In 1984, Jaime Shandera allegedly received a brown envelope with an Albuquerque, New Mexico postmark containing a canister of exposed but undeveloped black & white 35mm film. Along with friends, he spent two years trying to authenticate the photographs. The documents became known as the Majestic-12 documents, or MJ-12.

The MJ-12 papers were an 8-page briefing to President Eisenhower discussing a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, another crash site at El Indio, Texas, in 1950, and listing the government members of the special MJ-12 research group. The 8-page document was dated 18 November, 1952, and named Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the briefing officer. Additionally, a memo from President Harry S Truman to Secretary of Defense Forrestal authorized the creation of the MJ-12 group.

A secret group of top-level government leaders, military officials, and scientists who supposedly coordinate the U.S. government's program to conceal the existence of UFOs and Alien beings. MJ-12(As they are known to UFOlogists) first emerged in UFO lore in the late 1980s when a noted reasercher recieved an anonymous delivery of what appeared to be secret government documents. The documents appeared to be a memorandom dating from 1947, establishing a secret committe to deal with the retrieval of crashed flying saucers near Roswell, New Mexico. The memos included dispatches from Harry Truman himself, and the MJ-12 group was alleged to have included such top military and scientific minds as Admiral Roscoe Hillenkeotter, Secretary of Defense James Forrestal (who would die by suicide shortly thereafter), and Dr. Vanner Bush. If the documents are taken at face value they tell a stunning tale. Upon the recovery of crashed saucers and extraterrestrial corpses, Truman's MJ-12 committe established a policy of total secrecy, while embarking on an effort to conduct a scientific investigations into alien beings. The committe also establishes guidelines for future protocols, creating and elite Air Force unit to pounce on any new crashed UFOs, and also establishing the rules by which retiring committe members will be replaced. The MJ-12 documents have been subjected to intense scrutiny by reasearchers within the field, and while some high-profile personalities (like wealthy Silicon Valley buisnessman Joe Firmage) are conviced of their authenticity, several researchers have offered evidence of a hoax (including inaccuracies in military-style date reporting). In either case MJ-12 files make for good reading.

Before you read this, know that it contains spoilers. If you ever plan to play Deus Ex, which I highly reccomend, even for non-gamers, DO NOT READ THIS!

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Majestic 12 is the Big Bad Organization in Deus Ex. They have a highly centralized communications hub which you must eventually deal with. Bob Page made Area 51 the global center to all communication, thereby allowing him to censor and control all media, independent or not. (It is assumed that he has assimilated all the NAPs or something of that nature, into this huge underground bunker.) MJ12 has several organic enemies you must face, as well as a few non-organic ones, which tend to be major pains in the ass.

• MJ12 Troopers tend to carry either a Sawed-off Shotgun, an Assault Rifle, or a Sniper Rifle. I've never encountered one with an assault shotgun, these seem to be reserved for the MiBs. urthpaw kindly informs me that in the MJ12 HQ (Level 4 of UNATCO), they do, in fact, carry assault shotguns.
• MJ12 Commandos will sometimes carry a bioelectric cell. They are armed with some form of fully automatic gun, as well as rocketlaunchers, which do not seem to be guided, as per the GEP Gun.
• MiBs. MiBs almost always carry Assault Shotguns, and they're rather good combatants, compared to the other guys. They have an interesting... overtone to their voice that is very disconcerting the first time you hear it. They will automatically self-destruct if you actually kill them, necessitating either a sniper rifle (or pistol/crossbow outfitted with a scope) for long distance kills or an electric prod, provided you can sneak up to them. On easy difficulty (which I play because I like the story and I'm a wimp :P), it takes 4 shocks from a prod to down one from behind, when they're unware. For perspective, your average NSF terrorist or MJ12 troop takes one shock if you get them in the head from behind. There are a few articles in the datacubes you'll find when you're in the secret MJ12 facility under the UNATCO compound. BTW, the game makes a distinction between dead and unconscious, and if you merely sedate these fellas (with a lot of tranquilizer darts or a prod), not only will they not blow up, but you can get the stuff they carry, which usually happens to be handy. I am informed by Zerotime that he has seen them carrying flamethrowers and GEP guns, which I'll have to confirm sometime.
• Female MiBs (WiBs?) carry a Dragon's Tooth sword and a stealth pistol. Same thing about unconsciousness and blowing up goes for the WiBs as for the MiBs. Thanks to Zerotime for making me remember the WiBs.
• Karkians (/msg me if I spelled that wrong.) are "non-mendellian" critters created by MJ12. They really don't mind eating whatever they can, provided that it is both non-karkian and non-metal. A good way to distract a karkian for a few moments is to drag a body in front of it. There are also baby karkians, which are smaller, do a little less damage, but are harder to directly hit with GEP rounds *evil grin*.
• Greasels are the other non-mendellian you have to deal with. They spit a poison that will make your screen act the way it does when you take copious amounts of zyme or alcohol (or tranquilizer darts for that matter). Then they will swarm you and try to kill you. With master-level rifle discipline, it takes 1 or 2 shots to get these little buggers.

That's all for now, more as I play Deus Ex endlessly.