A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
This work is the result of years of effort and is, to the very best of my knowledge, all true. Some of the names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals involved, and the dates may not be exactly correct, but everything written here has been corroborated and verified to the maximum extent possible. Which, given the events, the secrecy, and the personalities of the individuals involved, is no small achievement.
It’s hard to say for certain when the story truly began. The group that would become Majestic was founded more than a century ago, in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The Illuminati and the now-defunct Exodus organization both trace their lineage back to the Crusades, though how much of this is true, how much is propaganda, and how much has been lost to history is a matter of some debate.
The stories presented here are the stories I grew up with. They were told to me by my parents, as well as by Robert and Hector Lorenzo, Jill Del Toro, and Skyler Wheaton. I didn’t learn many of the more grisly details until I was grown, and even then I was sworn to secrecy.
Compiling this work, corroborating the stories, interviewing the people involved, redacting what needed to be redacted, and actually getting it published took countless person-hours of work. It required a seemingly endless series of Freedom of Information Act requests, years of lobbying, several lawsuits, and a meeting with the President of the United States, and I could not have done it without the tireless efforts of my team. I would also like to personally and publicly thank Robert Lorenzo, whose honor, integrity, and dedication to upholding the Constitution made this possible. I would also like to thank the generous support of the Wheaton Foundation for Government and Corporate Accountability. Without the resources and financing of the WFGCA, this project likely never would have seen the light of day.
We don’t learn from history by forgetting it, or by burying it in secrecy and lies. The machinations of governments, non-governmental organizations, and secret, powerful, unaccountable groups cost millions of innocent people their lives. Cities were razed, nations were plunged into chaos and violence, and in the case of China, the result was a bloody civil war that saw the first battlefield use of nuclear weapons since 1945.
Closer to home, a decades-long, invisible coup sought to wrest control of the United States from its flawed, but legitimate, government and place it in the hands of a cabal of shadowy individuals. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that the entire world was threatened by the actions of a powerful few, moving in secret, protected by wealth and the bloated leviathan of government(s).
Had we stayed on this path, we might have seen the rise of a new technological dark age, and of an omnipresent, unaccountable, and perpetual surveillance state seemingly ripped from the nightmares of George Orwell and Ray Bradbury. The course of history was altered by actions of a few people, who through chance, luck, or providence, were in the right place, at the right time, and had the audacity to do what needed to be done.
Robert Heinlein once said that the price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle, anywhere, any time, and with utter recklessness. Driving this point home, the stories collected in this work aren’t pleasant to read. The road the people involved walked was lonely and violent, and along the way they had to make many difficult decisions. I don’t ask you to agree with the choices they made, only to understand how and why they made them. It is perhaps too easy to judge, from the comfort and safety of the present, and with the clarity of hindsight. It is important to remember that things we take for granted now were unclear or unknown at the time.
As we enter the latter half of the 21st century, it’s critical that we understand the past. We very narrowly averted disaster, and will only avert it in future if we learn from history. The lessons are harsh, but we must face them with the determination to do better going forward. Future generations are counting on us.
—Sarah Song-Valentine