The Majestic 12 and Its UFO conspiracy

It is said that in 1947, President Harry Truman gave the order for a secret committee to investigate the Roswell Incident. This committee consisted of 12 individuals, including world-renowned scientists, generals, and politicians. The group came to the conclusion that the Incident really did involve an extraterrestrial spaceship that crash-landed and killed all of its occupants, typically numbered between three and four.

Roswell Daily Record from July 9, 1947 detailing the Roswell UFO incident.
Roswell Daily Record from July 9, 1947 detailing the Roswell UFO incident. © Image Credit: Roswell Daily Record | Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

The Majestic 12, or MJ-12 for short, proposed an executive order to establish a military facility purely for the purpose of containing and studying the extraterrestrial and their spaceship, thus resulting Area 51.

Plenty of images of government correspondence relating directly to this organization are circulating the Internet, including the famous 1947 letter from President Truman, authorizing the CIA to create M-12. The letter, according to doubters, is wholly fabricated.

This theory is predominately supported by such documentation, all of which, commencing in 1978, maybe fabricated or may not even exist at all. One excerpt:

“The official US Government policy and results of Project Aquarius is [sic] still classified TOP SECRET with no dissemination outside channels and with access restricted to ‘MJ TWELVE’.”

Majestic 12 In 1988, two FBI offices received similar versions of a memo titled “Operation Majestic-12…” claiming to be highly classified government document. The memo appeared to be a briefing for newly-elected President Eisenhower on a secret committee created to exploit a recovery of an extra-terrestrial aircraft and cover-up this work from public examination. An Air Force investigation determined the document to be a fake.
Majestic 12 In 1988, two FBI offices received similar versions of a memo titled “Operation Majestic-12…” claiming to be highly classified government document. The memo appeared to be a briefing for newly-elected President Eisenhower on a secret committee created to exploit a recovery of an extra-terrestrial aircraft and cover-up this work from public examination. An Air Force investigation determined the document to be a fake. © Image Source: FBI (public domain)

The most convincing evidence, however, believed even by many skeptics to be authentic, is a document currently housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The document was a July 14, 1954, memo from Robert Cutler, special assistant to President Eisenhower, addressed to Gen. Nathan Twining. It read:

“Memorandum for General Twining. Subject: NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project. The President has decided that the MJ-12 SSP”

MJ-12 has made it into popular sci-fi culture, including “The X-Files,” and is usually imagined as a round-table discussion of twelve experts in what to do concerning the proof of the existence of extraterrestrials, primarily how to keep the public in the dark.

Members of the magestic 12
Members of the Magestic 12 © Image Source: Public Domain

People accused of being members of MJ-12, at one time or another, include Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Robert Cutler, Omond Solandt, Robert Sarbacher, John von Neumann (directly involved with the Philadelphia Experiment), Karl Compton, General Nathan Twining, and Eric Walker.