'This article originally appeared in the April 1991 issue of the *MUFON UFO Journal*, No. 276, (c) Copyright 1991 by the Mutual UFO Network
The Book on MJ-12 Nothing in the past few years has caused more controversy in the UFO field than the release of the Operation Majestic-12 Briefing Document in 1987.
The document, dated September 18, 1952, states that on September 24, 1947, President Harry S Truman established a secret panel of twelve distinguished scientists, military [officials], and intelligence officials to oversee and study crashed UFOs and their occupants.
Majestic's first case [had] occurred two months earlier, when the team allegedly recovered a crashed disc on July 7 near Roswell, New Mexico. Although the Roswell crash is well-documented in UFO literature, is what is described in the MJ-12 document itself an accurate portrayal of the recovery? For four years UFO researchers have been debating whether the MJ-12 document is authentic and whether or not the content of the document represents reality.
Shortly after the MJ-12 document was released, Manitoba UFO researcher Grant Cameron and I began looking for former scientists who may have had knowledge of the MJ-12 committee. We worked under the assumption that the document was accurate in its description of a special group to handle UFO recoveries for the government. If MJ-12 was real, someone working in the upper levels of the government would surely remember a committee by that name that was active in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Confirming MJ-12 has been difficult. All the original, designated MJ-12 members are dead. Although various alleged government documents have been uncovered alluding to the MJ-12 committee, the U.S. Government has not publicly acknowledged that these documents or, for that matter, the MJ-12 documents, are genuine.
An interesting development occurred in November 1983, when UFO researcher William Steinman received a letter back from American physicist Dr. Robert I. Sarbacher regarding UFO recoveries. In the early 1950s, Sarbacher was working as a consultant for the military's Research and Development Board, the same Board that allegedly controlled Operation Majestic-12, according to the MJ-12 documents.
In his letter to Steinman, Sarbacher reported that secret meetings about UFO recoveries were held but [that] he did not personally attend them. Gordon Creighton wrote in the October 1985 issue of the *Flying Saucer Review*, published in England, that Dr. Sarbacher stated [that] these meetings were held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Apparently those involved in the recoveries were to report their findings to scientists connected with the Research & Development Board. Sarbacher wrote [to] Steinman that he did talk to some of the people at the office about what was learned. According to Sarbacher, U.S. laboratories analyzed UFO hardware from the crashes and ... the pilots looked like certain insects observed on earth.
During a telephone interview with UFO researcher Stanton Friedman, Sarbacher was asked if he could recall anyone who did attend the meetings. Sarbacher gave enough clues to Friedman about a scientist he remembered being there that when Steinman cross-checked the information, the description fit the profile for Dr. Eric A. Walker, the former President of Penn State University.
Steinman said [that] he called Sarbacher to confirm his suspicions and [that] Sarbacher allegedly confirmed that Dr. Eric Walker, who was then Executive Secretary of the Research & Development Board, attended all the UFO meetings. When Cameron and I discovered [that] Dr. Walker might be involved, we set out to document what he may have learned from those meetings and what the Canadian and American governments were doing with this new-found knowledge.
Although our investigation started in 1987, William Steinman had been familiar with Walker's potential involvement since 1984. After several ... [unproductive] attempts to correspond with Walker by mail, Steinman phoned him on August 30, 1987. During the conversation, Steinman said that Walker indicated [that] he had known about MJ-12 since 1947 and that Steinman '... was delving into an area that you can do absolutely nothing about,' and to '... drop it."
Cameron and I pursued the Walker connection for a book we were working on entitled *UFOs, MJ-12, and the Government* [subtitle: *A Report on Government Involvement in UFO Crash Retrievals*] up until 1991.
Walker was contacted by various UFO researchers from 1987-1990, and we were privy to the notes of these conversations in which Walker made some very candid remarks about MJ-12 and UFO crashes. In a conversation in 1990, Walker described MJ-12 as a '... handful of elite' and [that] he would know if you were invited into the group.
Besides the in-depth reporting on Walker, we investigated several other scientists who may have been involved, including Dr. Luis W. Alvarez, a Nobel Prize winner, who allegedly assisted in the recovery of a saucer in Mexico.
We corresponded frequently with news commentator George Knapp of KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada, to get the story behind physicist Robert Lazar, who claims the government has at least nine flying saucers they're test flying and taking apart out at Nellis Air Force Base, in Nevada.
We looked at the experiences noted UFO researchers have had in dealing with the government, including those of Bill Moore, Linda Howe, Wilbert Smith, Lee Graham and Donald Keyhoe.
We also looked at putative government agents who appear to be involved, including Richard Doty and several who go by the names 'Falcon' and "Condor." We examined several UFO crashes that the government appears to have been involved in, including those in Roswell, New Mexico; Kecksburg, Pennsylvania; and the Kalahari Desert in South Africa.
MUFON's State Director Stan Gordon opened up his files to us on the 1965 Kecksburg UFO crash. New evidence released in December 1990 indicated that the acorn-shaped object [recovered] was eventually moved to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
We corresponded with Michael Hesemann in Germany and Henry Azadehdel in England to uncover the facts behind the alleged 1989 incident over South Africa, where a UFO was supposedly shot down by a South African Air Force pilot.
Finally, we explored the possibility that perhaps what might have been learned from UFO crashes in the late 1940s/early 1950s may have been instrumental in helping the U.S. Government develop certain technologies that are now being used on the advanced aircraft being secretly test flown in the 'Dreamland' area of Nellis Air Force Base.
The evidence we have gathered seems to indicate [that] the government developed teams to retrieve unknown aerial objects, that they analyzed the recovered UFO hardware, and [that] they are now attempting to duplicate that technology on today's aircraft.
Our book presents an interesting mix of various government documents, letters, telephone notes, and photographs detailing how the government is misleading the public about the true nature of UFOs.
* Grant Cameron and Scott Crain's new book *UFOs, MJ-12, and the * Government---A Report on Government Involvement in UFO Crash * Retrievals* is being published by the Mutual UFO Network and will be * available May 1, 1991. The 218-page, 8.5x11 paperback book is heavily * illustrated with documents, correspondence and photographs. The price * for this revealing book is $18.45 plus $1.50 for postage and handling, * totaling $19.95.