Ancillary Mercy полностью

Where could the original signature be? If the MJ-12 memorandum were legitimate, it would have gone to Forrestal, to whom it was addressed. It is plausible that Bush, as the other person attending the meeting, had an unsigned copy of the memorandum. By the time of the 1952 briefing, however, Forrestal was long dead, and the original memorandum might have been unavailable. Bush might have been asked to submit his copy, along with an original signature of Truman’s. He could logically have used his letter of October 1, 1947.⁶⁶

If the above scenario seems far-fetched, consider the hoax alternative. In all likelihood the hoaxer, such as Doty or others at AFOSI, would have had to have access to the original signature of the 10/1/47 letter from Truman to Bush, either in Bush’s possession or elsewhere. No evidence to that effect has ever turned up. The hoaxer would also have had to know about the precise schedules of Forrestal, Bush, and Truman, or else have made some very lucky guesses.

Friedman, whatever else one could say about him, was a man who did his homework. He countered that the signature on the Truman memorandum was not an exact match with the one on the document addressed to Vannevar Bush. The height-width ratios of the letters are (ever so) slightly different. Also, was it realistic to expect that Truman, who signed thousands upon thousands of documents, should not be found to have many close matches? With these and other counterarguments, the debate continued.

After such a prolonged controversy, most UFO researchers have concluded the MJ-12 documents are fake. There is no provenance for the documents, they contain many questionable elements, and the likely sources (Moore, Doty, AFOSI) do not inspire confidence. Assuming this is true, it still remains unclear how someone not from Truman’s inner circle of power would have known some of the information contained within the documents. And of course it is worth asking, why fake them? For profit? (If so, whose?) Dissimulation? A joke?

Regardless of the veracity of the MJ-12 documents themselves, evidence has surfaced to justify the belief that an organization something like MJ-12 did exist. Such evidence is presented at various points in this book.

A brief word about another document in the MJ-12 controversy: the Cutler-Twining Memo. In 1985, Friedman learned about the impending declassification of some materials of possible interest at the Modern Military Branch of the National Archives. He soon found several Top Secret UFO documents, including one dealing with the 1955 sighting by Sen. Richard Russell. He notified Moore and Shandera about the archives, and they flew to Washington. Recently, the two had been receiving odd postcards, one of which included the return address of “Box 189, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.” Within a few days, they had gone through over a hundred boxes and found about seventy-five pages that looked worthwhile. Shandera then found a piece of paper between two files in Box 189. The document was a July 14, 1954, memo from Robert Cutler, special assistant to President Eisenhower, addressed to Gen. Nathan Twining. It read:

Memorandum for General Twining. Subject: NSC/MJ-12 Special Studies Project. The President has decided that the MJ-12 SSP briefing should take place during the already scheduled White House meeting of July 16, rather than following it as previously intended. More precise arrangements will be explained to you upon arrival. Please alter your plans accordingly. Your concurrence in the above change of arrangements is assumed. Robert Cutler, Special Assistant to the President.

The memo was a carbon copy in blue ink on old onionskin, watermarked paper. It had a red pencil mark through the security marking in the upper right corner. The watermark of the paper indicated the company name, Fox Paper, which (it was learned) manufactured this type of paper only between 1953 and the early 1970s. Moreover, the paper was not available by retail, but sold only to major customers, in particular, the government. Regarding the memo itself, the language, style, format, and typeface closely matched with other memos by Cutler.

Critics pointed out several problems. First, the document was unsigned, prompting UFO researcher Barry Greenwood to argue that the memo could have been faked, then planted in the newly available archives. The hoaxer could then have ordered a copy of the document from the National Archives, which would carry the official declassification stamp. Friedman said this was an impossibility, “given how archives operate.” Besides, he said, it was discovered that Cutler was in Europe at the time of the memo, and therefore obviously could not sign it. As to why he might allow an unsigned memo to leave his desk, Cutler had left explicit instructions prior to his departure to Europe to James Lay (executive secretary of the NSC) and Lay’s associate, J. Patrick Coyne, to “keep things moving out of my basket.”⁶⁷