Pod Insights The Why Files: Operation Podcast Majestic 12 | Secret Documents Expose UFO Cover-Up Vol. 1 About this episode In 1947, a mysterious craft crashed in the New Mexico desert. President Truman immediately formed a secret committee of twelve men to manage this unprecedented discovery. For almost 40 years, Majestic 12 operated in complete secrecy, controlling every aspect of UFO information. When leaked documents finally exposed their existence, researchers thought they had found proof of the ultimate government cover-up. Instead, they discovered something far more disturbing: a sophisticated disinformation campaign that turned truth into a weapon. The psychological warfare techniques perfected on UFO researchers in the 1980s have now become the blueprint for manipulating public perception on every topic. This isn't just about aliens and cover-ups - it's about how information warfare shapes what we believe is real.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9VoC8MoeUs
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Transcript 7,474 words · 18 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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0:31 AJ Gentile? The year was 1947. America had the bomb. The Soviets didn't. But that was about to change. The next war would be nuclear. Protecting state secrets was more important than ever. But President Harry S. Truman was hiding something bigger than the atomic bomb. In July, a craft crashed in the New Mexico desert. The wreckage wasn't Russian, and the bodies weren't human.
0:58 AJ Gentile? Truman formed a committee of 12 men. Their job: create a government within the government, and use that government to guard the most important discovery in human history. And for almost 40 years, they did, until the last one died. That's when the world would finally learn about Majestic 12.
1:27 AJ Gentile? On December 11, 1984, a package arrived at Jamie Chanderay's Hollywood office. No return address, no note, just a roll of 35-millimeter film.
1:39 AJ Gentile? Chanderay was a film producer working on a UFO documentary with researcher Bill Moore. Moore had written The Roswell Incident in 1980. Before his book, nobody knew the real story of Roswell. He had sources, military contacts, people who leaked information, but nothing like this. Chanderay called Moore. Within an hour, they were in Chanderay's bathroom.
1:59 Speaker 06 Uh, this story took a weird turn.
2:02 AJ Gentile? He used his bathroom as a darkroom?
2:04 Speaker 06 Uh...
2:05 AJ Gentile? For developing photographs?
2:06 Speaker 06 Ah, okay, okay. Well, we're back on track.
2:10 AJ Gentile? Under the eerie red light, the first image appeared. They didn't know what to expect. They certainly didn't expect to see the presidential seal.
2:17 Speaker 06 Magic seal fetus?
2:19 AJ Gentile? Wrong episode.
2:20 Speaker 06 Link Down in Mel's Hole!
2:23 AJ Gentile? There were a total of eight photos, all documents. The first page was labeled "top secret, magic eyes only." This was a security classification they'd never seen before. Supposedly two levels above top secret.
2:37 AJ Gentile? The formatting was perfect. The typeface matched 1950's government standards. The terminology was right. The dates were right. And the names, those were definitely right. Twelve names. A committee tasked with managing the most sensitive secret in American history. Operation Majestic 12. Moore recognized every name on the list. Military leaders, intelligence officers, scientists. But the last name was most interesting. Dr. Jerome Hunsaker. Hunsaker had died two months ago. He was the last survivor of the original Majestic 12. The timing wasn't a coincidence. Someone waited until the last man was dead. After almost forty years of secrecy, somebody wanted this exposed.
3:21 AJ Gentile? Moore had literally written the book on Roswell. But his information was secondhand accounts and local legends. He had no hard evidence, until now. The eight pages told an explosive story. A UFO crash in Roswell, recovery operations, advanced technology, and alien bodies. The documents proved that the US government covered it up. And they proved Roswell was only at the beginning.
3:55 Speaker 03 Bonjour, compadre. It's the
3:59 Speaker 03 How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget, the Priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle. Deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Priceline. Hold your horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beachfronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me off.
4:32 AJ Gentile? Jamie Chandray and Bill Moore held proof of the biggest cover-up in history. The documents detailed a secret committee called Majestic 12. But the real shock was why the committee was formed. The main document was a briefing for President-elect Eisenhower, November 18, 1952. The subject line: Briefing Document: Operation Majestic 12 Prepared For President-elect Eisenhower Eyes Only. On September 24, 1947, Truman signed Executive Order 092447. It created a special committee to handle all aspects of extraterrestrial interaction. 12 members: scientists, military leaders, intelligence officers, all with the highest
5:16 AJ Gentile? security clearances, all sworn to absolute secrecy. The committee had three purposes: study recovered technology, develop strategies for future contact, and most importantly, keep the entire operation hidden from the public. The committee was a response to events that began in June 1947.
5:36 Speaker 07 On 24 June 1947, a civilian pilot flying over the Cascade Mountains in the state of Washington observed nine flying disk-shaped aircraft traveling in formation at a high rate of speed. Although this was not the first known sighting of such objects, it was the first to gain widespread attention in the public media.
5:58 AJ Gentile? Though they denied it at the time, the military had been seeing a lot of these objects.
