SUBJECT: REVIEW OF THE "PHOENIX PROJECT" BY PARANET FILE: UFO2495 PART 1 Filename: Par-Adv1.Inv Type : Investigations Author : Michael Corbin Date : 08/16/92 (Aprox) Desc. : Investigation into Phoenix Project Publishers Note : See also; PAR-ADVx.ZIP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Review of the "Phoenix Project" by ParaNet A few weeks ago, ParaNet received on-line copies of several documents which purported to come from a previously unknown organization called "The Phoenix Project". The project is described in the documents as a "private, civilian, research organization" which was "formed in 1952 to investigate and correlate information" concerning UFOs and ETs. According to the information contained in the documents, for a small price one can receive printed copies of the project's reports, complete with maps, magnetometer readings, and a host of other supporting charts and diagrams which serve to make the whole endeavor look scientific and legitimate. The documents we received were formulated as investigative reports on two of the hottest and most controversial issues within the UFO research community: the underground alien bases which are said to exist at numerous locations around the United States, and the cluster of alleged UFO-related projects sometimes referred to collectively as "Operation Majestic Twelve". Specifically, the material consisted of three separate documents: (1) "The Ultimate Secret", originally dated 4 August 1989 and revised most recently 5 May 1992, purporting to lay bare the inner workings of the government's secret UFO projects, including the recovery of alien technology and bodies from crashed UFOs, the exploitation of this technology by a number of code-named government projects, and the involvement of NASA and the SDI program in preparing for conflict with alien invaders; (2) "The Dulce Report", dated 27 May 1992, describing an on-site investigation of the Dulce and Archuleta Mesa area in New Mexico, which purportedly proved beyond any doubt that there is nothing there of any interest to UFO researchers despite persistent reports to the contrary; and (3) "The K-2 Report", originally dated 28 July 1989 and revised 27 June 1992, which purports to document the discovery of a genuine "secret alien base" in the Pilot Peak area of Plumas County, California. ParaNet quickly reviewed this material and posted it in its entirety for our subscribers, pursuant to the permissions attached to the material by the publisher. We also posted a preliminary evaluation which warned that the material might contain inaccuracies or deliberate disinformation. This evaluation was based on a number of factors: (1) much of the information in "The Ultimate Secret" about Operation Majestic Twelve and associated projects is clearly related to, and probably derived from, earlier material which has been dismissed as worthless by almost all reputable UFO researchers; (2) much of the information in "The Dulce Report" about Dulce and the Archuleta Mesa contradicts information already provided to ParaNet by other capable investigators; (3) some of the information in "The K-2 Report" is intrinsically implausible (although, admittedly, not impossible), such as the claim that a seasoned military intelligence operative "forgot" his camera when rushing to document a UFO landing site, or that by the next day that same landing site had been re-sodded by the aliens to obliterate all the evidence. ParaNet received the three documents as uploads from a Mr. Jack L. Mathias of Carson City, Nevada, who represented himself as the sole public spokesman for the Project. But the reports themselves name neither the authors of the documents nor the principals of the Phoenix Project. Instead, they cryptically state that they are the work of "former military personnel who have all been associated with intelligence activities, and have knowledge of covert government operations concerning UFO's". Given the sorry history of anonymous documents and "former" government agents in the UFO community, ParaNet felt it necessary to start its own investigation in an effort to determine just who was behind the Phoenix Project and what their motives might be. First we sent a letter to the post office box listed in the documents, asking for further information about the group; but the letter was not answered. We corresponded by electronic mail with Mr. Mathias, who represents himself as an agent for the group, but he refused to provide any of the information we requested. So much for the direct approach. Each document formally states that the Phoenix Project logo is a registered trademark (presumably in the state of Nevada, since that is where their mailing address is located), so we tried a query to the Nevada trademark office in Carson City. That