MOORE, William L.

William Leonard Moore (born 1943) is an American author and ufologist who played a central role in popularizing the Roswell incident and became a controversial figure after admitting to participating in government disinformation operations. Moore co-authored *The Roswell Incident* (1980) with Charles Berlitz, the first book to present the 1947 Roswell crash as an extraterrestrial event rather than a weather balloon.

Moore's research into the Roswell case was based primarily on interviews with Major Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer who initially recovered debris from the crash site. The book transformed Roswell from a forgotten local news story into the foundation of modern UFO mythology, establishing many of the narrative elements that continue to define the case.

In the mid-1980s, Moore became associated with controversial documents known as the Majestic 12 papers, which purported to show President Truman authorizing a top-secret committee to manage extraterrestrial contact. Moore received these documents anonymously and helped publicize them, though their authenticity remains disputed among researchers.

At the 1989 MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) symposium, Moore shocked the UFO community by admitting he had worked with U.S. Air Force intelligence sources in a disinformation campaign against fellow researcher Paul Bennewitz. Moore claimed he was promised access to genuine UFO information in exchange for monitoring and misleading Bennewitz, who was investigating activities near Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Moore's admission damaged his credibility within the UFO research community and raised questions about the authenticity of information he had promoted, including the Majestic 12 documents and aspects of his Roswell investigation.