6:03 Speaker 07 Hundreds of reports of sightings of similar objects followed. Many of these came from highly credible military and civilian sources. These reports resulted in independent efforts by several different elements of the military to ascertain the nature and purpose of these objects in the interests of national defense.
6:22 AJ Gentile? Witness statements were confusing. Nobody knew what these things were. Then on July 7, 1947, an object crashed in the New Mexico desert. The official story, it was a weather balloon. That was a lie. The briefing described a craft of "unknown origin." Metallic, disc-shaped, about 30 feet wide. No visible seams or rivets. No visible propulsion system. Made from a metal alloy they couldn't recognize. The report confirmed this was engineering beyond any country on Earth. But the craft was empty. But that changed a week later, when they found four bodies.
6:58 Speaker 07 Aerial reconnaissance discovered that four small, human-like beings had apparently ejected from the craft at some point before it exploded. These had fallen to Earth about two miles east of the wreckage site.
7:10 AJ Gentile? Four bodies, about four feet tall. Humanoid, but definitely not human. Large heads, no hair, gray skin. Three died on impact. The fourth survived the crash, but died shortly after. The military moved fast and created the infamous "cover story."
7:27 Speaker 07 A special scientific team took charge of removing these bodies for study. See Attachment C. The wreckage of the craft was also removed to several different locations. See Attachment B. Civilian and military witnesses in the area were debriefed, and news reporters were given the effective cover story that the object had been a misguided weather research balloon.
7:49 AJ Gentile? The scientific team led by Dr. Detlef Frank called the beings "extraterrestrial biological entities," EBEs. And Roswell wasn't an isolated incident. The briefing detailed a second crash.
8:02 Speaker 07 On 06 December 1950, a second object, probably of similar origin, impacted the Earth at high speed in the El Indio Guerrero area of the Texas-Mexican border after following a long trajectory through the atmosphere.
8:17 AJ Gentile? The object was almost completely destroyed on impact. What remained went to the Atomic Energy Commission facility at Sendea, New Mexico. The briefing included the names of all living MJ-12 members, powerful figures in the military, scientific, and intelligence communities. But one name seemed out of place: Dr. Donald Menzel, America's most famous UFO skeptic, a man who spent his career explaining away every sighting as weather balloons, swamp gas, or natural phenomenon. Having the country's biggest UFO debunker on the original committee proved that Operation Majestic 12 wasn't about discovery. It was about deception.
9:01 Speaker 03 Bonjour, compadre. It's the...
9:05 Speaker 03 How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget: the Priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle: deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Priceline. Hold your horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools, and spas, and beachfronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me off.
9:38 AJ Gentile? The MJ-12 documents described a crashed UFO and four alien bodies. But the most shocking part wasn't the crash. It was the cover-up. One name on the committee proved the operation was designed to deceive the public from the very beginning. The roster of Majestic 12 reads like a who's who of the American deep state. Let's go through the names. Admiral Roscoe Hillencoder, naval intelligence, first director of the CIA. Designated NJ-1, reported directly to the president. Admiral Sidney Sowers, naval intelligence, first director of Central Intelligence, later executive secretary of the National Security Council. General Hoyt Vandenberg, chief of staff of the Air Force, oversaw Air Force intelligence, became the second director of Central Intelligence.
10:23 AJ Gentile? General Nathan Twining, chief of staff of the Air Force, commander of the Roswell operation. He wrote a famous memo in 1947 saying UFOs were real. From his reports came Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book. Secretary James Forrestal, first secretary of defense, former secretary of the Navy. General Robert Montague, commander of Sandia Base in Albuquerque, which created nuclear weapons. Captain Gordon Gray, National Security Advisor under Eisenhower, Secretary of the Army, helped manage nuclear weapons policy. Then, the scientists. Dr. Vannevar Bush, head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, architect of the Manhattan Project. Dr. Detlev Brunk, biophysicist,
11:08 AJ Gentile? future president of the National Academy of Sciences, specialized in aviation medicine, in charge of non-human biological entities. Dr. Lloyd Burkener, physicist and engineer specializing in radio, atmospheric studies, and space science. Dr. Jerome Hunsaker, aeronautical engineer, chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which became NASA. These were the men who built America's nuclear secrets. But among them was one name that didn't fit: Dr. Donald Menzel. Menzel was a respected Harvard astronomer. He was also America's most famous, most vocal UFO debunker. He wrote books explaining away every sighting as weather balloons, swamp gas, mirages, all kinds of natural phenomena. Having such a well-known skeptic
11:53 AJ Gentile? on a UFO committee made no sense, unless his public role was a cover story. Dig a little deeper, and you realize Menzel was living a double life. He had a 30-year association with the NSA. He had top-secret ultra clearance with the CIA.
12:08 Speaker 06 Top-secret ultra clearance? What's next? Super-duper-premium-platinum-pinky-sweat clearance?
