X Descending

by Christian Lambright

  Still, what if the NSA or some other agency was transmitting signals that anyone in the area could intercept? Our intelligence agencies have had decades of experience dealing with efforts by foreign nations to intercept communications and signals intelligence, both in war time and peace time. These are known concerns, and security would be considered before, during, and after the fact because of the expectation that someone could always be listening. Paul’s interests notwithstanding, many curious people have an interest in government secrecy, with entire communities of enthusiasts bent on uncovering the latest military secrets. Hobbyists patiently monitor radio transmissions listening for signs of new experimental aircraft, while others stake out sensitive areas hoping to see flight tests. The classified location known as Area 51 has now become almost a Mecca for prying eyes.

  The vast part of Nevada that includes Area 51 is one of the most highly classified areas in the country. The entire region is closed off from the public and protected by both military and private security, buried sensors, and signs that threaten deadly force. The government has co-opted public lands for this range and, in 1995, reportedly seized thousands of additional acres in an effort to block the public from seeing the facilities or the tests conducted there. With existing laws in place to protect this area and discourage anyone who pries into its secrets, it is worth mentioning how the government reacted to one man that it felt broached the security of Area 51.

  In 2003, in the small town of Rachel, Nevada, Chuck Clark, a retired astronomer who moved to Rachel to pursue his interest in Area 51, received a visit from federal agents. The FBI showed up at his door and, in an action that seemed straight out of an X-files episode, entered his home and confiscated his equipment while neighbors watched and took photographs. Perhaps more than coincidentally, Clark was not at home at the time of the raid and came home only to find a nice list of all the items that had been taken. No clear reason was given for the action, but the speculation has been that it was because Clark had been making news about intrusion sensors he discovered hidden far off the base on public land. Whatever justification there might have been for the raid, it had all the earmarks of sanctioned retaliation. Nevertheless, the point was made. It may be impossible to stop people from monitoring transmissions out of an area or block visibility from mountain peaks miles away, but pose enough of a threat or cross some unseen line and there is a quick response. Federal agents show up and confiscate your equipment.

  In the 1980s, there were signs on the fence surrounding Kirtland Air Force Base and the Sandia Reservation warning that no photography was allowed. The sensitive nature of the area, the facilities, and the projects conducted there was and still is widely known by the residents in Albuquerque. Even so, Paul went straight to the Air Force and announced that he had been filming and photographing the area and had equipment monitoring the local magnetic field. No one showed up at his door to confiscate his equipment and, to my knowledge, he was never asked to cease and desist even though he was prying into an area full of sensitive projects and national secrets.

  That should be reason enough to suspect, if not outright reject, any assertion that the counterintelligence operation against him was due solely to his eavesdropping on NSA frequencies or communications. Paul’s reputation and business in Albuquerque may have afforded him some consideration, but in this country, standing and reputation seldom guarantee protection when it comes to national security. Something much more serious than eavesdropping had to be at stake to warrant such a secretive and long lasting counterintelligence operation.

  Nevertheless, though Paul may have honestly thought he was detecting 'alien' frequencies, with no evidence of their actual source the frequencies could have been coming from anywhere. Someone with a little knowledge of Paul’s equipment and capabilities could have sent frequencies, signals, and even messages tailor-made specifically for him. In fact, that exact scenario is more than hinted at in a story told to Greg Bishop by Bill Moore.

  According to Moore, in 1981 J. Allen Hynek, former scientific advisor to Project Blue Book, the Air Force UFO project, delivered a computer to Paul Bennewitz.52 By then Hynek had become a strong public proponent of serious study of UFO phenomena, despite his earlier Air Force ties. He was the founder of the Center for UFO Studies and had served as a consultant on Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”, even making a cameo appearance. What was so shocking about Moore’s story is that Hynek allegedly gave the computer to Paul at the request of the Air Force without telling Paul where the computer actually came from. Even more suspicious is that it reportedly contained software provided by the Air Force to facilitate Paul’s communication with “aliens”.

