by Michael E. Salla, PhD

Exopolitical Comment # 41

February 18, 2006

from Exopolitics Website

In February 2006, UFO Magazine released an edition that focused on the Project Serpo, an alleged alien exchange program from 1965-1978 that involved twelve US military personnel who traveled to a planet ’Serpo’ in the Zeta Reticulum binary constellation. UFO Magazine had a number of statements by some of the key figures involved in this unfolding case. Among these statements was one by Richard Doty, a former Special Agent assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), concerning what he directly experienced during his military service, and how this corroborated parts of the Project Serpo story.

Doty is among a group of former ’insiders’ with access to classified information on UFOs that have come forward to confirm parts of this alleged alien exchange program leaked by up to three anonymous Defense Intelligence Agency personnel. Doty is the most prominent of these former insiders due to widespread public knowledge of his former position as an AFOSI ’special agent’ assigned with dealing with UFO reports from 1979 to 1988.

Doty’s testimony is most revealing since much of it is based on a number of first hand experiences concerning classified information as opposed to the hearsay testimonies of others. Hearsay testimony is easy to manipulate in the hands of skilled intelligence agents participating in an officially sanctioned ’deception program’ aimed at misleading researchers, witnesses and the general public over UFOs. Direct personal testimony of classified information directly experienced is far more difficult to manipulate, especially when published in print by an individual such as Doty whose background and credentials are well known.

Written statements on what an individual has directly experienced can be checked and any inconsistencies can be found. Consequently, it is useful to examine closely Doty’s claims concerning his own personal experiences while responsible for gathering UFO information as an AFOSI special agent, and the extent to which this lends credence to the Project Serpo information. Doty may be participating in an officially sanctioned ’acclimation program’ to inform a skeptical public of UFO related information or part of an elaborate ’deception program’ designed to mislead the general public and researchers.

Doty began his US Air Force career in 1968 and first trained for the Air Force Security Police and later moved on to other security related positions. He joined the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) in 1979 and retired in 1988. Both his father (Charles Doty) and uncle (Ed Doty) reached the rank of Colonel in the Air Force, and were both involved in investigating UFO reports and were stationed with the 7602^nd Air Intelligence Group (Exempt from Disclosure, p. 118). Doty reached the rank of Master Sergeant and upon retirement began a new career as a State Trooper in New Mexico. He more recently finished law school and completed the New Mexico State Bar Exam.

Doty co-authored with Robert Collins, Exempt from Disclosure, a book published in early 2005. In it, Doty describes a number of first hand experiences such as witnessing a large flying saucer at a classified Indian Springs facility in 1969 (p. 67). More significantly, Doty claims that he was given access to a highly classified report that had much UFO related information in it concerning extraterrestrial biological entities (EBEs), their communication system and advanced technology (p. 70). Doty further claims that in 1983 he had a face to face meeting at a secure facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico with an extraterrestrial biological entity called EBEN-2 from the constellation Zeta Reticulum:

About five minutes later, in walks a 4’9" non-human looking creature. It was dressed in a tight fitting cream-colored suit. It had no hair was identified to me as EBE-2. EBE-2 sat in a chair across the table from two civilians and the AF Colonel… I listened while the three asked EBE-2 a series of questions pertaining to its home planet (p. 154).

These are all first person experiences by Doty concerning classified UFO related information rather than hearsay. Thus they are significant given Doty’s former position as an intelligence agent assigned to UFO investigations. His involvement in UFO investigations has been documented through his signature in official AFOSI complaint forms dating from 1980.
 

In his statement published in UFO Magazine, Doty made a number of claims supporting the validity of the Project Serpo information despite a number of anomalies pointed out by critics. He claims that when he started his service at AFOSI he was briefed on a compartment program involving EBEs and alien crashes near Corona and Datil, New Mexico. In Exempt from Disclosure, he described a captured alien from one of these crashes, EBE-1, from the planet "Sieu" in the constellation Zeta Reticulum was in military custody from 1947 until its death in 1952 (p. 70). Doty claims in his statement that in 1984 he was given another briefing where he read a document that "mentioned an exchange program between an alien race and twelve U.S. military personnel" that lasted from 1965-1978. He claims he didn’t see the details of this classified project but knew of its existence.

Doty’s statement and chapters from Exempt from Disclosure describing his personal experiences with flying saucers, EBEs and classified UFO briefing documents, are startling admissions for a former AFOSI special agent. The information Doty disclosed was by his own admission highly classified and compartmented back in 1984, and certainly still highly classified today. So why would former special agent Doty reveal such classified compartmented information and how accurate is it?

Most UFO researchers aware of Richard Doty know of the unscrupulous role he played in UFO cases involving Paul Bennewitz and Linda Moulton Howe in the 1980’s. Doty actively disseminated disinformation to throw these two researchers off the track in their respective UFO investigations. Doty was complicit in the emotional and psychological breakdown of Paul Bennewitz who had befriended and trusted Doty who was disseminating disinformation to discredit Bennewitz.

