Field Report Archive

Evidence Locker

5 inspectable evidence items. Claims and source findings are kept separate.

Documented Timeline

• 1947-09-24: Purported date of Harry Truman's memorandum to Secretary of Defense James Forrestal directing the creation of Majestic 12, though historians have noted the signature was photocopied from an unrelated memo.
• 1952-11-18: Purported date of the briefing document prepared for President-elect Dwight Eisenhower, describing the Roswell crash recovery and naming the 12 committee members.
• 1954-07-14: Purported date of the Cutler-Twining memorandum from Robert Cutler to General Nathan Twining, referencing the NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project.
• 1984-12-11: Ufologist Jaime Shandera receives an anonymous package in the mail containing a roll of undeveloped 35mm film, which when developed contains scans of the Majestic 12 documents.
• 1985-07: Ufologists William Moore and Jaime Shandera discover the Cutler-Twining memorandum in Record Group 341 at the National Security Council archives, which they claim validates the Majestic 12 papers.
• 1987-05-28: The Majestic 12 documents are publicly released by Moore, Shandera, and Stanton Friedman at a press conference, sparking widespread public interest.
• 1988-09: The FBI launches an official investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of Top Secret documents after receiving copies of the Majestic 12 briefing.
• 1989-11-30: The FBI officially declares the Majestic 12 documents to be completely bogus and a hoax.
• 1995-07-28: The Government Accountability Office releases its report on the Roswell records search, confirming that no government records support a UFO crash recovery or the existence of MJ-12.

Named Participants and Roles

• Jaime Shandera: Ufologist and film producer who received the anonymous package containing the roll of undeveloped 35mm film in December 1984.
• William Moore: UFO researcher who co-investigated the Majestic 12 documents with Shandera and claimed to find the Cutler-Twining memorandum in the National Archives.
• Stanton Friedman: Nuclear physicist and ufologist who helped analyze and publicize the Majestic 12 documents, arguing for their authenticity.
• Robert Cutler: Special Assistant to President Eisenhower, whose signature appeared on the Cutler-Twining memo, though official records show he was traveling outside the country on the date it was issued.
• Nathan Twining: Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, named as a member of the Majestic 12 committee and the recipient of the Cutler-Twining memo.
• James Forrestal: First U.S. Secretary of Defense, named as a member of the Majestic 12 committee and the recipient of the Truman memo.
• Harry Truman: President of the United States, who allegedly signed the memorandum creating the Majestic 12 committee in September 1947.
• Dwight Eisenhower: President of the United States, who was allegedly briefed on Majestic 12 in November 1952.

Contradictions and Record Conflicts

• The signature of Harry Truman on the September 24, 1947, memorandum is identical in size and stroke to his signature on a genuine letter to Vannevar Bush dated August 20, 1947, indicating it was photocopied and pasted onto the Majestic 12 document.
• The Cutler-Twining memorandum is dated July 14, 1954, a day when official White House appointment books and records show that Robert Cutler was visiting military installations in Europe and North Africa.
• The Cutler-Twining memorandum carries the classification marking Top Secret Restricted Security Information, a marking that was not used by the National Security Council until the Nixon Administration in the late 1960s.
• The Eisenhower Briefing Document is typed using a font from a Smith-Corona typewriter model that was not manufactured until the late 1950s, several years after the document's purported 1952 creation date.
• The National Security Council Declassification Office stated it has no record of any declassification action ever being taken on the Cutler-Twining memorandum or any MJ-12 files.
• President Eisenhower's appointment books show no record of a special meeting or briefing on July 16, 1954, as referred to in the Cutler-Twining memorandum.

Conventional Explanations

• The documents are an elaborate hoax created in the early 1980s by a person or group with access to declassified government document templates and typewriters from the era.
• The documents were fabricated as part of a military intelligence disinformation campaign designed to distract UFO researchers and protect classified programs.
• The Cutler-Twining memorandum was planted in the National Archives files by researchers or an anonymous source prior to its discovery in 1985 to create a false record of validity.

Missing Evidence

• The original physical paper documents and the original envelope sent to Jaime Shandera, which would allow forensic ink, paper, and fingerprint analysis.
• Any mention of MJ-12, Majestic, or related UFO programs in official National Security Council meeting minutes or administrative indices from the Truman or Eisenhower administrations.
• Watermarks or official White House letterhead on the onionskin copy of the Cutler-Twining memorandum, which was instead prepared on plain onionskin paper.
• Any contemporaneous diaries, letters, or official records from the named Majestic 12 members confirming their participation in the committee.

What Remains Unresolved

• The identity of the individual or group who fabricated the Majestic 12 documents and mailed them to Jaime Shandera remains unknown.
• The motive behind the fabrication, whether it was a private hoax, a commercial venture, or a government intelligence disinformation operation, has not been established.
• The exact method by which the Cutler-Twining memorandum was inserted into Record Group 341 at the National Archives has never been determined.

Investigative Hypotheses

Open Questions

Archival Landing Pages and Evidence Corpus

Media Context