Doty's psychological operations claim

From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event

Contents 4
Doty's psychological operations claim
Illustration of a jet meeting an unknown object
Illustration: a jet meeting an unknown object. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.
Date1980s
TopicsBeings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Disinformation & hoaxes (topic)
PeopleRichard Doty, Paul Bennewitz
TestimonyShellenberger testimony, p. 91
Year1980 in UFO history
Timeline1980 on the UAP Timeline
Sources9

Doty's psychological operations claim — Doty says an Air Force unit ran psychological operations on people who saw secret aircraft.

Richard Doty, the former Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent at the centre of the Bennewitz affair, has claimed that an Air Force intelligence unit ran psychological operations on civilians who saw classified aircraft and test programs. According to Doty, the aim was to make witnesses think they had seen UFOs, or to discredit them, to protect secret projects.

Some of what Doty has described fits documented patterns. The CIA has confirmed that its U-2 and A-12 spy planes caused many UFO reports in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Air Force's handling of Bennewitz shows it was willing to manipulate a witness. But there's no documentary support for an organized program of the kind Doty describes, and he has a long record of giving contradictory accounts.

The testimony also mentions "milab", a term used by UFO researchers for claims that some abductees were taken by military personnel rather than aliens. Those claims are unverified.

People and topics

Illustration of lights in formation over the landscape
Illustration: lights in formation over the landscape. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.

On the Timeline

Illustration of a screen showing a flying saucer
Illustration: a screen showing a flying saucer. An artist's impression drawn for this site, not a photograph of the event.

See every 1980 event on the UAP Timeline →

References

Further reading

This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.

Discuss the article: missing sources, mistakes, or what should be added.

No discussion yet.

BrowseFeedArticlesTimelineOfficial filesMapTonight’s SkyStatsFavorites