PART 7

Doty was also the source of an alleged AFOSI communication dated
November 17, 1980, and destined to become known as the "Aquarius
document." Allegedly sent from AFOSI headquarters at Bolling AFB
in Washington, D.C., to the AFOSI District 17 office at Kirtland,
it mentions, in brief and cryptic form, analyses of negatives
from a UFO film apparently taken the previous month. The version
that circulated through the UFO community states in its
penultimate paragraph: "USAF NO LONGER PUBLICLY ACTIVE IN UFO
RESEARCH, HOWEVER USAF STILL HAS INTEREST IN ALL UFO SIGHTINGS
OVER USAF INSTALLATION/TEST RANGES. SEVERAL OTHER GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES, LED BY NASA, ACTIVELY INVESTIGATES [sic] LEGITIMATE
SIGHTINGS THROUGH COVERT COVER.... ONE SUCH COVER IS UFO
REPORTING CENTER, US COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY, ROCKVILLE, MD
20852, NASA FILTERS RESULTS OF SIGHTINGS TO APPROPRIATE MILITARY
DEPARTMENTS WITH INTEREST IN THAT PARTICULAR SIGHTING. THE
OFFICIAL US GOVERNMENT POLICY AND RESULTS OF PROJECT AQUARIUS IS
[sic] STILL CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET WITH NO DISEMINATION [sic]
OUTSIDE OFFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHANNELS AND WITH RESTRICTED ACCESS
TO 'MJ TWELVE'."

This is the first mention of "MJ-12" in an allegedly official
government document. Moore describes it as an "example of some of
the disinformation produced in connection with the Bennewitz
case. The document is a retyped version of a real AFOSI message
with a few spurious additions." Among the most significant
additions, by Moore's account, are the bogus references to the
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and to NASA, which he says was NSA
(National Security Agency) in the original.

According to Moore, Doty got the document "right off the
teletype" (Moore, 1990) and showed it to Moore almost
immediately. Later Doty came by with what purported to be a copy
of it, but Moore noticed that it was not exactly the same;
material had been added to it. Doty said he wanted Moore to give
the doctored copy to Bennewitz. Reluctant to involve himself in
the passing of this dubious document, Moore sat on it for a
while, then finally worried that the sources he was developing,
the ones who were telling him about the U.S. government's alleged
interactions with EBEs, would dry up if he did not cooperate. So
eventually he gave the document to Bennewitz but urged him not to
publicize it. Bennewitz agreed and kept his promise.

As of September 1982 Moore knew of three copies of the document:
the one Bennewitz had, one Moore had in safekeeping, and one he
had in his briefcase during a trip he made that month to meet
someone in San Francisco. He met the man in the morning and that
afternoon someone broke into his car and stole his briefcase.
Four months later a copy of the document showed up in the hands
of a New York lawyer interested in UFOs, and soon the document
was circulating widely. Moore himself had little to say on the
subject until he delivered a controversial and explosive speech
to the annual conference of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) in Las
Vegas in 1989.

In late 1982, "during," he says, "one of the many friendly
conversations I had with Richard Doty," Moore mentioned that he
was looking into the old (and seemingly discredited) story that a
UFO had crashed in Aztec, New Mexico, in 1948. This tale was the
subject of Frank Scully's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers.
(Moore's long account of his investigation into the affair, which
he found to be an elaborate hoax, would appear in the 1985 MUFON
symposium proceedings.) Doty said he had never heard the story
and asked for details, taking notes as Moore spoke.
end of part 7


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