  Why would the Air Force want to get a computer with such a bizarre program into Paul’s hands without him knowing that it came from them? It does not take much imagination to sense a setup. Someone wanted to make sure that out of the frequencies Paul was detecting he would end up with decoded messages he believed came from aliens. It should be noted that Bishop does stipulate that Moore was the sole source for the Hynek story. Nonetheless, surreptitiously sending a computer to Paul to facilitate his communication with "aliens" does have all the earmarks of a counterintelligence maneuver.

  If Moore’s story of Hynek’s duplicity is true, then Paul’s belief that he was communicating with aliens around Albuquerque may have been the result of an elaborate charade. It not only involved a computer system (not a cheap proposition in 1981), but also a software program that had to be created for this specific purpose. The programmer would likely have needed to know the specific frequencies or signals Paul could detect, how information was being encoded in them, and how it would be fed into the software program to reveal the final message. With strong evidence that Paul had already begun detecting signals early in 1980 and he already believed he was communicating with aliens well before the November 1980 meeting at KAFB, there is only Moore’s word that the computer was, in fact, delivered in mid-1981, and not mid-1980.

  On the other hand, what if the entire story of Hynek delivering a computer for the Air Force was a fabrication? Or, maybe Paul was given a computer, but Hynek himself had nothing to do with it. The implication that Hynek was still secretly serving the Air Force was certainly a jolt to many researchers. If someone like Hynek was not what he seemed, then who can be trusted? This type of story could be very effective as disinformation to undermine trust and confidence among the community of UFO researchers.

  The question remains: what was Moore’s purpose in telling this story to Bishop after all these years? Was it to expose the Air Force’s role in influencing Bennewitz’s beliefs, or was it simply another chance to sow disinformation? Regrettably, Allen Hynek passed away in April of 1986, making it impossible to verify or refute Moore’s claims.

  Still, Paul had obviously been capable of building equipment to detect unusual frequencies, though I have seen absolutely no evidence that he ever detected anything NSA-related. In my conversations with him he never suggested having detected or deciphered military or NSA communications, and to my knowledge he never claimed anything of the sort. The equipment he built in his home in early 1980 was designed to measure fluctuations in magnetic fields and, by all accounts, produce linear graphs—not decoded messages. That is not to say that the NSA may not have played a role at some point early on. There are certainly strong hints that someone may have been manipulating the frequencies or signals Paul was able to detect, feeding him such bizarre information that—if he ever talked about it—he could not help but sound like he was losing his grip on reality.

  Whatever he was receiving that eventually led him to believe he was communicating with an alien intelligence, hindsight would suggest it was far more ‘intelligence’ than ‘alien’. If the point of the counterintelligence operation was to suppress the fact that he was able to decipher NSA transmissions, then why was the NSA thrust into the spotlight early on with the "Aquarius Telex", a document that led back to Bill Moore
and AFOSI agent Richard Doty? That obvious contradiction paints this as part of the disinformation itself and not the real reason for this elaborate operation! You do not tell the secret, you tell the cover story. What Paul saw and filmed from his rooftop is what no one involved in the operation ever speaks about or addresses openly.

  Prior to the Weitzel Letter’s arrival at APRO in July, Paul’s claims stood as the only recent sightings of flying discs over the Kirtland AFB area. It is also important to remember that throughout this time APRO had been the only organization Paul maintained contact with. He had been sending them information about his activities and, in turn, they had given him some degree of assistance. As a widely known and well-respected organization, APRO would have been in a good position to publicize anything Paul told them, if they had chosen to. Paul had contacted the Air Force in January, but seemed to be growing frustrated, perhaps by what he felt was a lack of action. According to Edward's "log entry", by May or June Paul had begun making higher level contacts outside of Albuquerque (Los Alamos, the White House, perhaps others), so the sudden appearance of the Weitzel Letter at APRO headquarters strongly suggests that the counterintelligence operation was widening as well.

