Mathew Bevan (Kuji) arrest
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 21 June 1996 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic), Propulsion & physics (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Mathew Bevan |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 125 |
| Year | 1996 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1996 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 5 |
Mathew Bevan (born 10 June 1974 in Cardiff, Wales), a hacker known online as "Kuji", was arrested on 21 June 1996 for breaking into sensitive U.S. Air Force, NASA and NATO computer systems. He said he had been trying to prove a UFO conspiracy. The prosecution later collapsed.[1]
The intrusions
At the age of 21, Bevan broke into files of the Air Force research laboratory at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York, using an Amiga home computer. He later said he was looking for evidence of UFO files and anti-gravity technology. His associate Richard Pryce, a 16-year-old known as "Datastream Cowboy", was alleged to have hacked a South Korean research database and dumped its contents into an Air Force system; the data was found to be South Korean.[1][2]
The Senate hearing
In 1996 a U.S. Senate subcommittee heard testimony about the Rome Laboratory intrusions, describing them as a major security threat; one statement characterised "Kuji" as a foreign agent, possibly of Eastern European origin. The case was part of growing concern about military cybersecurity in the 1990s.[1][3]
Outcome
About eighteen months after his arrest, at Woolwich Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence, deciding that a prosecution was no longer in the public interest, and Bevan was acquitted. He later worked in computer security.[1][2]
Legacy
His case foreshadowed that of Gary McKinnon, a Scottish hacker who broke into U.S. military and NASA computers in 2001–2002 looking for UFO evidence and fought extradition for a decade; Bevan has said McKinnon's case is very similar to his own.[1]
People and topics
- NASA — The U.S. civilian space agency, created in 1958.
- Mathew Bevan — Welsh hacker arrested in 1996 for breaking into U.S. military computers.
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Anti-gravity — The idea of cancelling or controlling gravity for propulsion.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Gary McKinnon — Gary McKinnon
On the Timeline
- Air Force 2025 (May 1996) — An Air Force research paper imagines future air and space capabilities by 2025.
- ALH84001 Mars meteorite announcement (7 August 1996) — NASA announces possible signs of past life in Mars rock ALH84001.
See every 1996 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Mathew Bevan — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Ex-hacker to help Nintendo", The Register (Mar 2001) · theregister.com · archived copy
- Computer Underground Digest 10.09 (text archive) · mirror.cyberbits.eu · archived copy
- medium.com · medium.com · archived copy
- irp.fas.org · irp.fas.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Hangar 18 (the legend and 1980 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
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.
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