Furthermore, Howe witnessed a proposed HBO special on UFOs cancelled due to delays in the release of historical film footage that Doty assured Howe was forthcoming. Doty has publicly said that he regrets the actions he performed, but pointed out in his defense that he was under orders and was simply doing his job. In Exempt from Disclosure, he describes the nature of his work as follows:

"I was also briefed into another very special (third) program that dealt with safe guarding the Air Force’s high technology programs. Among the methods used to safeguard these programs was "disinformation" (p. 70)."

Consequently, Doty has verified that the US Air Force disseminates disinformation to UFO researchers who get too close to the truth behind UFOs, and that he actively played a role in this.

In Exempt from Disclosure, Doty states that he disagrees with the official secrecy policy and that he believes the public has a right to know. Presumably, he is now disseminating the kind of UFO information that it was earlier his job to discredit through officially sanctioned ’deception programs’ when serving in AFOSI. The obvious question is whether a former intelligence agent who actively participated in ’deception programs’ during his military service, continues such a role in private life?

More to the point is Doty contributing to a new deception program in the form of Project Serpo, or is he releasing information in accord with his conscience? The fact that Exempt from Disclosure was published in 2005, shortly before the release of the Project Serpo material in November 2005, points to a synchronicity that may be entirely fortuitous or part of a scheduled release of information that is part of ’deception program". Doty describes an officially sanctioned ’deception program’ as follows:

The government can keep a secret this long by a number of means. One being, compartmenting the data within the government, or the intelligence community, or they can run deception operations, deceiving the public, or deceiving private UFO groups. They present the groups with faulty information, unbelievable data, which in turn, the groups publish, and are then ridiculed. That misinforms the public, and keeps the government information compartmentalized and protected (p. 86).

In his statement to UFO Magazine, Doty mentions a Colonel Jack Casey, a retired Air Force Intelligence Officer.

Doty claims that Casey personally confirmed the Project Serpo information concerning an alien exchange program. Casey claimed that in,

"1965, twelve U.S. military men were placed on an extraterrestrial spacecraft and flew to an alien planet some 40 light years away."

Casey further claimed that the briefing provided by the eight personnel who returned in 1978 is still classified, and that all are currently dead. Here Doty is relating hearsay testimony which he did not personally learn from direct experiences or classified documents.

Much of the information released by Doty in Exempt from Disclosure and his statement to UFO Magazine are based on direct personal experiences of ’flying saucers’, EBEs or classified briefing documents. This body of claims needs to be seriously considered given Doty’s documented background as an AFOSI special agent responsible for UFO investigations. At the same time, there are many claims based on second or third party stories which are hearsay and require independent corroboration before accepting. These latter claims could be part of an ’acclimation program’ based on plausible deniability. Alternatively, these claims based on hearsay could part of a deception program that is occurring since the latter individuals are not able or willing to come forward to publicly confirm their testimonies.

A significant fact concerning Richard Doty and his recent emergence is that he at no time has reported any harassment, intimidation or threats as a consequence of his revelations. This is quite remarkable given that he is revealing highly classified compartment information on topics that appear far more sensitive than released by other whistleblowers who report having been threatened for their revelations. For instance, John Maynard, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, has reported a number of threats for releasing far less information that what Doty has revealed about compartmented programs involving EBEs (http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.com/maynard.html). This suggests that Doty has gained a ’green light’ to come forward with his testimony in a possible effort to ’acclimate’ the public for future disclosure of the extraterrestrial presence.

Due, however, to Doty’s former career in AFOSI and professional involvement in ’deception programs’, it is also possible that Doty is participating in an elaborate deception program with his claims that give remarkable support to the Project Serpo material. Something that is suggestive of such a possibility is his repudiation of some passages he authored in Exempt from Disclosure describing his face to face meeting with EBE-2. In a later ’clarification’, Doty claimed that he viewed the alleged meeting involving EBE-2 on a video screen and was not in the same room after all: (see Serpo/Consistencies)

This turn around where Doty makes some astounding claims regarding his EBE related experiences, approves the publication of this in print, and then repudiates some important details, suggests his testimony is unreliable. Doty may therefore be participating in a deception program. Nevertheless, given the first hand experiences Doty has revealed, and his former career which is well documented, it is very important to seriously consider what he personally claims to have experienced or read in terms of classified information. Consequently, it can be concluded that Doty’s written testimony of what he saw and read concerning classified UFO/EBE related projects is plausible though his tendency to repudiate critical details makes him unreliable. Furthermore, his claims, based on what he was told by other military personnel, need to be regarded as hearsay and not sufficient to corroborate the Project Serpo material.

A third possibility that Doty is a genuine whistleblower following his conscience in the release of classified information is extremely unlikely in the author’s view. Doty’s military history, the quality of the information he has released, his ability to escape any form of harassment, and repudiating key details of earlier statements, suggest that he is participating either in an officially sanctioned ’acclimation program’ or a ’deception program’. Consequently, I will focus on these latter two possibilities with regard to the Serpo project and Doty’s role in it. It is now worth examining the testimonies of some of the other main players in the unfolding Serpo information.

Two prominent insiders involved in confirming the Serpo story, and who are most often cited are Gene Lakes (aka Gene Loscowski) and Paul McGovern. Lakes worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 1964-1996, and was an investigator for DIA and then director of security operations.

