Richard C. Doty, U.S. AFOSI

Background

Sergeant Richard C. Doty served as a Special Agent in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. During the late Cold War era, his work placed him at the intersection of nuclear security, counterintelligence, and the management of sensitive UFO-related information. Kirtland AFB and the adjoining Manzano Base — home to one of the United States’ most heavily fortified nuclear storage facilities — were focal points of alleged UFO activity, making Doty’s role especially significant in both the defense and anomalous domains.

UFO Security and Manzano Base

Doty’s service at Kirtland positioned him near the classified operations of Manzano Base, where multiple reports described incursions of unidentified aerial phenomena near restricted nuclear weapons storage areas. As an AFOSI officer, Doty was involved in investigations and response protocols that linked UFOs directly to nuclear security concerns. His association with these events has made him a controversial but central figure in discussions of how the Air Force handled anomalous incidents threatening critical infrastructure. For some researchers, his insider perspective represents one of the rare glimpses into official responses to UFO intrusions at strategic sites.

Counterintelligence and Disinformation

Beyond security duties, Doty became widely known for his role in the dissemination of UFO-related disinformation. His interactions with civilian researchers, including Paul Bennewitz, involved feeding controlled narratives about extraterrestrial contact and secret government projects. While intended as a counterintelligence maneuver — likely to redirect or contain inquiries into sensitive aerospace and electronic warfare programs — these efforts created enduring myths within the UFO community. Doty himself has acknowledged involvement in deliberate misdirection, though he has also maintained that genuine anomalous events underpinned the narratives he conveyed.

Project SERPO

One of the most enduring stories associated with Doty is his knowledge of “Project SERPO,” the alleged secret exchange program between the U.S. government and an extraterrestrial civilization. According to the account, a select group of American military personnel were sent to another planet in the Zeta Reticuli system in the 1960s and lived there for over a decade. Doty’s name has been repeatedly tied to the dissemination of this narrative, whether as a source of direct knowledge or as an operative ensuring its circulation. While mainstream investigators remain divided on whether SERPO was a deliberate fabrication, disinformation campaign, or contained kernels of truth, Doty’s fingerprints are all over its persistence within UFO lore.

Legacy and Controversy

Richard Doty remains one of the most polarizing figures in the UFO field. For some, he is viewed as a manipulator who sowed confusion and discredited legitimate research by entangling it with elaborate fabrications. For others, he is a reluctant whistleblower whose actions exposed the blurry boundary between classified defense programs and real anomalous phenomena. His involvement at Kirtland and Manzano Base grounds his reputation in genuine UFO-security connections, while his role in projects like SERPO cements his place in the mythology of disclosure. Regardless of interpretation, Doty embodies the tension between secrecy, security, and the management of extraordinary information within the U.S. military-intelligence apparatus.

Implications

The career of Richard Doty highlights how UFO phenomena have been entangled with nuclear security, counterintelligence, and psychological operations. His activities underscore the possibility that government disinformation campaigns were designed to both protect sensitive national security projects and to obscure the real extent of anomalous encounters. By linking UFOs with nuclear facilities and circulating stories such as Project SERPO, Doty influenced decades of UFO discourse. His legacy serves as a cautionary tale about the difficulties of distinguishing truth from strategic deception, yet also affirms that the subject was — and remains — of deep interest within national defense circles.