These actions established a buffer between the President and the information.
It was intended that this buffer serve as a means for the President to deny
knowledge if leaks divulged the true state of affairs. This buffer was used in
later years for the purpose of effectively isolating succeeding Presidents from
any knowledge of the alien presence other than what the Secret Government and
the Intelligence Community wanted them to know. NSC-10/2 established a study
panel which met secretly and was made up of the scientific minds of the day.
The study panel was not called MJ-12. Another secret memo NSC-10/5 further outl-ined the duties of the study panel. These NSC memos and secret Executive Orders
set the stage for the creation of MJ-12 only four years later. Secretary of
State James Forrestal began to object to the secrecy. He was a very idealistic
and religious man who belived that the public should be told. When he began to
talk to leaders of the opposition party and leaders of the Congress about the
alien problem he was asked to resign by Truman. He expressed his fears to many
people and rightfully belive that he was being watched. This was interpreted by
those who were ignorant of the facts as paranoia. Forrestal later was said to
have suffered a mental breakdown and was admitted to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. In fact it was feared that Forrestal would begin to talk again and had to be
isolated and discredited. Sometime in the early morning of May 22, 1949 agents
of the CIA tied a sheet around his neck, fastened the other end to a fixture in
his room and threw James Forrestal out of the window. The sheet tore and he plu-mmeted to his death. He became one of the first victims of the cover-up.