Editing Paul Bennewitz (section)

== Interest During 1980's Builds ==
Bennewitz later began contacting UFO researchers. On April 8, 1983, Bennewitz was discussed in a UPI wire story about his supposed 1980 filming of UFOs over the Manzano Weapons Storage facility.<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/image/157447189/</ref> He also reported being in communication with aliens via his computer.<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/image/784735876/</ref>

In 1984, Bennewitz's relationship with the government was detailed in UFO conspiracy book ''Clear Intent: the government coverup of the UFO experience''<ref>https://archive.org/details/clearintentgover00fawc/page/228/</ref>

The story spread rapidly within the UFO community and by 1987, UFOlogist John Lear claimed he had independent confirmations of the base's existence.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=afcEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88</ref>

In 1986, George Clinton Andrews discussed Dulce Base legends in his book ''Extra-Terrestrials Among Us''.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=bRnpjmamWsYC</ref> In 1988, the tabloid ''Weekly World News'' published a story entitled "UFO base found in New Mexico" which claimed that "diabolical invaders from another solar system have set up a secret underground base in the rugged mountains of northern New Mexico – so they can shanghai human guinea pigs for bizarre genetic experiments". The ''Weekly World News'' story used supposed quotes from UFOlogist Leonard Stringfield as a source for its claims. Upon learning of the story, Stringfield protested, "I never read such a distortion of facts in my life".<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21779090/ets_living_in_nm_not_likely/</ref>

In 1988, Paul Bennewitz wrote a paper titled "Project Beta" detailing how the base might be successfully attacked.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=LiwjVsNBw-cC&pg=PA111</ref>