  Thomas Cseh, Commander of the Base Investigative Detachment, made a very curious statement in the document he signed (Attachment C) seven weeks after Edward’s reportedly told Doty of the sightings by the security guards. Writing about Doty and Miller’s visit to Paul’s home, Cseh made the specific statement that no other sightings had ever been reported in the area. But how can that be? Doty’s Complaint Form was dated only a few weeks earlier and fully described objects being seen over and in Coyote Canyon by several security guards? Are we to presume that Cseh was not told about these earlier sightings? If Doty’s Complaint Form was, in fact, full of concocted sightings, and I suggest that it was, then part of its purpose might have been to make it appear that there was a rash of sightings being reported, and glowing disc-shaped vehicles were coming from outside the area and entering into Coyote Canyon. It may have served the dual purpose of planting the idea that the Air Force and others around KAFB had no idea what these objects were, while at the same time drawing attention away from Paul and his sightings. The question of where these glowing vehicles had been seen was no longer answered with “inside the MWSA…and landing there repeatedly." "Where” was now a wide area from Belen, New Mexico, to Coyote Canyon, to the Manzano Weapon Storages Area and, of course, far away to the north over the Archuleta Mesa.

  Sometime between March and April of 1981 perhaps the most effective and diversionary piece of disinformation appeared. Bill Moore has said he first saw the Aquarius Telex, a document dated November 17, 1980, containing an analysis of some of Paul’s films as well as other startling tidbits of government secrecy (Attachment F), during a meeting with Richard Doty. Months later, at a second meeting with Doty and a person only identified as 'Falcon' (a shadowy figure who may or may not have actually existed) Moore supposedly received a printed, but edited copy. This document brought the first mention of the mysterious designation “MJ Twelve”, a classified “Project Aquarius”, and eventually, a hint that the NSA was somehow involved. Only later did Moore admit he knew full well the printed copy contained fabrications and disinformation.53 It is possible he was expected to show the document to Paul who would, in turn, send copies to others, spreading it far and wide. It would probably also have made Paul see Moore as valuable friend with great connections. Regardless, though Moore claims he advised Paul that the document could be disinformation, it did eventually find its way to a number of researchers and quickly set off a frenzy of interest and discussion.

  As this and other questionable documents began to appear, full of allusions to government secrets, there were more and more tantalizing mysteries to investigate and topics to explore. As people began to pursue the bits and pieces in these questionable documents, not to mention the wild rumors that were spreading about aliens in underground bases, Paul’s original rooftop films slipped out of awareness. Paul himself seemed to be thinking of them less and less as he got caught up in the outlandish ideas he was being encouraged to believe. Doty was the point man, and anyone asking significant questions and digging too deeply would eventually come to his attention. With the help of Bill Moore and possibly others who have yet to be identified, a good amount of diversionary material was pumped into the community of enthusiasts—and they definitely ran with it. Paul was left floundering, betrayed by those he thought he could trust, and perhaps no longer sure who or what to believe.

  During Paul’s first conversation with Ernest Edwards he undoubtedly had to explain who, what, where, when, and why about his experiences. Ironically, in doing so he would have been giving Counterintelligence the very facts they needed to explain it away. As far as what Paul saw and filmed, the answers were clear—he saw disc-shaped vehicles landing inside the MWSA on specific nights in December 1979 because his prior experiences had led him to be out on his rooftop. But, in short order, Counterintelligence had a new set of answers. Who became any number of witnesses, all with sightings of their own, with Paul merely a civilian on the outskirts of Kirtland AFB. What looked like a free-for-all of disc-shaped vehicles, mysterious documents, aliens tunneling through the Archuleta Mesa, and someone eavesdropping on NSA communications. Where went from a location strictly on the western side of the weapons storage area to a much wider area stretching from towns to the south and into the Manzanos, up to the area described in the Weitzel Letter, and ultimately to the Archuleta Mesa. When was many months away from those nights in December of 1979. It was now July to November that drew all the attention, with the arrival of an anonymous letter, a rash of sightings, and meetings happening on and off Kirtland AFB.

