Majestic 12 — Hillenkoetter to Truman: Majic Black Book Summaries
Hillenkoetter to Truman: Majic Black Book Summaries is a document pertaining to Majestic 12 (Operation Majestic-12, MJ-12, or Majic-12), a purported secret U.S. government program alleged to have investigated recovered unidentified flying objects and their occupants beginning in 1947.
Document Details
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Hillenkoetter to Truman: Majic Black Book Summaries |
| Date | 11 February 1948 |
| Era | 1948–1959 |
| Document Type | Intelligence Memorandum |
| Claimed Classification | TOP SECRET / MAJIC EYES ONLY |
| Authenticity Rating | Medium |
| Related Program | Operation Majestic-12 (MJ-12 / MAJIC) |
Description
A memorandum from DCI Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter to President Truman describing the ongoing consolidation of intelligence related to the Majic program. States: 'For some time…I have had our intelligence liaison organization concentrating on the possible presentation on Majic for my use as well as for the other officials concerned.' Bears a '092447' classified Executive Order stamp referencing the founding order of September 24, 1947.
Authenticity Assessment
Researchers consider this document to have a medium authenticity rating; some details are verifiable but significant questions remain.
The United States government has officially denied the existence of any organization called Majestic 12, MJ-12, or Majic-12. The FBI declared the core MJ-12 documents "completely bogus" on November 30, 1988, after receiving information from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) that no such committee had ever been authorized or formed. Despite this, researchers including Stanton T. Friedman and Dr. Robert M. Wood have argued that individual documents within the Majestic corpus show evidence of authenticity through forensic analysis of paper, ink, typeface, format conventions, and verifiable historical references.
Historical Context
Majestic 12 is claimed to have been established by special classified executive order of President Harry S. Truman on September 24, 1947, upon recommendation by Secretary of Defense James Forrestal and Dr. Vannevar Bush. The core documents were first publicly circulated in 1984–1987 by ufologists Jaime Shandera, William L. Moore, and Stanton T. Friedman. The Eisenhower Briefing Document — the central MJ-12 document — was found on undeveloped 35mm film delivered anonymously to Shandera's mailbox in December 1984.
Sources and Archival Information
- Research and document catalog: MajesticDocuments.com (Dr. Robert M. Wood & Ryan S. Wood)
- FBI investigative file: FBI Vault — Majestic 12
- General UFO program records: National Archives — USAF UFO Records
See Also
- Majestic 12
- Eisenhower Briefing Document
- Roswell Incident
- Project Blue Book
- Vannevar Bush
- Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter
- Stanton T. Friedman
- Philip J. Klass
References
- Wood, Robert M. & Wood, Ryan S. Majic Eyes Only. Wood Enterprises, 2005.
- Friedman, Stanton T. TOP SECRET/MAJIC. Marlowe & Company, 1996.
- FBI Vault: Majestic 12, Part 1 of 1. [1]
- Klass, Philip J. "The MJ-12 Crashed-Saucer Documents." Skeptical Inquirer, Winter 1987–1988.
- Goldberg, Robert Alan. Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America. Yale University Press, 2008.