office informed us that the state of Nevada has no record of any current trademarks under the "Phoenix Project" name. They did say that articles of incorporation were filed under the name of the Phoenix Project on 25 August 1988 by a Mr. Thomas Naylor of Las Vegas, Nevada. However, the corporation failed to file the names and addresses of its officers by 1 July 1989 as required by Nevada law, as a result of which the incorporation was revoked by the Nevada Secretary of State. And so we reached another apparent dead end, except for one bit of trivia uncovered by a ParaNet investigator in Las Vegas: An attorney named Thomas C. Naylor had recently moved into an office building at 2810 West Charleston in Las Vegas. Next we contacted the U.S. Postal Service in Carson City, Nevada to determine the box holder for the Phoenix Project's publisher, Advent Publishing Company. We were told that the box was registered to a Richard T. Miller, whose address was given as a mobile-home park in Carson City. Following this, we contacted the Clerk and Recorder's office in Carson City, and determined that a Richard Miller is listed with them as the legal owner of Advent Publishing. However, the telephone number they gave us for Mr. Miller has been disconnected, and directory assistance was unable to provide a new one. Another brick wall. To this point, all attempts to verify the Phoenix Project's legitimacy using conventional methods had proved futile, so we decided to try a different approach. The Phoenix Project explicitly and emphatically disclaims affiliation with any other groups using the name "Phoenix". And just to make sure everyone gets the message, each document states at the beginning that "[i]n particular, there is no affiliation with a publisher known as America West, any of its publications, or the individuals known as George and Desiree Green". Unfortunately, ParaNet has uncovered evidence that these disclaimers may be intended to conceal rather than to illuminate. America West, it turns out, is the publisher of a magazine called the Phoenix Liberator, which carries large quantities of channelled material alleged to originate with an entity from the Pleiades known as "Hatonn". The Phoenix Liberator has come under fire recently from some in the UFO community as anti-Semitic and neo-fascist. (See, for example, "Hatonn's World: A Neo-Nazi ET?" by Don Ecker in the July/August 1992 issue of UFO Magazine.) But "Hatonn" and his defenders vehemently deny the charge, and the whole affair has been widely and rather nastily trumpeted both on the net and in print. It seems that until recently America West Publishers and the Phoenix Liberator were operated out of Tehachapi, California. But a few days ago one of ParaNet's subscribers uploaded a response from "Hatonn" to Don Ecker, which he said he had pulled down from the Phoenix Liberator BBS; and with it he posted a new address for the Liberator. That address was all too familiar: 2810 West Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada--the same building, it seems, where an attorney named Thomas Naylor also has his new office. And then another strange coincidence: A posting coming across the Internet stated that before "Hatonn" channelled through his current host, he used to convey his messages through a Mr. Richard Miller, who started an organization which was known as the Solar Cross and which was apparently a forerunner of the Phoenix Liberator. Is this the same Richard Miller who owns the Phoenix Project's publisher, Advent Publishing Company? We do not yet know if the Thomas Naylor who tried to incorporate the Phoenix Project is the same Thomas Naylor who apparently shares 2810 West Charleston with the new offices of the Phoenix Liberator. We do not yet know if the Richard Miller who owns Advent Publishing is the same Richard Miller who reportedly once channelled "Hatonn". In short, we do not yet know if the Phoenix Project is truly an independent organization, or merely another incarnation of America West Publishers and the Phoenix Liberator. But the coincidences are certainly striking and suggestive. And in light of this we again urge extreme caution in dealing with the Phoenix Project material, until such time as a definitive assessment of the Project's motives and reliability can be made. ParaNet will keep you advised of our findings as they become available. If you have any information about the Phoenix Project, especially regarding its possible relationship with the Phoenix Liberator or America West Publishers, please send it to Michael Corbin by Internet mail to mcorbin@paranet.org; by Fidonet to 1:104/422; by U.S. Mail to P.O. Box 172, Wheat Ridge, CO 80034- 0172; ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo * **********************************************