148 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
148 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: E B E's FILE: UFO1036
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PART 17
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Moore's Confession: By mid-1989 the two most controversial
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figures in ufology were Moore and Lear. Moore's MUFON lecture on
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July 1 did nothing to quiet his legion of critics. On his arrival
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in Las Vegas, Moore checked into a different hotel from the one
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at which the conference was being held. He already had refused to
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submit his paper for publication in the symposium proceedings, so
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no one knew what he would say. He had also stipulated that he
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would accept no questions from the floor.
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Moore's speech stunned and angered much of the audience. At one
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point the shouts and jeers of Lear's partisans brought
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proceedings to a halt until order was restored. Moore finished
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and exited immediately. He left Las Vegas not long afterwards.
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In his lecture Moore spoke candidly, for the first time, of his
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part in the counterintelligence operation against Bennewitz. "My
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role in the affair," he said, "was largely that of a freelancer
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providing information on Paul's current thinking and activities."
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Doty, "faithfully carrying out orders which he personally found
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distasteful," was one of those involved in the effort to confuse
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and discredit Bennewitz. Because of his success at this effort,
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Moore suggested, Doty was chosen by the real "Falcon" as "liaison
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person, although I really don't know. Frankly, I don't believe
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that Doty does either. In my opinion he was simply a pawn in a
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much larger game, just as I was."
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From disinformation passed on by AFOSI sources, and his own
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observations and guesses, according to Moore, "by mid-1982"
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Bennewitz had put together a story that "contained virtually all
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of the elements found in the current crop of rumors being
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circulated around the UFO community." Moore was referring to the
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outlandish tales Lear and Cooper were telling. Moore said that
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"when I first ran into the disinformation operation . . . being
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run on Bennewitz . . . [i)t seemed to me . . . I was in a rather
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unique position. There I was with my foot . . . in the door of a
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secret counterintelligence game that gave every appearance of
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being somehow directly connected to a high-level government UFO
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project, and, judging by the positions of the people I knew to be
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directly involved with it, definitely had something to do with
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national security! There was no way I was going to allow the
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opportunity to pass me by without learning at least something
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about what was going on. . . . I would play the disinformation
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game, get my hands dirty just often enough to lead those
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directing the process into believing that I was doing exactly
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what they wanted me to do, and all the while continue to burrow
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my way into the matrix so as to learn as much as possible about
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who was directing it and why." Some of the same people who were
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passing alleged UFO secrets on to Moore were also involved in the
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operation against Bennewitz. Moore knew that some of the material
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he was getting--essentially a mild version of the Bennewitz
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scenario, without the horror, paranoia and conspiracy--was false,
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but he (along with Jaime Shandera and Stanton Friedman, to whom
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he confided the cover-up story in June 1982; Friedman, however,
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would not learn of Moore's role in the Bennewitz episode until
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seven years later) felt that some of it was probably true, since
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an invariable characteristic of disinformation is that it
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contains some facts. Moore also said that Linda Howe had been the
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victim of one of Doty's disinformation operations.
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Before he stopped cooperating with such schemes in 1984, Moore
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said, he had given "routine information" to AFOSI about certain
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other individuals in the UFO community. Subsequently he claimed
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that during this period this emphasis) "three other members of
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the UFO community . . . were actively doing the same thing. I
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have since learned of a fourth. . . . All four are prominent
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individuals whose identities, if disclosed, would cause
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considerable controversy in the UFO community and bring serious
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embarrassment to two of its major organizations. To the best of
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my knowledge, at least two of these people are still actively
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involved" (Moore, 1989b).
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Although he would not reveal the identities of the government
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informants within ufology, Moore gave the names of several
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persons "who were the subject of intelligence community interest
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between 1980 and 1984." They were:
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(1) Len Stringfield, a ufologist known for his interest in
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crashed-disc stories; in 1980 he had been set up by a
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counterintelligence operative who gave him phony pictures of what
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purported to be humanoids in cold storage.
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(2) The late Pete Mazzola, whose knowledge of film footage from
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a never-publicized Florida UFO case was of great interest to
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counterintelligence types. Moore was directed to urge Mazzola to
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send the footage to ufologist Kal Korff (who knew nothing of the
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scheme) for analysis; then Moore would make a copy and pass it on
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to Doty. But Mazzola never got the film, despite promises, and
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the incident came to nothing. "I was left with the impression,"
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Moore wrote, "that the file had been intercepted and the
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witnesses somehow persuaded to cease communication with Mazzola."
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(3) Peter Gersten, legal counsel for Citizens Against UFO
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Secrecy (CAUS), who had spearheaded a (largely unsuccessful)
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legal suit against the NSA seeking UFO information.
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(4) Larry Fawcett, an official of CAUS and coauthor of a book on
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the cover-up, Clear Intent (1984).
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(5) James and Coral Lorenzen, the directors of the Aerial
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Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) periodically "subjects of
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on-again, off again interest . . . mostly passive monitoring
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rather than active meddling," according to Moore. Between 1980
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and 1982 APRO employed a "cooperative" secretary who passed on
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confidential material to counterintelligence personnel.
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(6) Larry W. Bryant, who was battling without success in the
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courts to have UFO secrets revealed. Moore said, "His name came
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up often in discussions but I never had any direct involvement in
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whatever activities revolved around him."
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These revelations sent shock waves through the UFO community. In
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September CAUS devoted virtually all of an issue of its magazine
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Just Cause to a harshly critical review of Moore's activities.
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Barry Greenwood declared that the "outrageousness" of Moore's
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conduct "cannot be described. Moore, one of the major critics of
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government secrecy on UFOs, had covertly informed on people who
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thought he was their friend and colleague. Knowing full well that
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the government people with whom he was dealing were active
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disinformants, Moore pursued a relationship with them and
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observed the deterioration of Paul Bennewitz'[s] physical and
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mental health. . . . Moore reported the effects of the false
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information regularly to some of the very same people who were
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'doing it' to Paul. And Moore boasted in his speech as to how
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effective it was" (Greenwood, 1989). Greenwood complained further
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about Moore's admission that on the disastrous Cover-up . . .
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Live show Falcon and Condor had said things that they knew were
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untrue. "In the rare situation where two hours of prime time
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television are given over to a favorable presentation of UFOs,
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here we have a fair portion of the last hour wasted in presenting
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what Moore admits to be false data. . . . Yet he saw fit to go
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ahead and carry on a charade, making UFO research look ridiculous
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in the process. Remarks by Falcon and Condor about the aliens'
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lifestyle and preference for Tibetan music and strawberry ice
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cream were laughable." So far as Greenwood and CAUS, skeptical of
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the MJ-12 briefing document from the first, were concerned, "July
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1, 1989, may well be remembered in the history of UFO research as
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the day when the 'Majestic 12' story came crashing to Earth in a
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heap of rubble. Cause of death: Suicide!"
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end of part 17
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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