Vallée on the disinformation campaign (1989)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 17 September 1989 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Disinformation & hoaxes (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, John Lear, William Moore, Paul Bennewitz, Bob Lazar, Richard Doty |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 104 |
| Year | 1989 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1989 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 11 |
On 17 September 1989 Jacques Vallée wrote in his journal that he saw evidence of a large disinformation campaign around UFOs, but could find no trace of what it was meant to conceal.[1]
The entry
In the same entry Vallée summarised years of inquiry into whether the U.S. government had a secret UFO project: photo-interpretation pioneer Arthur Lundahl was unaware of one, CIA scientist Kit Green had found nothing, and two officers denied any briefings about a UFO threat. He concluded he had no evidence, not even a hint, of an active black project, yet the disinformation was real.[1]
The context
The timing is significant. In the late 1980s the Majestic 12 documents were circulating; John Lear and others were spreading stories of alien treaties and underground bases; and at the MUFON symposium in Las Vegas in July 1989 researcher William Moore admitted he had cooperated with Air Force intelligence agents, including Richard Doty, who fed false information to Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz. Later that year Bob Lazar went public with claims about alien craft at a site near Area 51.[2][3]
Vallée's thesis
Vallée had developed the theme in Messengers of Deception (1979), arguing that disinformation agents aimed "to make people believe in UFOs, by means of clever rumours and staged events" in order to hide other secrets. In later interviews he described Rendlesham Forest in 1980 as "an experiment in psychological war" and cited the Bennewitz affair as manipulation.[4]
Assessment
Later revelations about AFOSI agent Richard Doty's role support the view that at least some deliberate deception took place, though what it was meant to hide remains disputed.[2][3]
People and topics
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Disinformation — False information spread deliberately to mislead.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- MJ-12 — Disputed documents describing a secret committee managing crashed saucers.
- John Lear — Pilot and son of Bill Lear who spread claims of alien treaties in the late 1980s.
- MUFON — The largest civilian UFO organization in the United States.
- William Moore — Researcher who admitted in 1989 that he cooperated with intelligence agents in the Bennewitz affair.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Paul Bennewitz — Albuquerque physicist targeted by Air Force disinformation in the Bennewitz affair.
- Bob Lazar — Man who claimed in 1989 that he worked on alien craft at S-4 near Area 51.
- Messengers of Deception — Jacques Vallée's 1979 book on manipulation of UFO beliefs.
- Air Force Office of Special Investigations — The Air Force's criminal investigation and counterintelligence agency.
- Richard Doty — Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent who fed disinformation to UFO researchers in the 1980s.
On the Timeline
- Puthoff on tracking the phenomenon (1989) (11 July 1989) — Puthoff tells Vallée nobody seems to be tracking the phenomenon properly.
- Moriches Bay crash claim (28 September 1989) — An anonymous colonel claims a Star Wars weapon downed a UAP in Long Island's Moriches Bay.
See every 1989 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Was there secret US government research?", UFOs Scientific Research (Oct 2016) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- Majestic 12 — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Paul Bennewitz — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Gildas Bourdais, summary of Jacques Vallée's radio interview (Mar 2006), Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
- Kit Green — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Garry Nolan on UFO materials and Kit Green's patient studies (Vice interview) · exo.substack.com · archived copy
- Kit Green in Vallée's journals — Forbidden Science Dispatches · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Jacques Vallée — 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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