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65 In addition, September 2 was the day after Gen. Nathan Twining wrote his report on what was known about the flight characteristics of "flying saucers." What better time to take action by establishing a formal group to investigate sighting reports as well as crashes? Twining, according to his and his pilot's flight logs had flown to Alamagordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, on July 7, 1947, remaining in the state (with a side trip to Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque) until July 11 before returning to Wright Field. In a July 17 letter to an execu- tive of the Boeing Airplane Co. Twining wrote: "With deepest regrets we had to cancel our trip to the Boeing factory due to a very important and sudden matter th ¢ developed here." Could he have been in New Mexico in connection with the crash? Since there is obviously reason to believe (though perhaps not to accept completely) that the document is real, its content assumes considerable potential importance. If it fits what is known and what is reasonable, the chances of its legitimacy improve, as does its significance. The first paragraph of the text of the briefing paper describes the UFO situation prior to the New Mexico crash and fits what has long been known about the first rash of American "flying saucer" sightings in late June and early July 1947. But one has to wonder about the basis for the statement "Public reaction bordered on near hysteria at times." Most people reacted to the reports of saucer-shaped things scooting across the sky with laughter, not with hysteria or even near-hysteria. Perhaps someone was trying to take credit for preventing a panic within the government, if not out in public. Other statements in the first paragraph refer to alleged events that are even less well known. If there were "indepen- dent efforts by several different elements of the military to ascertain the nature and purpose of these objects in the inter- ests of national defense," only that by the Air Materiel Com- mand has ever been mentioned before. Who else was so MAJESTIC-12 CONTENT OF THE EISENHOWER BRIEFING PAPER