12:15 AJ Gentile? Between 1947 and 1948, right after the crash, Menzel made several trips to New Mexico, all paid for by the US government. In public, Menzel was a skeptic. In private, he was an asset. Harvard University has been taking photographs of the sky since 1882. The images are stored on photographic plates. By 1952, Harvard had 500,000 plates. Many contained images that would be inconvenient for the government. So, they had to be destroyed.
12:47 Speaker 08 One-third of the plate collection destroyed by the new incoming director of the Harvard Observatory. And that man was... Do you give his name, or shall I? I think you should do it. Yeah. That man was, is Dr. Donald Menzel.
13:03 AJ Gentile? Dr. Menzel destroyed 150,000 priceless photographic plates. Images of Mars, the moon, the entire sky. Not only that, he prevented Harvard from taking any additional photographs during his tenure, 15 years.
13:18 Speaker 08 So Menzel comes in in September, October 1952, but began destroying
13:27 Speaker 08 a certain amount of this priceless collection of astronomical data. And also, he prevented Harvard from collecting new astronomical data for a certain number of years, and this is known among your colleagues as the Menzel Gap. Is that correct?
13:46 Speaker 02 Yes, the survey that was there, like the All-Sky Survey, was halted for 15 years.
13:52 Speaker 06 Ah, so following the science means destroying evidence. There's a lot of that going around these days.
13:58 AJ Gentile? But Menzel wasn't the only member with a complicated story. James Forrestal was openly critical of government corruption and lack of transparency. A man with a conscience isn't suited for a seat at the most secret table in the world. For MJ12, Forrestal was a problem. To solve it, all they needed was a little gravity.
14:17 Speaker 06 Oh, no.
14:31 AJ Gentile? James Vincent Forrestal didn't come from old money or privilege. He clawed his way up from newspaper reporter to Wall Street millionaire. By age 40, he was president of the powerhouse investment firm Dillon Reed & Company. When World War II broke out, he walked away from finance to serve his country. Roosevelt made him undersecretary of the Navy, then secretary of the Navy, and finally, first secretary of defense. Forrestal oversaw the transition from wartime America into the Cold War superpower. His rags-to-riches story was the American dream, but he was a nightmare for the Washington establishment.
15:07 AJ Gentile? Forrester was openly critical of Truman's policies. Nuclear disarmament, joining NATO. Forrester argued that recognizing the new state of Israel too soon would inflame the Arab world, threatening US oil security. Critics accused Forrester of being anti-Semitic, but the record shows his arguments were strategic, not religious or ethnic. He wanted Israel to be under UN control until tempers in the region cooled down. He also believed America was being hollowed out from within. He warned that communists had infiltrated the government, the media, and the military. While the US was disarming, Moscow was embedding agents at the highest levels of American life. Uh, he was right about that. He was.
15:49 AJ Gentile? Congressional hearings would later prove that Soviet spy rings really had penetrated Washington. But when Forrester said it, he was branded paranoid. It was a media smear campaign. Journalists who once praised him painted him as unstable. Communists accused him of imagining reds under every bed. Cartoonists mocked him as a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist. Inside the White House, Truman's circles spread the idea that Forrester was cracking under pressure. They circulated rumors about his drinking, about his memory. But Forrester wasn't drunk or senile. He was filling thousands of pages in his diaries, working 15-hour days. He was independent, wealthy, and wasn't afraid to speak truth to power. Forrester couldn't be controlled.
16:33 AJ Gentile? That made him dangerous. By March 1949, the pressure campaign worked. Forrester was forced to resign as Secretary of Defense. Within days, he was checked into Bethesda Naval Hospital for rest. But that rest looked more like confinement. Visitors were restricted. His priests tried seven times to see him, blocked every time. His brother Henry begged to bring him home. Even Forrester wrote letters saying he was fine and wanted to leave. The Navy kept him inside. Seven weeks later, he was dead.
17:06 AJ Gentile? At 1:50 a.m. on May 22, 1949, a nurse heard a crash outside. Forrestal's body was found on a third-floor ledge, 13 stories below his window. The belt of his bathrobe was tied around his neck. The hospital declared it a suicide within hours. No autopsy, no investigation. The coroner rubber-stamped the report without inspecting the body. Reporters were told Forrestal had been copying lines from a tragic play as a suicide note, but the lines were unfinished, mid-sentence, as if he was interrupted.
17:39 Speaker 06 Now, let me guess, the video wasn't working that night?
17:42 AJ Gentile? Uh, they didn't have video back then.
17:43 Speaker 06 Yeah, likely story.
17:46 AJ Gentile? Forrestal's brother Henry called it murder. Navy officials ordered personnel to stay silent. They even classified the number of windows in his room as "top secret." Forrestal's diaries were seized immediately. Thousands of pages of meetings, conversations, personal reflections. When they were finally released two years later, entire sections were missing. His family believed the censored passages contained secrets that powerful people wanted buried. Instead, Forrestal was buried.
18:14 Speaker 06 Yeah, history seems to repeat itself, don't it?
