perspective of MJ-12

 

                       Robert G. Todd

                     2528 Belmont Avenue

                   Ardmore, PA  19003-2167

                                                March 21, 1989

Mr. Grant R. Cameron

649 Silverstone Avenue

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2U8

Dear Grant,

Many thanks for the material on Cooper's perspective of MJ-12.

I don't have any "inside sources" with whom I can check the

accuracy of Cooper's statements, so it's difficult to evaluate

his material. On the surface, it has a better appearance than

Moore's stuff, if only because it _seems_ to contain more

specifics. Still, I'm more than a little suspicious of it.

Anything is _possible_, but because of the sensational nature

of the claims, both Moore's and Cooper's, I _must_ question

their truthfulness until supporting information surfaces. That

doesn't mean that I have given up looking for information to

support the claims, because I haven't.

One thing that did catch my attention wsa Cooper's reference to

Project SNOWBIRD, which he claims was a cover project for Project

REDLIGHT. IF indeed SNOWBIRD was "A flying saucer 'TYPE' craft...

built using conventional technology", and if indeed "It was

unveiled to the press and flown in public on several occasions,"

why doesn't anybody know about it and why hasn't anybody seen it?

If it was unveiled to the press, and flown in public on several

occasions, surely the Air Force would have revealed its official

designation and supposed "aircraft buffs" like Lee Graham would 

be aware of it.

I don't pretend to understand what's going on here. No matter how

you look at this, a lot of people are lying. They can't all be 

telling the truth. I don't mean to suggest that Cooper is lying.

He may only be repeating what his sources have told him. That

brings me to another claim Cooper makes.

Cooper claims to have actually seen the GRUDGE/BLUE BOOK Report

No. 13. The material you sent makes no reference to the circumstances

under which he saw the document, although he hints that perhaps he

saw it while in the military..  Where did he see the document during

his military career? Did somebody in government shown him the

document? If so, why? Was he shown the document in connection with

his military duties? He answers none of these questions in the

material you furnished to me. Unless he has explained this in

another writing, he expects us to just accept the fact that he saw

the document. I can't speak for anybody else, but I know I'm not

made that way. Given the sensational nature of the claims, I just

can't accept these kinds of allegations without something more

substantial than somebody's word for it. For me, the circumstances

of his having seen the document are almost as important as what

he claims the document said. I can't say I would be any closer to

believing his story, but it sure can't hurt.

The more I learn about these matters, the less likely I am to

believe _anything_ being said.

For your information, I have attached a copy of a letter apparently

written by Richard Doty. I say "apparently" only because the copy

I received isn't signed.

In the attached letter, Doty (presumably) reveals that his father

was never a Blue Book investigator. He says his uncle was, so I

guess the Edward Doty I mentioned in a previous letter may have

been Richard Doty's uncle, rather than his father.

In addition, I don't know to whose book Doty refers in his letter.

His comments clearly indicate a knowledge of the book's contents

prior to publication. I suppose it safe to assume that he

contributed to the book in some fashion. I don't see Doty as being

capable of writing a marketable book, _on his own_. Maybe it was

coauthored with Bill Moore. Maybe that's why the book with Bob

Pratt fell through. As usual, Doty makes everything as clear as

mud.

I have also received your March 19, 1989 letter and the accompanying

copies from the Eisenhower Library. It shouldn't come as a surprise

to anybody that Presidents do have Special Projects dealing with all

kinds of matters, including those relating to science. Whether or

not any of those Special Projects relate to MJ-12 remains to be seen.

I wish Stan the best of luck with his endeavors.

As far as I know, nobody is saying that the people named as members

of MJ-12 were not involved in government service. I know they were.

Likewise, since they were involved in government service, we could

reasonably expect to see clear and frequent links between these

people, links that would be documented in official government

records, as well as history books. So what? Aside from the MJ-12

document, I have seen _nothing_ that even hints that these people

were involved in matters relating to crashed extraterrestrial

craft.

Stan Friedman has stated in his own writings that he caught on

to most of the names on the list of MJ-12 members long before

the MJ-12 document ever surfaced. Although he says he didn't

catch on to Menzel, he knew before the document surfaced that

Menzel had had a security clearance with the Air Force. In fact,

he has written that when Bill Moore and Jamie Shandera first

read him the names on the MJ-12 list, he went to his file on

Vannevar Bush and pulled out a letter from Bush's attorney

informing Bush of the result's of Menzel's loyalty hearing. Stan

Friedman also points to the fact that the phrasing used in the

Cutler memo to General Twining is almost identical to that used

in another memo he and Moore located at the Manuscript Division

of the Library of Congress _years_ before.

If you start from the premise that the MJ-12 documents do

constitute a hoax, then you have to consider how the hoax

could have been hatched. In turn, you assume it was hatched

with the Roswell incident, and start digging from there, as

Bill and Stan have done. I agree that if a UFO actually did

crash in New Mexico in 1947, the Research and Development

Board would be a _very_ logical place to start looking. Bill

and Stan started looking. They looked for years, as I understand

it. But not until the MJ-12 documents surfaced did the bits and

pieces of information they collected over those years of 

research magically start falling into place.

Either the MJ-12 documents are a hoax, or they are genuine. If

the documents are a hoax, I contend that the documents were

created around the very bits and pieces of legitimate information

and facts Stan and Bill culled from the various archives. The

dates, names, the relationships between the government personnel,

are all legitimate. We know they are legitimate. Around these

random pieces of legitimate facts somebody could have concocted

the MJ-12 story. If you start off with the legitimate facts, and

embellish them with tales of crashed saucers, of course the story

is going to have an air of authenticity to it. Of course the dates

and relationships will check out because they were known even

before the story was concocted.

If the documents are a hoax, I don't know who perpetrated the

hoax. As to why the may have done it, that depends a great deal

on exactly who did it. It seems clear to me that, if the documents

are a hoax, the person or persons responsible had to have

information on a par with that held by Bill Moore and Stan

Friedman. As a result, the hoax, if it is one, wasn't casually

dreamed up one Saturday afternoon when the perpetrator had

nothing better to do. Indeed, the legitimate facts gathered

and used in the hoax probably were not gathered with the purpose

of perpetrating a hoax in mind. I believe it was either an

afterthought of the person or persons gathering the facts, or

the same legitimate facts were shared with somebody who came

up with the brilliant idea to concoct a story around the facts.

I don't _know_, in an absolute sense, that it is a hoax. I _believe_

it is a hoax. I can't _prove_ it is a hoax - _nobody_ can, not

even the government. If it is a hoax, we may never know. If the 

story is true, the government _could_ confirm it, provided they

_want_ to. If it is false, they can't prove it and neither can

anybody else. We could be exchanging identical letters fifty

years from now and be no closer to the truth.

If Stan Friedman turns up proof that MJ-12 is legitimate, I'll

be among the first to congratulate him. _Sincerely_, I wish

him the best of luck in his hunt.

                                   

                              Bob

Atch