SUBJECT: E B E's                                             FILE: UFO1026

PART 7
 
 Doty was also the source of an alleged AFOSI communication dated
November 17, 1980, and destined to become known as the  "Aquarius
document." Allegedly sent from AFOSI headquarters at Bolling  AFB
in Washington, D.C., to the AFOSI District 17 office at Kirtland,
it  mentions,  in brief and cryptic form, analyses  of  negatives
from a UFO film apparently taken the previous month. The  version
that   circulated  through  the  UFO  community  states  in   its
penultimate  paragraph:  "USAF NO LONGER PUBLICLY ACTIVE  IN  UFO
RESEARCH,  HOWEVER USAF STILL HAS INTEREST IN ALL  UFO  SIGHTINGS
OVER  USAF  INSTALLATION/TEST RANGES.  SEVERAL  OTHER  GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES,  LED  BY NASA, ACTIVELY INVESTIGATES  [sic]  LEGITIMATE
SIGHTINGS  THROUGH  COVERT  COVER....  ONE  SUCH  COVER  IS   UFO
REPORTING  CENTER,  US COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY,  ROCKVILLE,  MD
20852, NASA FILTERS RESULTS OF SIGHTINGS TO APPROPRIATE  MILITARY
DEPARTMENTS  WITH  INTEREST  IN  THAT  PARTICULAR  SIGHTING.  THE
OFFICIAL US GOVERNMENT POLICY AND RESULTS OF PROJECT AQUARIUS  IS
[sic]  STILL  CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET WITH  NO  DISEMINATION  [sic]
OUTSIDE OFFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHANNELS AND WITH RESTRICTED ACCESS
TO 'MJ TWELVE'."

 This  is the first mention of "MJ-12" in an  allegedly  official
government document. Moore describes it as an "example of some of
the  disinformation  produced in connection  with  the  Bennewitz
case.  The document is a retyped version of a real AFOSI  message
with  a  few  spurious additions."  Among  the  most  significant
additions,  by Moore's account, are the bogus references  to  the
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and to NASA, which he says was NSA
(National Security Agency) in the original.

 According  to  Moore,  Doty  got the  document  "right  off  the
teletype"   (Moore,   1990)  and  showed  it  to   Moore   almost
immediately. Later Doty came by with what purported to be a  copy
of  it,  but  Moore noticed that it was  not  exactly  the  same;
material had been added to it. Doty said he wanted Moore to  give
the  doctored copy to Bennewitz. Reluctant to involve himself  in
the  passing  of  this dubious document, Moore sat on  it  for  a
while,  then finally worried that the sources he was  developing,
the ones who were telling him about the U.S. government's alleged
interactions with EBEs, would dry up if he did not cooperate.  So
eventually he gave the document to Bennewitz but urged him not to
publicize it. Bennewitz agreed and kept his promise.

 As of September 1982 Moore knew of three copies of the document:
the  one Bennewitz had, one Moore had in safekeeping, and one  he
had  in  his briefcase during a trip he made that month  to  meet
someone in San Francisco. He met the man in the morning and  that
afternoon  someone  broke into his car and stole  his  briefcase.
Four  months later a copy of the document showed up in the  hands
of  a New York lawyer interested in UFOs, and soon  the  document
was  circulating widely. Moore himself had little to say  on  the
subject  until he delivered a controversial and explosive  speech
to the annual conference of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Las
Vegas in 1989.

 In  late  1982,  "during," he says, "one of  the  many  friendly
conversations  I had with Richard Doty," Moore mentioned that  he
was looking into the old (and seemingly discredited) story that a
UFO had crashed in Aztec, New Mexico, in 1948. This tale was  the
subject  of Frank Scully's 1950 book Behind the  Flying  Saucers.
(Moore's long account of his investigation into the affair, which
he found to be an elaborate hoax, would appear in the 1985  MUFON
symposium  proceedings.) Doty said he had never heard  the  story
and asked for details, taking notes as Moore spoke.
end of part 7

          
  **********************************************
  * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
  **********************************************