18:17 AJ Gentile? It does. Some believe Forrestal was gonna go public about UFOs. He felt Americans deserved to know the truth about extraterrestrial contact. But the message was clear: silence wasn't optional. For years, the trail stayed cold. Then, a postcard arrived from New Zealand with a return address in Ethiopia.
18:45 AJ Gentile? With James Forrestal dead, the MJ-12 secret was safe for years. But in early 1985, a mysterious postcard arrived at Bill Moore's home, about to blow the case wide open. The postmark was from New Zealand. The return address was from a post office box in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Moore didn't know anyone in New Zealand or Ethiopia.
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19:17 Speaker 06 Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I hope they paid for all those product placements in this video.
19:21 AJ Gentile? The message on the card was a riddle.
19:23 Speaker 06 Ah, that makes more sense.
19:25 AJ Gentile? Someone was following the investigation and knew it had stalled. Moore called Jamie Shandere and their new teammate, nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman. Friedman had worked on classified nuclear aircraft programs for companies like General Electric. He approached the documents like a scientist and helped them crack the code. They worked backwards. For a stylish look, shop Suitland. Suitland wasn't a clothing store. It was Suitland, Maryland, home of the National Archives. That unlocked the other clue: Reese's Pieces.
19:56 AJ Gentile? At first, they thought it had something to do with extraterrestrials. After all, they were ET's favorite candy. But Friedman knew Ed Reese, who worked at the National Archives in the Military Records Branch. Reese's Pieces weren't candy, they were documents. The postcard was telling them exactly where to go and who to see.
20:14 AJ Gentile? Three days later, Moore and Shandere were in the massive Archives building in Suitland. They were still facing millions of documents with no idea where to start. Then Moore looked at the postcard again. The return address: P.O. Box 189. Box 189. Shandere approached the reference desk. They were looking for Box 189, Record Group 341 Air Force records. The archivist checked the computer. The box had last been accessed in September 1984, just two weeks after Jerome Hunsaker's death, about the same time Shandere received the Majestic 12 documents.
20:50 Speaker 06 Yahtzee, this is like some UFO scavenger hunt, like Midnight Madness. Faggot Biffy.
20:57 AJ Gentile? I know the movie. Do you want to know what they found in the box?
21:00 Speaker 06 What's in the box? Ah, okay, okay, okay. I'm done, I'm done, really, really, seriously. Uh, what's in the box?
21:09 AJ Gentile? Inside.
21:09 Speaker 06 Faggot Biffy.
21:12 AJ Gentile? Inside were dozens of folders filled with routine Air Force business from the 1950s. Then Shandere found it, a single sheet of paper tucked between budget reports. The header read "Top Secret Restricted Information." A memorandum from General Twining, signed by Robert Cutler, President Eisenhower's special assistant.
21:31 Speaker 07 The President has decided that the MJ-12 SSP briefing should take place during the already-scheduled White House meeting of July 16.
21:43 AJ Gentile? This was it, the Smoking Gun, an official government document referencing MJ-12, filed in the National Archives. It was the final piece they needed to solve the Majestic 12 puzzle. But more Shandere and Friedman weren't exposing a secret government program. They were being manipulated by one.
22:04 Speaker 03 Bonjour, compadre. It's the...
22:08 Speaker 03 How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget, the Priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle. Deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Priceline. Hold your horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beachfronts and... Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me off.
22:37 AJ Gentile? More Shandere and Friedman thought they had found their Smoking Gun. The Cutler-Twining memo seemed to be the proof they needed, but they didn't realize they were pawns in a much larger game. The clue was on that first envelope that contained the film. It was postmarked Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kirtland Air Force Base is in Albuquerque. That's where the game was being played, and the man in charge was Richard Doty. Doty was a special agent for AFOSI, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. His job was to spread disinformation in the UFO community, and he was very good at it.
23:12 Speaker 10 I was always connected to UFOs and to disinformation. Although, in actuality, within the government, we don't call it disinformation. We call it deception operations.
23:27 AJ Gentile? Doty's most notorious target was physicist Paul Benowitz. Benowitz believed he was intercepting alien communications near Kirtland. Instead of dismissing him, Doty fed him false documents and encouraged his theories. Eventually, Paul Benowitz had a complete mental breakdown. We did a whole episode on this a couple of years ago.
23:44 Speaker 06 Link down in your Venus flytrap.
23:47 Speaker 11 We don't want him to go out to the public, go on camera and say, "Hey, I just tapped into a secret laser on Kirtland Air Force Base." Obviously, we can't have that happen. So, all I had to do was say, "Well, you know what, Paul? Maybe what you did see was UFOs."
24:05 AJ Gentile? Doty wasn't just targeting civilians. He also manipulated Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Linda Moulton Howe. She was working on a UFO special for HBO. Doty promised her footage of crashed UFOs and alien bodies.
24:19 Speaker 10 She also had contacts within the government. We wanted to know who those contacts were. So, we set up an operation. We didn't, I didn't, the government did. Where I would bring... She was coming to Albuquerque, New Mexico. So, everything was set up for me to contact her, bring her in to the OSI office. I show her a document that came from headquarters and try to convince her to work for us.
