Great question, but most likely a 1984 hoax based upon and inspired by the Robertson Panel.
As the story goes, following the Roswell Incident, The Majestic 12 (aka MJ-12) was supposedly formed in 1947 by executive order of President Truman and composed of a vast array of twelve experts for the purpose of establishing policies and procedures for the retrieval and investigation of crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft—including protocol for any future retrievals and encounters—which presumes there had been such an incident in the past (The Rowell Incident). Aside from Truman, James Forrestal is perhaps the most notable member of the group who’s untimely and suspicious death aids in fueling the fires of the conspiracy.
In 1984, film containing images of this policy manual was anonymously leaked to Ufologist Jaime Shandera. There are a number of issues with the “manual” such as what appears to be a pasted signature by President Truman, non-government dating procedures, Admiral Hillenkoetter’s unprecise rank, and the anonymity of the source. There’s also some circumstantial evidence to suggest that it may have been inspired by a potential movie script, but most likely the Robertson Panel may have been the original catalyst for the MJ-12.
Fueled by the 1952 Washington D.C. UFO sightings, the Robertson Panel (named after and chaired by Dr. Howard Robertson), was commissioned by the Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) and CIA in January 1953 to investigate UFOs. The CIA review itself was in response to widespread reports of unidentified flying objects, especially in the Washington, D.C. area, during the summer of 1952.
Like the supposed MJ-12, the Robertson Panel is a “who’s who” of various experts from a diversity of fields, one of which, Lloyd vel Berkner, a physicist, is listed as a member of both groups. The Robertson Panel concluded in what is commonly referred to as the “Durant Report” that UFOs were not a direct threat to national security.
The potential for using UFOs to create hysteria in the U.S. by the Soviets, however, was deemed as a potential threat to national security. Therefore, due to the time and manpower needed to investigate them, UFOs were considered an unnecessary distraction of Air Force and government personnel and resources. To aid in decreasing reports and any potential hysteria, the Robertson Panel recommended a public education campaign on the topic.
