Richard Doty

Background

Richard C. “Rick” Doty began his service as a special agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico during the 1970s. His assigned responsibilities included examining reports of unusual aerial activity near the base and its restricted training ranges. Official duties placed him in a counterintelligence role that required documentation of civilian observations potentially linked to sensitive test programs. A scanned October 1980 AFOSI Form 96 records his involvement in one such case. Doty has described receiving a 1979 briefing that addressed historical crash-retrieval reports near Corona and Roswell, New Mexico. These details come solely from his later public statements and remain without independent corroboration in released government files.

In 1980 Albuquerque physicist and businessman Paul Bennewitz began reporting electronic signals and lights he associated with unidentified craft operating near Kirtland. AFOSI opened a file on the reports and assigned Doty to the matter. Doty later stated that he received instructions to steer Bennewitz toward an extraterrestrial explanation rather than toward classified aircraft testing. Over subsequent years he supplied forged documents describing nonexistent extraterrestrial projects, altered radar logs, and staged briefings. The stated operational purpose was to divert attention from protected military activities. These actions are documented through Doty’s own admissions rather than through declassified operational orders.

Bennewitz accepted the supplied materials and increased his monitoring efforts. Doty has estimated that the multi-year effort cost between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand dollars and involved personnel from multiple agencies. He has described the work as conducted under military regulations and orders transmitted through AFOSI channels. Bennewitz eventually experienced severe psychological distress. No public records released by the Department of Defense confirm the precise scope or budget of the operation, leaving the cost figures dependent on Doty’s testimony. The October 1980 AFOSI Form 96 establishes only that Doty was assigned to the case.

Beyond the Bennewitz matter, Doty has stated that he provided documents to other civilian researchers, including Linda Moulton Howe. Those documents later appeared in UFO literature. He has also claimed involvement in the 1984 release of the first Majestic-12 documents to researchers William Moore and Jaime Shandera. Each of these assertions rests on Doty’s personal accounts given in interviews. No government records have been produced that verify the chain of custody or the origin of the documents in question. Researchers therefore treat the claims as unconfirmed testimony rather than established fact.

Doty’s AFOSI service concluded in 1988. After leaving government employment he worked for the state of New Mexico. He later spent twelve years at the Institute for Advanced Studies alongside Harold Puthoff. These positions are noted in biographical summaries but lack detailed public documentation of specific duties or security clearances held during that period. Doty began appearing on UFO-related programs in the mid-2010s. His post-service employment record contains no indication of continued official intelligence work.

In a February 2005 appearance on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell and Greg Bishop, Doty confirmed that he had dispensed disinformation to Bennewitz and described the operational goal of protecting classified projects. He repeated similar accounts in a 2016 discussion with Steven Greer and in later interviews, including a 2025 episode of Rebelliously Curious and a 2026 Area52 episode. These public statements constitute the primary source for details of the Bennewitz operation. Transcripts and recordings preserve the admissions, yet they remain first-person recollections without contemporaneous corroborating documents from AFOSI files.

Critics observe that Doty’s additional claims concerning alien biology, live extraterrestrial biological entities, reverse-engineering programs, and specific crash sites lack support in government records. Such assertions rest entirely on his personal testimony. Some researchers interpret the disclosures as an extension of earlier disinformation practices, while others regard them as firsthand accounts from a participant in classified counterintelligence work. Official context limits verification to the existence of the 1980 case file and Doty’s confirmed AFOSI assignment.

As of 2026 Richard Doty remains active in UFO disclosure circles through podcast appearances. No public records indicate ongoing government employment or other professional positions beyond these media engagements. His documented service at Kirtland AFB through 1988 and his confirmed 2005 admission regarding the Bennewitz operation constitute the verified elements of his career. Broader assertions about extraterrestrial projects continue to depend on uncorroborated personal statements.

Where They Are Now

As of 2026 Richard Doty remains active in UFO disclosure circles. He has appeared in recent podcast interviews including a 2025 episode of Rebelliously Curious and a 2026 Area52 episode discussing his AFOSI experiences and views on contemporary UAP claims.

No public records indicate ongoing government employment or other professional positions beyond these media appearances.

Last updated 7 November 2026

Sources

• Richard Doty | Disclosdex

  Confirms AFOSI role, 2005 Coast to Coast admission, October 1980 AFOSI Form 96 on Bennewitz case, and scope of disinformation operation

• Richard Doty - Ikwipedia

  Details AFOSI service dates through 1988, Bennewitz operation timeline and cost estimates, and later MJ-12 involvement claims

• Ex-Air Force Law Enforcement Agent Says He Hoaxed Major UFO Mythologies | HuffPost

  2014 interview account of Doty confirming documents given to Bennewitz and operational instructions from AFOSI