Majestic-12

The first and most significant clue that they could be forgeries lay in the signature of President Truman. No two signatures are ever exactly the same, and yet the signature on the Majestic-12 Document (below) is almost identical to ones on authenticated memos. Joe Nickell, a document analyst and writer for Skeptical Enquirer magazine is convinced the documents are faked, not only citing the signature, but also the date formats, the typefaces, the style of language used - all of which he claims differ from authenticated documents. Others disagree. Stanton Friedman who has spent over ten years researching the documents dismisses those who cry 'fake', "I have yet to hear a convincing argument against MJ-12," he retorts. Friedman's views are supported by others. Dr. Roger Wescott, a linguistics expert from Drew University in New Jersey, reviewed more than twenty genuine documents written by Hillenkoetter from the Truman library. He compared them with the MJ-12 paper purportedly written by Hillenkoetter and after this analysis stated: "In my opinion, there is no compelling reason to regard any of these communications as fraudulent or not to believe that any of them were written by anyone other than Hillenkoetter. This statement holds for the controversial presidential briefing memorandum of 18 November 1952, as well as for the letters both personal and official." (5)

In all likelihood the documents are clever forgeries of original documents, but that the group existed (regardless of its name) appears to be beyond doubt. It also seems probable, for if there really was a crashed flying disk with alien occupants, it would be reasonable to assume that a top secret and senior group of officials would be convened to address the ensuing issues. Amongst others, General George C. Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff in the Second World War and Secretary of State from 1947 to 1949 confirmed that the authorities had recovered alien craft and their occupants. In 1951 he spoke with Dr. Rolf Alexander, a postgraduate in medicine from Prague University who went on to other European universities where he undertook post graduate studies in psychology, neurology and biochemistry. He told Alexander that UFOs were indeed from another planet and that they were believed to be friendly; their hovering over defence establishments and airports was taken to mean that they were letting us know that they could harm us if they had any evil intent.

Marshall advised that the US authorities were convinced that Earth had nothing to fear from the UFOs. Marshall stated that they were not making direct contact as yet as they had not worked out how to survive in our atmosphere, although there had been landings. Alexander asked Marshall why the government was carrying out a programme of debunking and censoring reports. Marshall replied that the US government wanted people to focus on the real enemy the communists, and they should not be distracted by "visitors from space". The government was also aware of the impact of Orson Welles' 1938 broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' and believed that the Kremlin could exploit any suggestion of alien contact (6).

Many years later it appears that this position changed. In the Introductory Space Science course of the United States Air Force Academy, Volume II, Chapter 33 (page 462) it states that among the possible reasons why the aliens have not attempted to contact us officially is that "3) ... such contact may already have taken place." On pages 461-2, four groups of alien are mentioned. The last one "a rare group reported to us as about four feet tall, weight of around 35 pounds, and covered with thick hair or fur (clothing?). Members of this group are described as being extremely strong." (7)

There are other sources confirming such incidents have taken place. Wilbert Smith, a former senior radio engineer who worked on secret defence projects for the Canadian Government's Department of Transport. He held a master's degree in electrical engineering and several patents. On 21^st November 1950 Smith wrote a memo to the Controller of Communications in the Canadian Government (Appendix 1) and recommended that a research project be set up to study the subject of UFOs. In the memo he claimed "I have made discreet enquiries through the Canadian Embassy staff in Washington who were able to obtain for me the following information. The matter is the most highly classified subject in the United States Government, rating higher even than the H-bomb. Flying saucers exist. Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort is being made by a small group headed by Doctor Vannevar Bush. The entire matter is considered by the United States authorities to be of tremendous significance." Smith's recommendation was accepted and on 2^nd December 1950 Project Magnet was established under Commander C.P. Edwards, then Deputy Minister of Transport for Air Services (8).