24:51 AJ Gentile? This was a specific government operation designed to prevent free speech. The goal was to stop the HBO documentary. And if they destroyed Linda's reputation in the process, even better.
25:02 Speaker 12 I'm gonna do this HBO documentary. I just... She was trying to confirm all the information is what it sounded like. So, you were tasked with basically putting a kibosh on that documentary.
25:12 Speaker 10 Yeah, that was Operation Kensaw. I interviewed her and showed her the documents and so forth. Providing her with something that was detrimental to HBO and other OSI agents. Provided her with a small film clip.
25:27 Speaker 12 Was it real or fake?
25:29 Speaker 10 It was fake. It discredited her and therefore she lost that contract.
25:35 AJ Gentile? The project was canceled, and Linda's reputation as a mainstream filmmaker was damaged. This was how the game was played: Promise evidence, build trust, then pull the rug out.
25:46 Speaker 13 They're working for my government.
25:50 Speaker 13 They're working in agencies of the government that is supposed to be protecting of the people, by the people, for the people.
26:00 Speaker 13 How did it all turn upside down?
26:04 Speaker 06 Yeah, HBO canceled the show because of Doty.
26:07 AJ Gentile? Yep.
26:07 Speaker 06 I wish Doty was around for the last season of Game of Thrones.
26:12 AJ Gentile? In June 1989, the UFO community gathered in Las Vegas for the annual MUFON conference. Bill Moore was scheduled to speak. Moore was now a hero for his work on the MJ12 documents. The room was packed. The last thing anyone expected to hear was a confession. Bill Moore, maybe the most trusted UFO researcher in the world, was a government asset. His handler was Richard Doty. They had an arrangement. Doty would provide Moore with confidential information about UFOs. Moore would report on the activities of people like Paul Benowitz and others in the UFO community.
26:46 Speaker 14 And it was Richard Doty, then with AFOSI at Kirkland Air Force Base, who soon came into play as the middleman in that process. Shortly thereafter, it became apparent to me that my supplying information to the government through Doty on the activities of Paul Benowitz, Haprell, and to a lesser extent, several other individuals, was to be a part of this equation.
27:16 AJ Gentile? Not only did Moore spread government disinformation, but he would also report back on how well the lies performed.
27:23 Speaker 14 The entire story of a secret treaty between the US government and the aliens, of exchanges of technology between us and the aliens, of battles between aliens and American armed forces, and of aliens allegedly having implanted hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of human beings for the purpose of taking over the world and using us as cattle or slaves, came about as a result of the disinformation process. I know... Because I was in a position to observe much of this process as it unfolded. And I was providing regular reports on its effectiveness to some of the very people who were doing it to Paul.
28:08 Speaker 11 I recruited Bill Moore. I recruited him to be a spy within the UFO community.
28:17 AJ Gentile? The room erupted. Researchers who trusted him felt betrayed. The man who brought the MJ12 documents to the world had just admitted he was a government operative. His career was over. He was booed off the stage. Moore's confession cast a shadow over everything. Were the MJ documents just another part of the game? A sophisticated piece of disinformation?
28:38 Speaker 11 Regarding the MJ12 documents that were released to Jamie Shandir, Bill Moore, I had absolutely nothing to do with that. We coordinated, had a liaison with them.
28:48 Speaker 10 But all these other copies spread out around, of course, the internet wasn't in existence back then, but, and that's how the MJ12 documents. I would say that some of the information was factual and a lot of it wasn't.
29:03 Speaker 11 There were some investigations conducted by FBI, OSI regarding the MJ12 documents. Extensive investigations just to determine whether these things were legitimate, whether they contained classified information, and then who released them. So the names of the members of the MJ12 group were not officially known to us. A lot of the information, not all the particular details, but a lot of the information is factual. Who's controlling the release of information? There's a group out there that is. I can guarantee you that there is.
29:42 Speaker 10 Now, the MJ12 documents, entirely different. Those things surfaced through a guy by the name of Jamie Shandira. He got them. I'm sure, and almost convinced.
29:59 Speaker 10 That that was part of another operation.
30:02 Speaker 11 The MJ12, are they MJ12? Where did they come from? Who makes up the MJ12? What's their names today? As a Zodiac or Zenith group or? In 1987, I was investigated by the FBI for the MJ12 documents. They claimed, the UFO researchers claimed I released them, I created them. And we also wanted to form an alliance with the MJ12 group. Working either alongside them or working with them. I have no connections, official connections with the United States government or intelligence community.
30:46 Speaker 11 Those documents were created based on actual documents. So you have to give them a little bit of real information before you throw in the disinformation. And then you add more and more and more and that person opens their mind up and says, you know what, I think this is all real.
31:10 AJ Gentile? Everything about MJ12 was now thrown into doubt. The documents were scrutinized. Believers became skeptics. The story was pushed to the fringe. But in 1994, another Majestic 12 document was found and this was so detailed, it was almost impossible to deny.
