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Richard Doty

Intelligence

Former AFOSI agent whose Bennewitz disinformation admissions shaped contested MJ-12, Dulce, and UFO whistleblower lore

Occupation — Former AFOSI Special Agent

Disclosure Rating — 2/10

Richard C. "Rick" Doty is a former U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations special agent and Kirtland Air Force Base counterintelligence officer who in a 2005 Coast to Coast AM interview admitted feeding UFO disinformation to civilian researcher Paul Bennewitz in the early 1980s.123 His admitted activities involved Bennewitz, Manzano Base, and civilian UFO researchers; he later attached his name to extraordinary claims about Majestic 12, alien bodies, a "yellow book," secret liaison programs, and recovered technology; those claims remain testimony from a self-described disinformation participant, not corroborated by government records.345

  AFOSI Service and Kirtland Counterintelligence

AFOSI's official Air Force fact sheet describes the agency as the Air Force's felony-level investigative service, with criminal, fraud, counterintelligence, technology-protection, and special-access-program security roles.1

A scanned October 1980 AFOSI Form 96 names Special Agent Richard C. Doty in the Kirtland file on Paul Bennewitz's reported aerial-light sightings near restricted test ranges.2 In a February 27, 2005 Coast to Coast AM transcript with Art Bell and Greg Bishop, Doty identified himself as an AFOSI agent and said he was the counterintelligence officer for Kirtland when information about Bennewitz reached his office.3

  Targeting Paul Bennewitz

Paul Bennewitz was an Albuquerque businessman and electronics specialist who lived near Kirtland and the Manzano weapons area.3 Bishop told Bell that Bennewitz began noticing lights and signals around 1979, contacted the Air Force, and gave a presentation in early 1980 after officials grew concerned he might have observed sensitive base activity.3 Doty's own account in the same transcript says Bennewitz reported unusual occurrences near Manzano, showed AFOSI cameras and electronic-gathering equipment aimed toward the base, and became the subject of a report because he appeared able to tap sensitive communications or projects.3

When Bell asked whether he had dispensed disinformation, Doty answered yes.3 He said the operation tried to make Bennewitz believe officials were deeply interested, then feed him information that would lead him away from what AFOSI wanted protected.3 Doty described the effort as a team operation, not a lone act, and said it was supposed to be short term but spread because a seeded story can be carried onward by the target and by the surrounding community.3

  Aquarius, Moore, and the MJ-12 Drift

The Bennewitz affair became larger because it intersected with William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident, and the mid-1980s document culture around the Majestic 12 papers.345 In the 2005 transcript, Bishop said Moore later admitted at the 1989 MUFON convention in Las Vegas that he had become an asset to Air Force intelligence, while Doty said Moore was recruited by another defense-intelligence figure and that Doty was tasked with contacting him.3 Doty also said some information given to Moore was false and part of a disinformation operation.3

Greg Bishop's Project Beta framed Bennewitz as a case in which national-security secrecy, UFO belief, and media feedback produced a modern myth; Simon & Schuster's publisher page describes the book as the story of Bennewitz, the Air Force, Moore, and an alleged psychological-profile and disinformation campaign.6 Skeptical writer David E. Thomas, summarizing B. D. "Duke" Gildenberg's research in Skeptical Inquirer, connected Doty, Bennewitz, Moore, the "Project Aquarius" material, and the growth of the MJ-12 legend, while arguing that classified balloon and reconnaissance work near Coyote Canyon offered a prosaic source for some observations.7

The federal counter-record is much harder on MJ-12 than on the possibility of ordinary classified activity. The National Archives says searches across Air Force, Joint Chiefs, Truman Library, Eisenhower Library, National Security Council, and related records were negative except for the disputed Cutler-Twining memorandum, which has filing, marking, watermark, appointment-book, and meeting-record problems.4 GAO reported in 1995 that the Air Force, National Archives, and Information Security Oversight Office knew of Majestic 12 only from material submitted by nongovernment persons, found no evidence it originated in the executive branch, and said the Air Force determined a 1980 "MJ Twelve" message was a forgery.5

  Howe, Mirage Men, and the Public Reckoning

Doty's 2005 interview also tied him to Linda Moulton Howe. He said an operation against Howe occurred in the 1983-1984 period, when she was working on a UFO special, and that she was invited to Kirtland, shown UFO-related information, and led along with promised material that never arrived.3 Bell and Bishop connected that promise to an HBO-backed special, and Doty said the effort was meant to lead Howe astray.3 The interview then moved to sweeping extraterrestrial claims, including Roswell film, alien beings, and a "yellow book," while Bell explicitly challenged how anyone could know Doty was not still disinforming the audience.3 Bishop responded that Doty's claims would need to be checked against other sources and held over time.3

Skyhorse's page for Mark Pilkington's Mirage Men describes the book as an investigation of the relationship between U.S. military or intelligence agencies and UFO believers.8 The official Mirage Men site says the film grew from John Lundberg and Pilkington's interest in Doty and describes Doty as an early-1980s AFOSI special agent entangled in a campaign to inject UFO rumors into conspiracy circles.9 Steve Rose's 2014 Guardian feature on the film noted that Doty admits infiltration and falsehoods but that the film does not make his later claims automatically reliable.10 A 2025 Debrief interview presents Doty reflecting on Bennewitz, Howe, reparations, and recent UAP whistleblower claims.11

  Whistleblower Claims After a Disinformation Career

In 2006 Doty co-authored Exempt from Disclosure with Robert M. Collins and Timothy S. Cooper, a book whose subtitle joins UFOs, aliens, MJ-12, Area 51/S4, Los Alamos reverse engineering, and a "Crystal Rectangle."12

Doty admitted on the record that he helped feed false UFO material to civilians in the 1980s.3 His later claims of wider official programs, nonhuman entities, and crash-retrieval secrets rest on his own testimony, media appearances, and a document ecosystem that federal archival reviews and skeptics have treated with deep suspicion.31112457

  References

  References

  1. af.mil ↩ ↩2

  2. openminds.tv ↩ ↩2

  3. openminds.tv ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18

  4. archives.gov ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. gao.gov ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Greg Bishop, Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth, Simon & Schuster publisher page ↩

  7. David E. Thomas, "Retired Air Force Balloon Expert Expands on Origin of 'Majestic 12' UFO Hoax," Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 2000 ↩ ↩2

  8. Mark Pilkington, Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs, Skyhorse Publishing ↩

  9. John Lundberg, "Genesis," Mirage Men official site ↩

  10. Steve Rose, "The real Men in Black, Hollywood and the great UFO cover-up," The Guardian, August 14, 2014 ↩

  11. Chrissy Newton, "Richard Doty: Disinformation, Paul Bennewitz, and UAP Whistleblower Fallout," The Debrief, March 14, 2025 ↩ ↩2

  12. Robert M. Collins, Richard C. Doty, and Timothy S. Cooper, Exempt from Disclosure, Google Books bibliographic record ↩ ↩2

Born on January 1, 1970

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