(see http://www.ufoconspiracy.com/reports/tom_mack_groomlake.htm ).

According to Doty’s statement, Paul McGovern was a "former security chief for the Defense Intelligence Agency". Both Lakes and McGovern claim to have had access to a briefing document titled "Project Serpo" that discussed the alien exchange program during their respective military careers. Indeed, McGovern supplies the classification number of the briefing document that they had access to (see Serpo/Information#1). Since both McGovern and Lakes claim to have gained their information from the alleged briefing document, then this is important evidence supporting the existence of the Serpo project.

After reflecting on the initial email from Anonymous describing Project Serpo, Lakes/Loscowski wrote:

Most of the information is absolutely correct… To the best of my knowledge, we had 12 men, all military men. Eight USAF, two Army and two Navy guys. I think the females are a red herring. But maybe I just didn’t have the clearance for that.…

 

Only eight came back, that much is right. Two died a few years into their assignment on the Visitor’s planet. Two others decided to remain and maybe are still alive today. Since their return, all have died. (see Serpo/Information#1)

McGovern responded in a similar manner:

Interesting but not totally correct [commenting on Anonymous’s original e-mail].… As for the exchange program: Unauthorized Release of Classified Information, as I see it. But maybe someone currently within our government wants it out. No females were sent. Twelve men, all military. 8 USAF, 2 U.S. Army and 2 U.S. Navy. Two were doctors; three were scientists; two were language specialists; two were security personnel; two were pilots and one was the leader (Colonel-AF) (see Serpo/Information#1).

Both McGovern and Lakes confirm vital aspects of the program such as it involving twelve male military personnel who traveled to Planet Serpo, lived on Serpo for over a decade, and only eight of whom returned to Earth.

Along with Doty, McGovern and Lakes are the only individuals who have come forward to publicly confirm the truth of Project Serpo in terms of what they read in classified briefing documents. In addition there is the hearsay testimony of three others who claim to have learned about Project Serpo through classified documents, one is Doty’s Colonel Casey who confirmed the Serpo case with Richard Doty. Another is an anonymous retired Colonel of 30 years service who revealed to a serving Lt Col, known only to Bill Ryan [webmaster of the Project Serpo website], that the Project Serpo information is true.

The third is Ed Doty who allegedly confirmed various aspects of the Project Serpo story. So far, none of these individuals have or are able to come forward to publicly confirm what has been ascribed to them or to answer questions. In addition, to these insiders, there are also the claims attributed to researchers such as Whitley Strieber and Linda Moulton Howe, both of whom heard hearsay testimony confirming various aspects of Project Serpo.

Finally, there are the two or three DIA anonymous sources responsible for the initial disclosures of Project Serpo. All remain anonymous and their credentials and credibility cannot be checked. Consequently, the strongest support for the Project Serpo story come from the three individuals who have publicly stated that they learned about it through classified briefing documents: Doty, McGovern and Lakes. All three are former intelligence officials, as are the three others whose hearsay testimony has been attributed to them: Doty’s Col Casey, Ryan’s anonymous Col, and Ed Doty. Consequently, it is possible to conclude that all may have been co-opted into a covert ’acclimation program’ or ’deception program’.

My overall conclusion is that Doty’s statement to UFO Magazine gives the Project Serpo information a boost insofar as he confirms the core story of an alien exchange program that was described in a classified briefing document. Doty’s documented involvement in UFO investigations makes his testimony significant, although his ability to repudiate statements he has authored does give some concern about the reliability of his testimony. Project Serpo is also supported in the testimonies of McGovern and Lakes who apparently also learned of it through classified briefing documents. Nevertheless, their respective careers with the DIA and the DIA affiliations of the two/three anonymous sources responsible for the Project Serpo information does raise the possibility that they are part of a DIA orchestrated deception program.

Despite support for the core story of Serpo from three former insiders who have publicly emerged to confirm its truth based on classified briefing documents, there are many questionable details that raise considerable doubt of the veracity of the Project Serpo material. Details such as alleged flight logs, scientific information about Serpo and its binary star system that involves numerous inconsistencies, the anonymous nature of the leaked information and other inconsistencies, has raised much skepticism of the Project Serpo material.

For example, in my own analysis of the alleged flight logs detailing alleged communications between the EBEs and the human team I found a number of anomalies that suggest the logs are fictitious.

(see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exopolitics/message/274 ).

Given the number of insiders who have come forward to support Serpo and/or communicated anonymously with researchers to confirm Project Serpo, this is a story that has the potential to either ’inform’ or ’disinform’ a great number of people about covert government projects involving EBEs. In short, Project Serpo may be an officially sanctioned acclimation program or deception program orchestrated by the DIA.

A third possibility is that Project Serpo is both an acclimation program designed to partially inform us about an alleged alien exchange program, while sowing disinformation that can mislead UFO/exopolitics researchers and the general public that support the ongoing disclosures concerning an alleged Planet Serpo that briefly housed 12 military personnel from 1965 to 1978 in an EBE exchange program.