31:32 Speaker 03 Bonjour, compadre. It's the
31:36 Speaker 03 How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget, the Priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle. Deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Priceline. Hold your horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level and amenities like pools and spas and beachfronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me off.
32:05 AJ Gentile? William Moore's confession had shattered the UFO community. The MJ-12 documents, once seen as the Holy Grail, were now tainted by disinformation, and Richard Doty's fingerprints were all over it. Yeah, his fingerprints were on the taint. Stop that. Yeah. Researchers were divided. Then in 1994, 10 years after the first package arrived, another roll of film was sent. This time, the recipient was Don Berliner, a respected aviation journalist. The film wasn't a memo or a briefing. It was a field guide. The cover read, "Majestic 12 Group Special Operations Manual", with a subtitle, "Extraterrestrial Entities and Technology: Recovery and Disposal." It was dated in April 1954 and marked "Top Secret: Magic Eyes Only."
32:51 AJ Gentile? For researchers, this was the Rosetta Stone, a step-by-step guide for managing an alien presence on Earth. The level of detail was staggering. It provided instructions for establishing a secure perimeter around a crash site. It outlined protocols for handling various types of alien technology.
33:08 Speaker 15 Craft are to be approached with extreme caution if they appear functional, as serious injury may result from exposure to radiation and electrical discharges. If the craft is functioning but appears to be abandoned, it may be approached only by specially-trained MJ-12 Red Team personnel, wearing protective clothing. Complete craft and parts of crafts too large to be transported by covered transport will be disassembled. If they must be transported whole or on open, flatbed trailers, they will be covered in such a manner as to camouflage their shape.
33:43 AJ Gentile? The guide specified packaging and shipping procedures, press blackouts, how to issue deceptive statements to the media, how to discredit witnesses, and communication protocols to follow if live contact was established.
33:57 Speaker 15 In dealing with any living extraterrestrial biological entity, security is of paramount importance. All other considerations are secondary. Although it is preferable to maintain the physical well-being of any entity, the loss of EBE life is considered acceptable if conditions or delays to preserve that life in any way compromises the security of the operations. Remains will be preserved against further decomposition as equipment and conditions permit. Cadavers and remains will be bagged or securely wrapped in waterproof coverings. Remains will be refrigerated or packed with ice if available.
34:36 AJ Gentile? The manual described four types of alien craft in precise detail: Dist between fifty and three hundred feet wide, cigar-shaped vessels over two thousand feet long, cone and triangle-shaped craft. It also categorized two different types of EBEs. Type 1 entities were humanoid, about five feet tall, with pale yellow skin. Type 2 were three to four feet tall with large elongated heads with big slanted eyes that were pure black, pale skin, three long fingers and a thumb. We know them as the Greys.
35:09 Speaker 15 It is not definitely known where either type of creature originates, but it seems certain that they did not evolve on Earth. It is further evident, although not certain, that they may have originated on two different planets.
35:23 AJ Gentile? The manual was clinical and professional, exactly what you'd expect from a military field guide. It answered every question critics raised about earlier MJ-12 documents. Almost as if someone was paying attention and responding to skeptics. And maybe somebody was. Page 2 identified the source of the document: Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Headquarters of OSI agent Richard Doty.
35:58 AJ Gentile? Researchers found what looked like top-secret documents proving a UFO cover-up. They followed a paper trail to a smoking gun in the National Archives. But the investigation collapsed when one of their own confessed to being a government disinformation agent. But are the Majestic 12 documents real? Well, let's break it down. The case for a hoax is overwhelming. William Moore, the man at the center of the discovery, publicly admitted to working with Air Force Intelligence to spread disinformation. The documents were mailed to him and Jamie Shandere with no chain of custody. Later, they found the Cutler Twining Memo in the National Archives. Skeptics say they planted it there, which I believe they did. The documents themselves are full of problems. The Cutler Twining Memo was signed by Robert Cutler on a date he wasn't in the country.
36:42 AJ Gentile? Other documents use a strange date format that isn't used by the military or civilians, like putting 06 instead of just 6 for the day of the month. The typefaces are a little wrong for the early 1950s. There are formatting errors, misspellings, and terminology problems, like using the word "media" instead of "the press," which was much more common. There are references to buildings that didn't exist yet. The documents were missing proper top-secret control numbers. President Truman's signature was obviously copied from another document. So is it a hoax? Well, not so fast. The film containing the special operations manual was authenticated as 1950s-era Tri-X stock. Forensic analysis of the typography showed a raised letter "Z."
37:26 AJ Gentile? This was an artifact of a 1954 hot-lead printing press. That's a nice detail. The language is correct. Terms like "craft tape" instead of "duct tape," and the official 1950s postal abbreviation for New Mexico, N.MEX. It was perfect. Almost. The font and use of bold section headers aren't consistent with DoD field manuals. It refers to Area 51. Area 51 wasn't publicly acknowledged until 2013. Besides, the military didn't call it Area 51. That was a CIA designation. The manual outlines procedures for satellite recovery. But this is supposed to be from 1954. Sputnik wasn't launched until 1957, and it caught America by surprise.
