[Comments on Majestic 12 Material]

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined agencies' views on the authenticity of Majestic 12, allegedly a classified government document explaining the crash of a disc-shaped aircraft near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. GAO noted that: (1) the Information Security Oversight Office, the Air Force, and the National Archives stated that their knowledge of Majestic 12 was limited to written material submitted to them by nongovernmental persons; (2) there was no evidence that the material constituted actual documents which originated in the executive branch; (3) although archivists at federal libraries found nothing that fit the description of Majestic 12 or any references to it, they have received public inquiries about this material for years; and (4) the Air Force determined that a 1980 message, which contained the words "MJ Twelve," was a forgery.