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57 with the original security classification words crossed out in quasi-official style (by Moore, as it turned out). At the MUFON symposium at American University in Washington, D.C., in June 1987, the full document was released by Moore and company. But as verification was still lacking, this kicked off a flurry of rumors, denials, and accusations. Before the meaning and the importance of the Eisenhower briefing paper can be judged, it first must be shown that it is genuine, and that has so far proved extremely difficult. Simply asking the appropriate people in the government if it is real would seem to be the logical way to find out. Failing this, a request under the useful provisions of the Freedom of Informa- tion Act would be in order. But any document as highly classi- fied as this one appears to be on its face would be known to but a few especially trustworthy individuals who could be counted on to keep their mouths shut about it. The Freedom of Infor- mation Act, as effective as it can be, does not provide entree to highly classified information whose very existence is easy to deny and all but impossible to prove. If the Eisenhower briefing paper is an officially approved hoax, finding the person or office responsible for its creation and then extracting a confession would be next to impossible. It would therefore appear that keeping the document from being proved either genuine or fake is all but guaranteed. It is certain to remain controversial until someone comes forth with proof, one way or the other. The immediate reaction to the emergence of the document, from several factions—both pro- and anti-UFO reality—was to declare it a hoax, even a "proven hoax." Alleged discrepancies in the form, or the typeface, or the official jargon claimed to have been standard in 1952 were trumpeted as proof that it had been concocted by unknown parties for purposes never made quite clear. Proponents of the paper's validity, along with others not ready to condemn it as a fake on the basis of some- what flimsy evidence, set to work to find out all they could about the document, without any great expectations of arriv- ing at a final answer. MAJESTIC-12