38:10 AJ Gentile? Still, there are coincidences that are hard to dismiss. President Truman really did meet with Bush and Forrestal on the exact day the MJ-12 order was supposedly signed. General Twining's flight logs really do place him in New Mexico right after the crash. And Dr. Menzel really did have top-secret Ultra clearance with the CIA. So what's going on? Are the documents fake or real? Well, the answer is yes.
38:37 AJ Gentile? All roads lead back to Kirtland Air Force Base, the Office of Special Investigations, and Richard Doty. This wasn't a random hoax. It was a coordinated psychological operation. The goal was to fool the public and control the researchers. By feeding them a mix of fake and real information, they waste time following false leads. They waste time studying fictional details. And they waste time arguing with each other about who was or wasn't an intelligence asset. If anyone got too close to an actual secret, the intelligence community would steer the narrative and discredit them. Smear campaigns were effective. Yeah, pushing people out of windows, Rex, too. It sure does. I think the truth about Majestic 12 is more mundane. The documents were designed to confuse researchers while the military tested special equipment
39:22 AJ Gentile? and operated black projects in the desert. Are they testing reverse-engineered alien craft? Probably, though it's probably not what we think. Do I believe an organization operating outside the government is controlling the UFO narrative? Absolutely, I do. This rabbit hole goes even deeper, which is why this is only Volume 1 of a series of Majestic 12 episodes. The documents are forgeries, but they're really good forgeries. Doty's become the face of UFO disinformation, but he was just one small piece of a very large, very well-funded machine. Doty himself said the documents weren't real, but a lot of the information in them is. He's careful about how he words that. The real conspiracy is that the techniques perfected on UFO researchers in the 1980s
40:07 AJ Gentile? are now being used on all of us every single day.
40:12 AJ Gentile? Are the current whistleblowers telling the truth? I doubt it. I don't trust people from Air Force Intelligence with active security clearances, giving statements approved by the Pentagon, all while getting paid by the US government. And I become really skeptical when you release a book. There's always a book. But I could be wrong. When I publicly denounce the whistleblowers, half my audience cheers and the other half boos. We're divided. As I'm writing this, people are debating whether the Tic Tac UFO is a Lockheed project. They're divided and distracted. And that's the point. The weaponization of truth didn't end with Majestic 12. That's when it began. It was a field test. In an age of social media and information warfare, we are all Paul Bennewitz now.
40:54 AJ Gentile? We're constantly targeted, manipulated, and fed a version of reality designed to keep us confused and divided. But don't let them win. We'll only learn the truth when we're focused and united. We have to apply pressure on our elected officials. We need them to be afraid. We need them to know that if you lie to us, you're fired. Also, if you do nothing, you're fired. Every election cycle, we need to hold them accountable. If they fail, we go to the ballot box and drop a hammer on them. Then we bring in somebody else to get the job done. If they fail, drop the hammer. Again, and again, and again. We need to be as relentless as they are. We're outgunned. They have all the tools of the state at their disposal. All we have is a hammer. But you know what they say when all you have is a hammer?
41:39 AJ Gentile? Well, when I look at Capitol Hill, I see a whole bunch of nails.
41:49 Speaker 03 Bonjour, compadre. It's the
41:51 Speaker 04 Priceline Negotiator.
41:53 Speaker 03 How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget, the Priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle. Deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Priceline. Hold your horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beachfronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me off.
42:20 AJ Gentile? Thank you so much for hanging out today. My name is AJ, there's Hecklefish.
42:23 Speaker 06 Shaggy Beefy.
42:25 AJ Gentile? This has been The Why Files. If you get fun or learned anything, I'd really appreciate it if you subscribe, like, comment, share. That stuff helps the channel, I think. Like most topics we cover on the channel, today's was recommended by you, by thousands of you. If there's a story you'd like to see or learn more about, go to thewhyfiles.com/tips. And there are more majestic 12 episodes coming. You are not gonna believe this rabbit hole. Now remember, The Why Files is also a podcast. You could take us on the road. Twice a week, I post deep dives into the stories we cover on the channel. I also post episodes that wouldn't be allowed on the channel. Those are labeled "redacted." It's called "The Why Files: Operation Podcasts," and it's available everywhere you get your podcasts. And if you're listening, do us a favor and hit whatever button you need to hit. That stuff really does help on the podcast platforms.
43:10 AJ Gentile? Now, if you need more Why Files in your life, see a doctor. No, no, no. Check out our Discord. There are thousands of people on there 24/7. They're into the same weird stuff we are. They're always talking about these crazy topics. It's a great community, it's really supportive, it's a lot of fun, and it's free to join. And speaking of 24/7, make sure you check out our 24/7 stream on The Why Files Backstage. Over there, we run episodes back-to-back with some fun content in between. Actually, the live chat is more entertaining than the videos. Now, if you want to know what's going on with The Why Files, check out our production calendar. It's thewhyfiles.com/cow. There we post our episode schedule, upcoming podcasts, live streams, all that stuff. Special thanks to our patrons who made this channel possible and made this episode happen.