  The final question—Why?—was perhaps the most dangerous. Why was Paul on his roof, why did he call the Air Force, why did the Air Force even care? Left unchecked, Why would lead directly to the evidence on film. It was crucial that no one dig deeply into why Paul mattered, and the simplest way to do that was the most obvious—force feed him enough ideas about aliens and invasions (with helicopter junkets to Archuleta and AFOSI agents ushering him along) that everyone would believe he was deluded. What most people think they know about Paul today is evidence that the plan worked very well. Once alternate scenarios of events, sightings, and documents had grabbed all the attention, Paul seemed superfluous, if not deranged.

  So many of the sensational aspects of what has become the quagmire of Ufology can be traced directly to the aftermath of what Paul saw and filmed. The MJ-12 documents, the Aquarius Telex, and alleged alien bases underground near Dulce, are only a part of it. Other spurious tales were added by people who became prominent in the limelight of this case, and some simply embellished on one aspect or another. But none of these is what started it all, and none held the secret of why Counterintelligence became involved. That truth was said by Bill Moore himself in the opening statements of his 1989 MUFON speech…

  … “It all began more than ten years ago with a man named Paul Bennewitz.”

  “There are a lot of lies going around... and half of them are true.”

  —Sir Winston Churchill

  Today, more than thirty years later, the story that Paul had simply been intercepting secret NSA signals continues to evolve. Writing in Project Beta, author Greg Bishop reported that NSA agents had “visited” Paul’s home when he was not there, ostensibly to smuggle in someone to examine the equipment Paul had built. Richard Doty is credited with the revealing that this person was Dr. Robert Fugate of the Starfire/Adaptive Optics facility.

  During a telephone conversation I had with Bishop, he informed me that it was, in fact, Jerry Miller who revealed the information about Fugate, asking if he (Bishop) had spoken with Fugate yet. Fugate was allegedly brought into Paul’s home to examine a piece of equipment Paul had built to measure fluctuations in magnetic fields.

  If the above story is true, perhaps the intrusion was rationalized as a matte
r of military or national security. Regardless, I have to wonder about the moral or criminal implications of breaking into a civilian’s home to spy on what could certainly be considered intellectual property. When asked about Fugate’s involvement, Doty told Bishop that he thought Fugate would probably “toe the party line” if questioned about the matter.54 Ironically, Doty then downplayed the entire episode, saying that Paul would probably have shown them everything anyway! Considering that Paul had called the Air Force initially and, by all accounts, wanted their interest, the motivation to surreptitiously enter his home to examine his equipment seems much more significant than Doty suggests (perhaps it had something to do with the computer and software allegedly given to Paul to help him communicate with aliens.) But Fugate’s involvement also raises other questions.

  Dr. Robert Q. Fugate was Senior Scientist with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate. The research he did there has been key to the airborne laser theatre missile defense weapon system program.55 Furthermore, his work with adaptive optics is part of the military’s application of advances in lasers and optics. According to his biography, he worked for the Air Force since 1970 in atmospheric propagation, space surveillance, and other applications heavy in optical physics.56 In an April 7, 2005 article on AFRL success stories, Fugate is identified as being with the Directed Energy Directorate’s Beam Control Division.57 In 2003, he received the Presidential Rank Award as a Distinguished Senior Professional, which put him in the top 1% of all senior civilian executives in the Federal Government. In light of information concerning the development of directed-energy weapons at the Air Force Research Laboratory, the true purpose of the optics work at the Starfire range is undoubtedly related. Fugate’s work on laser propagation and imaging of objects in space by earth-based systems, perhaps combined with recent advances in directing intense electrical energy using ionizing lasers, may actually be at the heart of these directed-energy weapons.