Majestic 12 — Truman to Secretary of Defense: Communications Intelligence Activities
Truman to Secretary of Defense: Communications Intelligence Activities 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 | Truman to Secretary of Defense: Communications Intelligence Activities |
| Date | 24 October 1952 |
| Era | 1948–1959 |
| Document Type | Presidential Memorandum |
| Claimed Classification | TOP SECRET |
| Authenticity Rating | Medium |
| Related Program | Operation Majestic-12 (MJ-12 / MAJIC) |
Description
An eight-page memo from President Truman to the Secretary of State and Defense establishing the National Security Agency (NSA). Researchers note the same Top Secret Control Number (7300405) appears on this document and on a questioned document from the same era — the Truman Presidential Briefing on unidentified aircraft sightings over the United States.
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show evidence of authenticity through forensic analysis of paper, ink, typeface, format conventions, and verifiable historical references.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.
