145 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
145 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: FRIEDMAN REBUTS CISCOP MJ-12 ANALYSIS FILE: UFO1875
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STANTON T. FRIEDMAN
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NUCLEAR PHYSICIST - LECTURER
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COMMENTS ON CSICOP STATEMENT ABOUT
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OPERATION MAJESTIC 12 DOCUMENTS
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August 26, 1987
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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There is no basis whatsoever for the claims by CSICOP members Philip
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Klass and Paul Kurtz that the Operation Majestic 12 documents are "bogus"
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or "clumsy counterfeits" or represent "one of the most deliberate acts of
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deception ever perpetrated against the news media and the public." I am
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dismayed but not surprised by these irrational attempts to discredit some
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of the most important documents ever released. Mr. Klass and Mr. Kurtz do
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a disservice to science which they supposedly serve, though not scientists
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themselves, and to journalism with their inadequate research and their
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totally incomprehensible failure to deal with the relevant information
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with regard to these documents. It is very easy to claim any documents are
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bogus. It is a very different matter to establish the validity of those
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claims.
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The trivial discrepancies to which they refer as noted by the
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National Archives with regard to these documents are easily explained. For
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example, Klass has said his research showed that a brief memo from General
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Robert Cutler at the White House to General Nathan Twining at the Pentagon
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pointing out that there would be a slight change of plans with regard to a
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meeting two days later is phony because Cutler had left the country 11
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days earlier. This is absurd. Cutler was gone, but he had two full-time
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heavy duty assistants! He had instructed them to keep material moving out
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of his in-basket. A trivial matter such as the slight change in a
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classified briefing would certainly have been handled by them in response
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to any request from Eisenhower. The memo is *not* signed by Mr. Cutler.
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Anybody faking such a memo would presumably have attempted to make it
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clear that it was Operation Majestic 12 rather than MJ-12 and would also
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have made clear that MJ-12 or Majestic 12 dealt with flying discs or
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flying saucers. It would be silly to go through the work to fake such a
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memo using old typewriters and old paper and yet not make it totally
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supportive.
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Two other brief TOP SECRET memos from Cutler to Twining located at
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the Library of Congress in 1981 also have no registration numbers. One
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contains identical language.
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Mr. Klass claims the September 24, 1947 memo from Truman to
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Secretary Forrestal is a forgery created by superimposing a fake message
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on a photograph of an authentic Truman letter. There is no evidence to
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support this claim. A print made from the original negative of the
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briefing document which included this very brief memo as attachment A,
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shows no signs of any superimposition. Klass further makes much of the
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fact that it did not have Forrestal's address on the lower left hand
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corner. Considering that it was an EYES ONLY memo, not a letter, and that
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September 24 was the date of the only meeting in the last eight months of
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1947 between President Truman, James Forrestal and Doctor Vannevar Bush,
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who was also named in the memo, it would seem reasonable that it would
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have been written while Forrestal was present. Memos, as opposed to
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letters, do NOT include recipient addresses.
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The third item which Klass attempts to explain away is the entire
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TOP SECRET/EYES ONLY briefing paper. Klass claims that it describes the
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1947 flying saucer crash in New Mexico as if Eisenhower never heard of it.
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That judgement cannot be reached on the basis of the data in the document
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especially if, as was the case, the primary custody of these materials
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resided with the Office of the President. Even if Eisenhower had been
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informed of the crash, he would not have known all the details. Eisenhower
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had already made a public announcement, with presidential approval, in
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June of 1947, *prior* to the crash retrieval, stating that he would assume
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the presidency of Columbia University around the end of the year. The
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other members of Majestic 12 are clearly high ranking scientists and
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intelligence officers and technology experts. There is no reason at all
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why General Eisenhower, despite his military achievements, would have been
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considered for membership in such a group. To suggest that the document is
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phony on this basis instead of on the basis of any mistaken information in
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it (there is none) certainly violates all the rules of science and
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journalism.
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It is interesting that the CSICOP document makes no mention
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whatsoever of the detailed investigation conducted well *before* this
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document was either received, December, 1984, or released. This effort by
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Stanton Friedman and William L. Moore, clearly established, on the basis
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of interviews with 92 different people and extensive travel,
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documentation, etc. that indeed a saucer had crashed outside Roswell, New
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Mexico in July 1947; that an announcement to this effect was made by the
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government; that a cover-up was instigated within 24 hours of that
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announcement; that alien bodies were found; that material was sent to
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Wright field for analysis; that civilians were debriefed with strong
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persuasion to change their stories as appropriate. Mr. Klass makes no
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mention of the fact that five people had been found who described strange
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symbols seen on portions of the crashed saucer. Strange symbols are
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mentioned in the document. Mr. Klass makes no mention of the fact that the
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twelve people named as being members of Operation Majestic 12 all had a
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very high level security clearances [sic] and close interlocking of past
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activities.
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Of special importance in this regard is the inclusion of Doctor
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Donald Menzel. Menzel was a famous astrophysicist at Harvard University
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and, beginning in 1953, wrote three strongly anti-UFO books. It would have
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seemed totally illogical for Dr. Menzel to be named as a member of the MJ-
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12 team. However, detailed research by Friedman, clearly established that
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Menzel had the right levels of security clearances, close association with
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various intelligence agencies especially the NSA and the CIA, and a close
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association with Doctor Vannevar Bush, Doctor Lloyd Berkner, Doctor Detlev
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Bronk, all named as being members of Majestic 12. Doctor Menzel was known
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for his discretion with regard to classified manners; was an expert on
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crypt-analysis; had learned Japanese; and would have been an appropriate
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person to look at the symbols. A close friend in his later years, a
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psychiatrist, has indicated that Menzel certainly would have been called
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to work on such a project. He doesn't think Menzel was because the friend
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felt that there would be no reason for keeping security past the first few
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months. That notion is equally absurd. Clearly if there were two crash
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retrievals in three years, there may have been more later. Clearly there
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was no way to learn all the technological secrets of a very advanced
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vehicle and strange beings in just a few years. Clearly there were
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national security implications with regards to the possibility of
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duplicating the technology, of the Soviets duplicating the technology, of
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learning that the investigation by the aliens was not necessarily to the
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benefit of mankind. There was also a great concern expressed in the memo
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with public panic as a result of any disclosures that might be made.
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Mr. Klass has focused on the Cutler Twining memo, making it seem
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much more important by calling it a "report" and a "document" when in fact
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it is a brief two paragraph relatively-informal memo notifying the Chief
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of Staff of the Air Force of a slight change in plans for a briefing. To
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expect the staff assistant doing that under the pressures of time and a
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very busy office with the boss out of town, to be greatly concerned about
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details of handling of classified matters other than to make sure it
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doesn't fall into outside hands, surely is irrational. It should further
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be noted that the 1954 Atomic Energy Act provided for the use of the new
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nomenclature Secret Restricted Data and Top Secret Restricted Data.
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Twining in a September 23, 1947 letter about flying saucers had clearly
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indicated a nuclear connection. Thus Top Secret Restricted Security
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Information typed in, apparently in the absence of a new rubber stamp
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hardly constitutes evidence of fraud.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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