Majestic 12 — Operations Review: The MJ-12 Project — by Allen W. Dulles
Operations Review: The MJ-12 Project — by Allen W. Dulles 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 | Operations Review: The MJ-12 Project — by Allen W. Dulles |
| Date | 5 November 1961 |
| Era | 1960–1969 |
| Document Type | Intelligence Operations Review |
| Claimed Classification | TOP SECRET |
| Authenticity Rating | Medium |
| Related Program | Operation Majestic-12 (MJ-12 / MAJIC) |
Description
A one-page top-secret operations review authored by CIA Director Allen W. Dulles, referencing Presidential National Security Memorandum of June 28, 1961. States that 80% of sightings investigated by Project Blue Book were explainable, while remaining cases are classified and under review. States: 'While the possibility remains [that] true U.F.O. cases are of non-terrestrial origin, U.S. Intelligence is of the opinion that they do not constitute a physical threat to national defense.' Dulles declines to divulge sensitive MJ-12 activities citing the 1954 Atomic Energy Act.
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show evidence of authenticity through forensic analysis of paper, ink, typeface, format conventions, and verifiable historical references.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.
