The alien landing at Roswell is probably the most widely known “conspiracy theory” in this country.

All of the controversy surrounding the crash has actually succeeded in misleading the public as to the extent of the government conspiracy to cover it up.

24 June, 1997. The Air Force released it’s second and final report on the incident.

Titled “The Roswell Report: Case Closed,” it was a sloppy attempt by the government to offer explanations to the compelling reports of the crash of an alien spacecraft and the recovery of alien bodies.

According to the report, during the ’40s and ’50s the Air Force engaged in extensive high-altitude balloon experiments.

Some of the experiments involved ejecting anthropomorphic dummies equipped with parachutes.

The intent was to measure the effects of high altitude drops on pilots or astronauts.

There are numerous holes in the Air Force’s story.

Walter Andrus, international director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), points out that the parachute tests were done from 1954-59, well-after the Roswell incident, which occurred in ’47.

Andrus also notes that the Air Force’s explanation involves several years of tests and special programs. To suggest that all these tests could have taken place in the span of a few days is ludicrous.

The unlikely and indirect explanations put forth in the report are not the only flaw. The document fails to acknowledge an entire series of government documents dealing with the Roswell incident, known as the Majestic-12 documents.

Majestic-12, Majic-12, or MJ-12; the group was formed by President Truman to handle the top secret investigations of unexplained events in the New Mexico desert. President Truman established the group with a special classified executive order on 24 September, 1947.

The group was devised based on recommendations by Dr. Vannever Bush and Secretary James Forrestal.

The group consisted of 12 top government and scientific officials. They were: Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, Dr. Bush, Secy. Forrestal, Gen. Nathan F. Twinning, Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Dr. Detlev Bronk, Dr. Jerome Hunsaker, Mr. Sidney W. Souers, Mr. Gordon Gray, Dr. Donald Menzel, Gen. Robert M. Montague and Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner.

After Secretary Forrestal’s death on 22 May, 1949, he was replaced by Gen. Walter B. Smith.

Unlike “The Roswell Report,” you will not find the Majestic-12 documents posted on any government Web site. Fortunately, many people, like myself, have seen these documents.

The most famous is an eight-page briefing sent to President-elect Eisenhower describing the events that occurred around Roswell, as well as the actions of Majestic-12 to cover them up.

The report notes several sightings of disc-shaped aircraft by “highly credible military and civilian sources,” after 24 June, 1947.

Then the report moves on to the Roswell incident.

According to the MJ-12 memo, “public reaction bordered on near-hysteria when a local rancher reported that a craft had crashed in a remote region of New Mexico, approximately 75 miles northeast of Roswell Army Base.”

On 7 July, 1947, a secret operation began to assure the recovery of the wreckage for scientific study.

During the recovery, aerial reconnaissance discovered that four small human-like beings had been ejected from the craft before it exploded.

The craft, as well as the decomposed remains, were taken to several different locations to be studied.

The MJ-12 memo continues, describing how civilian and military witnesses were debriefed, and news reporters were given an effective cover story that the object was a misguided weather balloon.

In an attempt to understand the craft’s means of propulsion, the Air Force undertook Project SIGN in December, 1947.

Security on the matter was so tight that only two men were allowed as liaisons between Project Sign and Majestic-12.

On 6 December, 1950, a second craft crashed near Socorro on the Mexico border.

By the time Air Force reconnaissance crews arrived, the craft had been totally incinerated.

In light of these incidences, MJ-12 made the following recommendation to the President:

“It is for these reasons, as well as the obvious international and technological considerations and the ultimate need to avoid a public panic at all costs, that the Majestic-12 Group remains of the unanimous opinion that imposition of the strictest security precautions should continue without interruption into the new administration.”

The “strictest security precautions” have continued well beyond the Eisenhower administration. MJ-12 established a precedent for deceit that our government is still using to conceal information about UFOs.

That is the most provocative part of the papers. The lengths to which our government has gone to conceal information is astonishing.

There is speculation that the MJ-12 papers are a fabrication.

But if they are fabrication, what is the truth?

Certainly not the Roswell Report. It is at least as confusing and unlikely as the MJ-12 papers are fantastic.

The bottom line is that the case is not closed. Why should we believe, after admitting their original story of a weather balloon crash was a cover up, that the Roswell Report is not one as well?

Other people ask, if there was indeed an alien crash at Roswell, why haven’t there been more in the last 50 years?

It is highly likely that they have, but that our government has become very adept at hiding any such occurrence from us.

The MJ-12 papers map out a system for doing so.

In addition, studies show as many as five million Americans claim to have seen unidentified objects in the sky.

Some can be attributed to balloons, low-flying planes, etc.; but not all.

What is more likely: Are five million Americans mistaken, or is an admittedly deceitful government continuing to veil the truth?

You be the judge.

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6079 Smith is a graduate student in ceramic engineering from Baton Rouge, LA. She can be reached via the Daily or at Big Earl’s in Des Moines.