The Aviary

The Aviary is an informal group of U.S. military and intelligence community personnel involved in investigating UFOs and in deliberately spreading disinformation about them during the 1970s and 1980s. The name refers to the fact that its members are known by codenames derived from the names of birds. The term was invented in 1984 by Bill Moore and his partner Jaime Shandera as a private shorthand for discussing their government sources, particularly on the telephone.

Bill Moore's 1989 MUFON confession

At a 1989 Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) conference, Bill Moore confessed that he had intentionally fed fabricated evidence of extraterrestrials to UFO researchers including Paul Bennewitz.

Moore stated that in early September 1980, he was approached by "a well-placed individual within the intelligence community" who claimed direct connection to a high-level government project dealing with UFOs. This individual, who subsequently became known as "Falcon," told Moore he spoke for a small group who were uncomfortable with the government's continuing cover-up and wished to help Moore's research in the hope of finding a way to change prevailing policy and "get the facts out without breaking any laws." Moore stated he knew he was being recruited.

Moore was told that a liaison person would arrange future meetings with Falcon. The liaison who subsequently contacted him was AFOSI agent Richard Doty, "a man who has since become quite controversial in his own right and who many people have mistakenly assumed is the Falcon himself."

Moore explained that the name "Falcon" was invented by himself and Jaime Shandera in 1984, "strictly as a way of facilitating our talking to each other about this person particularly on the telephone without having to use a name." Doty, the continuing liaison, was similarly referred to as "Sparrow." Neither Sparrow nor Falcon were aware of these codenames prior to about mid-1985.

In mid-1987, just after Moore and Shandera went public with the MJ-12 papers, at Falcon's suggestion and with Doty's concurrence, they began dropping subtle hints that Falcon might in fact be Doty. Falcon felt such a ploy would be useful in continuing to protect his identity, while Doty said he could simply deny it if asked. Moore described Doty as "much better at following orders and implementing the schemes of others than he is at coming up with ideas of his own."

UFO Cover Up? -- Live broadcast

The Falcon-Doty misdirection proved effective particularly in the aftermath of the nationally broadcast television program UFO Cover Up? -- Live in October 1988, in which two silhouetted figures identified as "Falcon" and "Condor" appeared as MJ-12 sources.

Contradicting accounts: Doty as Falcon

Robert Hastings contradicted Moore's description of Doty's role. According to Hastings, Linda Moulton Howe told him that when Sergeant Doty invited her to his office at Kirtland AFB in early April 1983, and showed her a purportedly authentic U.S. Government document on UFOs, Doty identified himself as code-name "Falcon" and stated that it was Bill Moore who had given him that name.

Additionally, in early December 1988, a ranking member of the UFO Cover Up? -- Live production team confirmed to Hastings that Doty was "Falcon." The same individual identified the second MJ-12 source who appeared on the program, "Condor," as Robert Collins, who was until recently a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and had been stationed at KAFB.

Expansion of the Aviary

Over time, Moore and Shandera became aware of additional government sources involved with Falcon and Sparrow, and continued assigning bird codenames to each. Moore stated "there are now 12 in the aviary," describing them as "all credible people, well-placed as employees, scientific consultants, or intelligence agents." He characterized each member's principal area of access: "Hawk is a person well-connected in areas of study in ESP since the 1960s, with impressive credentials. Blue Jay is a person close to the President of the United States, capable of checking on information to determine its reliability. Partridge is a scientist privy to UFO information collected by the government. Chickadee is well-placed in the Pentagon and versed in scientific data. Heron is enigmatic and puzzling; he seems to 'speak in riddles.'" Moore assessed that the operation "started originally from the National Security Agency (NSA) and high levels of the AFOSI."

List of members

See also

• Project Aquarius

References