PART 17

As any good detective can tell, motivation is a helpful key
in solv-ing any crime or mystery. Who would stand to gain by the situation
at hand? Perhaps a little of this line of reasoning would help in
solving the current mystery of AQUARIUS/MJ-12. The revelation of a
UFO-related project by the name of AQUARIUS first appeared on the
scene in what has commonly been referred to as the "NASA-telex"
[AQUARIUS.DOC]. This is the allegedly genuine document which describes
several pieces of photographic film relating to incidents at Kirtland
AFB and the case of Paul Bennewitz. As most knowledgeable people are
aware, this document relates quite a bit of interesting information
pertaining to official interest in UFOs as well as mentioning the
existence of project AQUARIUS and something called "MJ-12". However,
several key areas in this document were deleted by either the original
source or by the recipient. It is interesting to note that there is
a retyped version of this document which has circulated with the deletions filled-in, but with no explanation as to who retyped it or how the
previously deleted areas were uncovered.

Reportedly Peter Gersten was shown this document in 1983 and
so it would seem that it has been around for several years. But if
Gersten was the original recipient he has not revealed where he obtained
it or from whom. This document would appear to be closely tied to
the events at Kirtland AFB in 1980 inasmuch as it mentions Bennewitz
and the Air Force interest in UFO sightings over military bases. Could
the release of this document be related to the release of the initial document(s) concerning the events at Kirtland? [KIRTLND1.DOC, KIRTLND2.DOC] William Moore has stated that he was first given the initial Kirtland
documents in Washington DC in early 1982 by an unnamed source. And
there have been several rumors circulated concerning heated arguments
between Moore and Gersten over the means by which Gersten obtained
these documents. Rumors aside, if Moore received his documents over
one year after the incidents occurred then whoever gave him these
copies must have had access to them either from AFOSI files in Washington
or from the original sender at Kirtland. There are indications that
William Moore received his copies from Richard Doty, the AFOSI Special
Agent at Kirtland AFB. Other sources have also reported that Doty
was involved in an effort to get information of this nature out to
certain individuals for purposes unknown. And so it seems possible
that Doty was responsible for the Kirtland documents and perhaps the "NASA-telex" being released as he would have been in a position to
have access to such information. Regardless, it would fall to serious
UFO researchers to attempt to verify if the documents conveyed valid information, or disinformation.

As interest began to focus on AQUARIUS and "MJ-12" several
different FOIA requests were filed with various government agencies
to try to garn-ish information on these subjects, but as recently
as 1986 most of the leading figures in Ufology were convinced that
the document was a forgery and that Project AQUARIUS was nonexistent.

In 1985 I had filed several different requests with government agencies requesting information on three projects: Sigma, Snowbird and Aquarius;
as well as any information pertaining to MJ-12 or Majestic-12. I
specifically did not mention any connection or interest dealing with
UFOs in these requests. With the exception of the National Security
Agency every response I received was a denial of any knowledge of
any of these subjects or titles. While they stated that Sigma and
Snowbird were "not projects of this agency" and that they had no knowledge
of MJ-12, they estimated that search fees for all information on Project AQUARIUS would be $15,000! It would appear that this is a rather expansive project. After several subsequent requests for clarification and to
simply send the initial document which initiated the project the NSA
stated that the project did not deal with "UFOs" and that as I would
not be paying the fees they were concluding action on my requests.
Subsequent appeals only clarified that Project AQUARIUS was classified
Top Secret and that release of any portion of it could pose "grave
danger to the national security." [AQUANSA.DOC]

Several individuals have considered the statement by the NSA
that AQUARIUS does not deal with UFOs to be patently honest, and perhaps
this is the truth. However I believe that to have expected the NSA
to "rollover" and openly reveal otherwise would be naive to say the
least. It seems paradoxical that some "researchers" both expect these
agencies to be deceptive but will readily accept some statements as
totally accurate. I believe that there are sufficient reasons to suspect
that the NSA project may actually be the project which is indicated
in the "NASA-telex" which originally mentioned it and MJ-12.

In the process of trying to verify the above document I had
addressed a series of letters to what was designated the 7602 Air
Intelligence Group (7602 AINTELG), as of 1983 known as the Air Force
Special Activities Center. A Branch of the Air Force Intelligence
Service, the 7602 AINTELG deals with human resource intelligence,
much the same as the 4602 AINTELG which is known to have aided Edward
Ruppelt in his investi-gations several years ago. This may or may
not be coincidence and could be an interesting avenue for further
research. Nevertheless, in the process of trying to get information
on this group I had been receiving somewhat evasive response letters
from AFIS. In a conversation with an Air Force source in which I had
referred to my problems in obtaining information on this group I was
informed that perhaps this is due to the fact that "they are a branch
of the NSA!" This was at the time my first indication that there may
be some NSA involvement, and was prior to my letters to NSA itself.
Within a few months I was to learn another interesting fact pointing
to the NSA.

With the aid of well known researcher Thomas Adams I was notified
of a person who reportedly had heard a very interesting statement
concerning the initial AQUARIUS/MJ-12 document. After speaking with
this gentleman personally I was firmly convinced that the information
he was relating was accurate as it had been told to him. He related
that he had been told personally that this document had been changed
in two ways, and that he had been told this by the individual who had
changed it. Although both changes were not revealed, he had been told
that the reference in the document to "NASA" had originally been "NSA"!
And who was the person doing the telling ...none other than William
Moore. In a brief conversation with Moore after this in which I asked
him if he had any knowledge of this he simply stated "No comment."

end of part 17


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