Reference Report on MJ-12

NATIONAL ARCHIVES                            Washington, DC  20408


Date:      July 22, 1987
Reply to
attn of:   Military Reference Branch

Subject:   Reference Report on MJ-12

To:        The Record

           The National Archives has received many requests for
           documentation and information about "Project MJ-12". Many of
           the inquiries concern a memorandum from Robert Cutler to
           General Nathan Twining, dated July 14, 1954. This particular
           document poses problems for the following reasons:
         
                1. The document was located in Record Group 341, entry
           267. The series is filed by a Top Secret register number. This
           document does not bear such a number.
                2. The document is in the folder T4-1846. There are no
           other documents in the folder regarding "NSC/MJ-12".
                3. The Military Reference Branch (Edward Reese) has
           conducted a search in the records of the Secretary of Defense,
           the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Headquarters US Air Force, and in
           other related files. No further information has been found on
           this subject.
                4. Inquiries to the US Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of
           Staff, and the National Security Council failed to produce
           further information.
                5. The Acting Director of the Freedom of Information
           Office of the National Security Council informed us that "Top
           Secret Restricted Information" is a marking which did not come
           into use at the National Security Council until the Nixon
           Administration. The Eisenhower Presidental Library also
           confirms that this particular marking was not used during the
           Eisenhower Administration.
                6. The document in question does not bear an official
           government letterhead or watermark. The NARA conservation
           specialist (Mary Ritzenthaler) examined the paper and
           determined it was a ribbon copy prepared on "dictation
           onionskin". The Eisenhower Library has examined its collection
           of the Cutler papers. All documents created by Mr. Cutler while
           he served on the NSC staff have an eagle watermark in the
           onionskin carbon paper. Most documents sent out by the NSC were
           prepared on White House letterhead paper. For the brief period
           when Mr. Cutler left the NSC, his carbon copies were prepared
           on "prestige onionskin".
                7. The Judicial, Fiscal, and Social Branch searched the
           Official Meeting Minute Files of the National Security Council
           and found no record of a NSC meeting on July 16, 1954. A search
           of all NSC Meeting Minutes fro July 1954 found no mention of MJ-
           12 nor Majestic.
                8. The Judicial, Fiscal and Social Branch (Mary Ronan)
           searched the indicies [sic] of the NSC records and found no
           listing for: MJ-12, Majestic, unidentified flying objects, UFO,
           flying saucers, or flying discs.
                9. The Judicial, Fiscal, and Social Branch (Mary Ronan)
           found a memo in a folder titled "Special Meeting July 16, 1954"
           which indicated that NSC members would be called to a civil
           defense exercise on July 16, 1954.
                10. The Eisenhower Library states, in a letter to NNMR,
           dated July 16, 1987:
                "President Eisenhower's Appointment Books contain no entry
           for a special meeting on July 16, 1954 which might have
           included a briefing on MJ-12. Even when the President had `off
           the record' meetings, the Appointment Books contain entries
           indicating the time of the meeting and the participants....
                The Declassification Office of the National Security
           Council has informed us that it has no record of any
           declassification action having been taken on this memorandum or
           any other documents on this alleged project....
                Robert Cutler, at the direction of President Eisenhower,
           was visiting overseas military installations on the day he
           supposedly issued this memorandum -- July 14, 1954. The
           Administration Series in Eisenhower's Papers as President
           contains Cutler's memorandum and report to the President upon
           his return from the trip. The memorandum is dated July 20, 1954
           and refers to Cutler's visits to installations in Europe and
           North Africa between July 3 and 15. Also, within the NSC Staff
           Papers is a memorandum dated July 3, 1954, from Cutler to his
           two subordinates, James S. Lay and J. Patrick Coyne, explaining
           how they should handle NSC administrative matters during his
           absence; one would assume that if the memorandum, to Twining
           were genuine, Lay or Coyne would have signed it."
         
         
         
           JO ANNE WILLIAMSON
           Chief, Military Reference Branch
           Military Archives Division