George Knapp: You had these battles with UFO people for years. And they accuse you of this and that and mention it in books. It caused actual harm in your life. Two investigations, right?
Rick Doty: Yes, in 1987, I was investigated by the FBI for the MJ-12 documents. They claimed, the UFO researchers claimed I released them, I created them. I went through an investigation by the FBI, I was cleared. I took a polygraph, I was cleared. And again in ’89, a different aspect of it became public. The FBI called me, and the same agent who investigated me the first time, and said, “I hate to do this again, but I need to talk to you again about this.” And, and I was cleared obviously on that one. And then a third time that actually happened, when Bob Collins wrote the book, “Exempt From Disclosure.” He put something in that book, and they thought that information came from me. So the FBI showed up at my doorstep with a search warrant and took my hard drive from my computer. And they looked at it. They came back later and told me it was clear, didn’t contain anything. And they paid me. They paid me $600 for another hard drive. They didn’t give me my hard drive back. And they did find out who released that to Robert Collins. That was somebody out of Los Alamos, and they went after that guy, but I didn’t do it.
Knapp: So there’s serious ramifications. This is no game for you.
Doty: Exactly. Absolutely. I’ve spent money on attorneys, either suing or during the FBI investigations, I had to hire attorneys.
READ: Mystery Men: The absurd story of Richard Doty
Knapp: I don’t want to go into too much detail about MJ-12, but you’ve been a link to that story and Bill Moore for a long time. You mentioned … you made a comment in passing earlier today that you think there’s legitimate information in there.
Doty: Yes. I’m 90% sure that there’s legitimate information. Those documents were created based on actual documents. The documents that were released weren’t. And the Air Force covered itself, the government cover itself by saying, “These aren’t legitimate documents.” Not that the information contained in it was not.
Knapp: Can you say whether there was an organization like that?
Doty: Yes, there was.
Knapp: You think that still exists?
Doty: I’m sure. I’m positive it exists. I know that when Project Blue Book — and I was briefed into the program in 1979 — and one of the things they mentioned in the report, in the briefing, was that the Air Force ceased its investigation of UFOs in 1969, based on the Condon report, but they continued a classified investigative program, which intelligence officers were involved in. And when they needed a depository for the information from Project Blue Book, they were looking for an agency that wanted it, and DIA was only 10 years old, they raised their hand and said, “We’ll take it.” And at that time, and during my time in, I know DIA had a repository for that information. Whether it’s still does today, I don’t know.
Knapp: You just heard a presentation of our stuff about DIA having a study that was ongoing, and there was a collection effort. It makes sense that they would collect that information when there’s an encounter with national security implications, our weapons or nukes or something like that.
Doty: Absolutely. Yeah, any threat to national security, the government’s going to investigate, and they’re going to collect information, they’re going to do thorough investigations, they’re going to interview the people, collect all that data possible out there. And that has to go someplace. To DIA.
The Interview:
- Spy admits government watched UFO researchers — and it continues today
- Former spy found himself accused, then cleared, twice in ’80s MJ-12 leak
- UFO threat a legitimate concern, former investigator believes
- UFOs: Former spy Rick Doty’s role in a controversial case, and national security concerns
- Bob Lazar’s accuracy on UFOs, Area 51’s front door, and ‘clearing’ a controversial book
Knapp: You of all people understand the arguments of ufologists, and the passion that they make, “Hey, we want to know what’s going on.” But you also understand the flipside of why that information would not be released. Can you make the case of why there need to be secrets on that topic, whether the vault of secrets that exists should be kept closed?
Doty: Well, one of the main reasons is research and development. We have a great research and development program going on within the military today. And we have to fly, we eventually have to fly these crafts they’re creating, they’re making such as 117, the F-22, back to the SR-71. And people are going to see these things flying. And they’re classified. So that type of technology has to be kept out of our adversaries’ hands, the Russians are still our adversaries today. Also, the Chinese. So that’s why there is a program to maybe discredit or disinform people that, “Hey, what you’re seeing is UFOs. It’s not US crafts.”
Knapp: So, you’ve got to be careful when you get this information?
Doty: Absolutely. Very careful.
NEXT STORY: UFO threat a legitimate concern, former investigator believes