43:53 AJ Gentile? Every episode of The Why Files is dedicated to our Patreon members. I couldn't do this without you, and I thank you for sticking with me this long. And if you'd like to keep us going, support the channel, consider becoming a member on Patreon. For as little as $3 a month, you get access to perks like videos early with no commercials, exclusive merch only available to members, plus two private live streams every week just for you. And the whole Why Files team is on the stream, and you could turn your webcam on, jump up on stage, tell a joke, ask a question, discuss a topic, whatever you want to do. It's a great way to get to know us as people. I think it's the best perk there is. Another great way to support the channel is grab something from the Why Files store.
44:29 Speaker 06 I grabbed a Hecklefish shirt. One of these fistful of coffee mugs, and you can stick your top-secret fist in or your fin, or whatever you got hanging off your torso to answer my concern what you're doing with your fist. Grab a hoodie or stuff my face on it. Oh, get one of these weird YouTube styles. I think we still have those in stock. I gotta, I gotta check with Victoria. Oh, grab a squeasy animal, hagglefish, tuckin', dollfish.
44:52 AJ Gentile? But if you're gonna buy merch, make sure you become a member on YouTube. YouTube members get 10% off everything on the White File Store forever. You get a new code every month, and it only costs three bucks. So if you're gonna spend $40 on t-shirts, get the code and it pays for itself. And then if you wanna cancel, you can cancel. It's not a way for me to make money. The membership is a way for you to make money. Besides, all that money goes to my great team.
45:14 Speaker 06 Yeah, but keep that secret under your tinfoil hat, would ya?
45:17 AJ Gentile? Those are the plugs. They get longer every week. Anyway, that's gonna do it. Until next time, be safe, be kind, and know that you are appreciated.
45:42 Speaker 16 I played for Libya in Area 51. A secret code inside the Bible said I was. I love my UFOs and paranormal fun as well as music. So I'm singing like I should. But then another conspiracy theory becomes the truth, my friends. And it never ends, no it never ends.
46:19 Speaker 16 I fear the crackhead and I got stuck inside Mel's home with them K.O. trucks. I've been only too aware. Did Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landing alone on a film set? Were the shadows people there? The Rockwell aliens just fought the smiling man, I'm told. And his name was Cold. And I can't believe I'm dancing with the fish. Head to fish on Thursday nights with AJG. And well, I love the beat all through the night.
47:00 Speaker 04 All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wind blows up my feet all through the night
47:25 Speaker 04 The mapman sightings and the solar storms still come To have got the secret city underground Mysterious number stations planet circle to Project Stargate And what the dark watchers found In a simulation, don't you worry though The black night said a lie it told me so I can't believe I'm dancing with a fish Headless fish on Thursday nights with AJ too And the wind blows up my feet all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth
48:09 Speaker 04 So the wind blows up my feet all through the night Headless fish on Thursday nights with AJ too And the wind blows up my feet all through the night All I ever wanted was to just hear the truth So the wind blows up my feet all through the night
48:48 Speaker 04 Girlie loves to dance on the dance floor Because she is a camel And camels love to dance When the feeling is right on the way within time
49:21 Speaker 01 I don't know what I'm doing. Need a break. Forget it, I quit. Escape to Pluto TV.
49:26 Speaker 02 This is objectively fantastic.
49:28 Speaker 01 Relax into the movies and shows you already know and love, all for free. Swing! Even our news is uplifting.
49:34 Speaker 03 You stay classy, San Diego.
49:36 Speaker 01 Watch Tommy Boy, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The X-Files, Wayne's World, and so much more. We're not worthy! The best things on TV really are free.
49:46 Speaker 13 You just have to know where to look.
49:47 Speaker 01 Escape to Pluto TV. Stream now, pay never.
49:51 Speaker 17 Para los grandes, para los chicos, para los bajos y los altos. Los pacifistas, los valientes. Para los optimistas y los pesimistas, los que valoran lo de adentro. Para los que están lejos, los que no vende lejos, y los que no vende cerca. Para los introvertidos y los extrovertidos. Para los que piensan y los que hacen. Para los que nos mostraron el camino. Coca-Cola. Para todos. Compra una Coca-Cola en una tienda cerca de usted.
50:21 Speaker 02 Mr. Monopoly here. Miss me? Monopoly is back at McDonald's with millions of prizes. A 2027 Jeep charity, a Carnival Cruise vacation, gift cards from DoorDash, and Best Buy. Feel and play in the McDonald's app. Get your bag!
50:39 Speaker 00 No purchase necessary. 50 U.S. and D.C. Age 18+. See playatmcd.com for rules and playatmcd.com/amoe for info on playing without purchase by mail by November 2nd. Chance card game ends November 8th. Game ends November 22nd, 2026. See rules for prize details. Monopoly is a registered trademark of Hasbro.
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