STANTON T. FRIEDMAN NUCLEAR PHYSICIST-LECTURER
79 PEMBROKE CRESCENT FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK E3B2V1 CANADA (506)457-0232
May 16, 1987 To: File Subject: Additional comments re documents released by
William L. Moore in April 30, 1987 FOCUS. Special Focus on MJ-12.
The members of the MJ-12 Group were truly outstanding Americans all of whom
had made major contributions during World War 2. I have a mountain of data that
links the various people all of whom have since died.
The one surprising name on the list was that of Harvard Astronomer Donald H. Menzel.
I had picked up on all the others in the course of reviewing many
files at the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Truman,
Eisenhower, and Kennedy Libraries. DHM had written three anti-UFO books and made
numerous negative comments about the reality of UFOs. How could he possibly have
been a member of a top notch group (knowing full well in July of 1947- after the
crash and retrieval near Roswell NM of an Identified Alien Craft) of the alien
origin of some UFOs?? I was stimulated by the follow-up on him by a brief letter
in Bush’s files from the attorney who had defended DHM in a USAF loyalty hearing
in 1950. There was nothing about this hearing or Menzel’s clearing of any
communist learning’s in the NY Times which piqued my curiosity. I eventually
gained access to Menzel’s file at the American Philosophical Society Library in
Philadelphia (only contains his very extensive UFO correspondence), the Menzel
Files at his Alma Mater (University of Denver) and most important after getting
permission from two professors and his wife Florence, the all important Menzel
files at Harvard. There was a great deal of evidence strongly suggesting that
Menzel may indeed have been part of MJ-12. In a 1960 letter to President elect
John F. Kennedy, DHM stated that he had had a longer continuous association with
the highly classified National Security Agency and its Navy predecessor agency
than any other person (recent documents prove that the NSA has but refuses to
release even to a Federal court Judge any of the more than 150 UFO documents it
admits to having).
DHM also noted that he had done classified work for more than 30 Defense
Industry contractors, that he had a TOP SECRET ULTRA security clearance which
made it all the harder for him to understand the USAF fussing about a SECRET
clearance. His staunchest defender at the extended security hearings was Van
Bush whom he had known since 1934!! DHM served the Navy on code breaking work
during WW2, taught course on cryptography, had written a classified book on
radio wave propagation, and had also written many science fiction stories as
well as articles for a number of major newspapers. He was very heavily
engineering oriented besides being an astronomer. Post war he served as the
first commanding officer of a Navy Reserve cryptography unit. He was very well
acquainted with Lloyd Berkner and Detlev Bronk. Hunsaker was at nearby MIT.
At Harvard most of his associates new little about his government work. His
wartime secretary stressed to me as did some others that he was very discreet.
He made very frequent trips to Washington DC, and also a myriad to New Mexico
where the crashed saucer had been retrieved. Menzel was aware of the wartime
breaking of the German Enigma code and of various disinformation schemes to fool
the Germans and Japanese and had even learned Japanese to help in deciphering.
He would have been an obvious choice to help decipher the strange symbols found
on some of the Roswell wreckage and to help misinform the public about this very
important subject. His UFO books certainly show a great deal of nonscientific
reasoning out of keeping with his scientific work. His first UFO book was even
translated into Russian and helped keep a whole generation of US and Soviet
scientists from studying the UFO phenomenon. He may very well have achieved one
of the greatest feats of disinformation ever accomplished.
I have clear proof from the files of both Bush (library of Congress) and
Forrestal (at the Forrestal Library at Princeton University where I have
reviewed them) that they had indeed met with President Truman on September 24,
1947 and they had a long close and mutually admiring relationship with each
other and with Truman, frequently (in the 1947-49 period) meeting for lunch and
often meeting with Truman. It is interesting that Hillenkoetter and Souers had
strong Navy ties, Twining and Bandenberg, strong Air Force ties, and Gray and
Montague strong Army connections. All were at the top of the Intelligence
Community. Bronkl besides being an Aviation physiologist later headed the
National Academy of Sciences. Hunsaker, one of the real aviation pioneers headed
the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics succeeding Bush in the late
1930s. Bush was, of course, the US Science and Technology Czar during and after
World War 2. No one in the world was better suited to heading a small group of
experts trying to determine the technology associated with alien craft. The
following statement appears in a formerly Top-Secret Canadian memo dated
November 21, 1950. Speaking about flying saucers Wilber Smith “made
discrete enquiries through the Canadian Embassy staff in Washington who were
able to obtain for me the following information:
a. The matter is the most highly classified subject in the United States
Government , rating higher even than the H-bomb. b. Flying saucers exist. c.
Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort is being mad by a
small group headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush. d. The entire matter is considered by
the United States Authorities to be of tremendous significance.”
There is truly a mountain of evidence including more than 5000 pages of
documents released under the Freedom of Information and the Canadian Access to
Information to establish that indeed the subject of UFOs represents a kind of
Cosmic Watergate. While I don’t want all the technical data released , I do
believe that Earthlings are indeed entitled to know that we are not alone.
Havening worked on classified government sponsored Research and Development
programs for 15 years, I have a healthy respect for security and the ability of
various government agencies to keep things secret.