality traits. Something Doty has in spades.
    Doty, and others like him, will never regret what they’ve done to another human being. They will never doubt the morality of what they did. And any of them would do it again without a second thought.

  18. This material is very interesting but I just wonder why anyone would believe someone like Richard Doty. As noted above, he keeps changing his story. He says material he previously disclosed is not true? Well of course he would. His aim is to confuse everyone. I think everyone should just ignore him or at the very least classify his information as “unreliable”.

  19. I am a poster, no I am THE main poster at the Paracast forums under my real name and also as Waller Joel, my investigative alias. Richard Doty blew off my interview with him due for the first week of March, 2018. on the Paracast. Said he had car trouble. Hm. I checked out this “car trouble” using investigative tools that I own and have patented. No car, no trouble, hyooge LIE.

    I don’t see Doty as any different to any other frat boy philosophy student trying to carve out a niche for personal profit on the net. There’s nothing new or profound about anything he teaches and if I hadn’t scared him to death with my ever-strong personality, I would have EXPOSED him for the dolt that he is.

    Thomas R Morrison
    Paracast Super Member

  20. I know that the sighting over Kirtland Airforce base on August 8th, 1980 was a true sighting of a UFO. I am not sure if it was an alien craft but it couldn’t be identified by myself, my brother, or my mother. We all saw the intense white light illuminate the entire neighborhood we lived in on Kirtland Airforce base.

  21. Doty needs to serve time for his direct actions that led to the death of Paul Bennewitz.

  22. Just watched your most recent interview at the Black Vault with John Greenewalt, jr which got me here. Thank you Mr Rojas for your sane, rational, explanation of the MJ 12 documents and Richard Doty. I suppose we will never know for certain how much Doty acted alone and how much was sanctioned by the AFOSI. However, the fact that he was disciplined and demoted suggests at some point he went rogue over the Bennewitz affair. And the fact that there are no public records as to why he was disciplined and demoted implies that the AFOSI isn’t entirely free of guilt either. In regards to Bennewitz, it seems to me the AFOSI was willing to bend the law in the name of national security while Richard Doty had no issue breaking the law. Exposing Doty would mean exposing the AFOSI.

    There’s a YouTube video where George Knapp interviews Richard Doty at a recent UFO conference in which Doty spoke. In that interview Doty states that after Shandera received the MJ 12 documents in 1983 he was accused of leaking those documents and had to retain legal counsel. He said he was eventually cleared but seemed bitter over the incident. Perhaps the reason he continues on to this day is for revenge. For being demoted, for being disciplined, for being accused. Richard Doty has never struck me as a very intelligent individual. So why would he be privy to so many sensitive secrets? A previous poster stated that the OSI looked for individuals not based on intelligence but how they rate on the psychopathy scale. I have no idea if this is true. But Richard Doty seems to exhibit some of those tendencies.

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