History[edit]

Conspiracy-oriented literature postulates the existence of a secret government who are the true

power behind the apparent government. Examples of such literature include works by Dan

Smoot, William Guy Carr, Jim Marrs, Carroll Quigley, Gary Allen, Des Griffin, David Icke,

and Michael A. Hoffman II. Some of these authors believe members of the secret government may

represent or be agents for groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Royal Institute for

International Affairs, the Trilateral Commission, theBilderberg Group, CIA and MI6 in co-operation

with international banks and financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Bank for

International Settlements.[1][2][3] Also popularizing the idea was the hit US television show, The X-Files.

Milton William Cooper claimed that the shadow government was in cooperation with extraterrestrial

aliens. His 1991 book Behold A Pale Horse,[4][5] influential among "UFO and militia circles",[6] describes "the doings of the secret world government" and "a variety of other covert activities

associated with the Illuminati's declaration of war upon the people of America".[7] Cooper claimed to

have seen secret documents while in the Navy describing governmental dealings with aliens.

Cooper linked the Illuminati with his beliefs that extraterrestrials were secretly involved with the US

government, but later retracted these claims. He accused Dwight D. Eisenhower of negotiating a

treaty with extraterrestrials in 1954, then establishing an inner circle of Illuminati to manage relations

with them and keep their presence a secret from the general public. Cooper believed that aliens

"manipulated and/or ruled the human race through various secret societies, religions, magic,

witchcraft, and the occult", and that even the Illuminati were unknowingly being manipulated by

them.[4]

Cooper described the Illuminati as a secret international organization, controlled by the Bilderberg

Group, that conspired with the Knights of Columbus, Masons, Skull and Bones, and other

organizations. Its ultimate goal, he said, was the establishment of a New World Order. According to

Cooper the Illuminati conspirators not only invented alien threats for their own gain, but actively

conspired with extraterrestrials to take over the world.[4] Cooper believed that James Forrestal's fatal

fall from a window on the sixteenth floor ofBethesda Hospital was connected to the alleged secret

committee Majestic-12, and that JASON advisory group scientists reported to an elite group

of Trilateral Commission andCouncil on Foreign Relations executive committee members who were

high-ranking members of the Illuminati.[8][9]

See also[edit]