Area 51: Secret or Hype
The long-kept America secret of Area 51 has been on the minds of citizens since its origin in the 1940s. The facilities’ mysteries have captured the imagination of generations of people. Some would argue that the government is withholding knowledge and others simply believe that the military is developing new technology. The government responds to the claims by declassifying information. Needless to say, this argument has been ongoing since the 1950s and consistently resurfaces; the most recent discussion occurred in 2013.
Government Released information:
“Area 51” is an Air Force base in Lincoln County, Nevada that covers approximately 100 miles or so of desolate desert landscape. The base was built around a dried lake bed where testing and training is most often conducted. The name Area 51 is said to have derived from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) grid coordinate system; when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) took over the area they asked the AEC to release the area coordinates from their system, thus giving the name of the area. (“How Area 51 Works”). Area 51 is now an extension of Edwards Air Force base in southern California but was originally started as a lead and silver mine in the 1800s before it was converted to Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field during World War II. Following World War II the base was taken over by the CIA to start undefined research and development.
The CIA along with Lockheed Martin and other military contracting companies, the generated and tested the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft; nicknamed “AQUATONE”. High security was instituted because Lockheed Martin’s facility in Palmdale was maintained in such order to top secret projects and keep them from leaking to the world. So Lockheed Martin enforced the same strict and security rules at Area 51 (“Area 51”). Upon contractor and military personnel arrival nicknames for the desolate base began to bounce around. Nicknames included “Paradise Ranch” and “Nowhere”. The U-2 program started a trend of military contract companies bringing developmental projects to Area 51. During the Cold War, the Air Force and Navy began gathering foreign aircraft and tested them against the fighter of choice for that time. The operation was known as “HAVE DOUGHNUT” and “HAVE DRILL”, these operations led to the development of the Top Gun school located at Naval Air Station Miramar (“Area 51”).
Area 51 has developed many marvels such as the SR-71 “Blackbird”, the first radar-evading aircraft F-117 “Nighthawk” and the most recent F-22 “Raptor”. These weapon systems were created in secrecy to prevent any adversaries from stealing them. From its origination it seems that Area 51 has been the center of military development and testing for aircraft which are funded and utilized by the government. installation even though people have seen it and some paranormal activity surrounding it
The Conspiracy Theory:
For more than 50 years the U.S. government did not acknowledge the presence of its secret installation even though people have seen it and some paranormal of activity surrounding it. It is said to all started in July 1947, a rancher found a strange metal cloth and debris over his land in Roswell, New Mexico. The rancher called the authorities and they investigated the scene and then confiscated the strange looking debris. After collecting the shrapnel and other evidence of the rancher’s property, the Army unit in command of Roswell issued a public statement saying that they recovered a “flying disk” of some sort. After a few days that statement was retracted and was restated as a weather balloon retrieval. About 30 years later, in the 70s, the Roswell incident became a conspiracy theory and its popularity began to spread among theorists. People began the to accuse the government of hiding UFOs and an extraterrestrial being in Area 51. Some would go as far as saying that the aliens are in charge and have a goal to create a human-alien hybrid.
Another highly talked about conspiracy is the “Aurora Project” which is an aircraft that is supposedly the fastest aircraft ever created, with cruising speed up to Mach 6 or six times faster than the speed of sound. A lot of conspiracy theorist look at the runway of Groom Lake, which is supposedly 6 miles long, as a clear indication of a place that supersonic aircraft are tested. Others believe that Area 51 is a massive underground facility that has up to 40 levels. Along with a secret underground rail system to sites in Los Angeles, White Sands, and Los Alamos. A lot of people believe that Area 51 is also a super-soldier test site, where regular military personnel is kidnapped and experimented on in order to enhance their skills. There are also claims to area 51 having all the cures for every disease in the world located in one of the underground bunkers.
In 1989, Robert Lazar an employee of EG&G, a company that specializes in making surprising claims to the world; seen specifically when he appeared on television and said that he was part of a military operation that worked on extraterrestrial technology. He proclaimed that the United States had at least nine alien spacecraft at a base called S-4. The facility is said to be not too far from Area 51, it apparently even had posters visualizing an extraterrestrial ship hovering above the ground with the caption "They're Here!". Mr. Lazer was the first “insider” to have attempted to expose the secrecy of Area 51(“What Goes On At Area 51”).
Lazar claims that EG&G hired him to help reverse engineer extraterrestrial technology for use in U.S. military assets. He said that he discovered an oxidized, heavy substance he called "Element 115" that powered the alien spacecraft. Mr. Lazar's statements inspired an explosion of interest in UFOs and Area 51. One popular claim of Mr. Lazar's is that much of our current technology is a result of reverse engineering of alien technology (“What Goes On At Area 51”). Examples range from radios to superconductors. They argue that people on their own couldn't possibly have developed these technologies so rapidly without an alien model. Some claim that pilots at Area 51 are using alien technology against aliens themselves, shooting them down so that other military crews can scavenge the parts.
There are numerous different theories tied to Grooms Lake, but since declassification of the base, wild conspiracies have since ceased, but some still linger. The Department of Defense has continued testing and grooming top secret projects. When deciding on an opinion on these matters I choose to focus on the facts. The opinion deciding question I ask myself is how would the secrets of Area 51 change my life if they were revealed? The conspiracy theories are based on imagination more so than fact. The obsession with extraterrestrial beings was the theme of the 50s and people felt like any and everything that was unrecognizable in the sky was an alien presence. Since Area 51 is not understood to the level of some cosmic phenomenon, people lumped them together in order to attempt clarification of the unknown. Although the government has expressed that there was funding into UFO research, they never have claimed the existence of any extraterrestrial spacecraft, but rather justify un-identified foreign aircraft (UFA) (“Government Admits…”). These are considered to be any foreign countries aircraft that comes into U.S. airspace around the world. The approach that is most appealing to me is the side of the government because there isn’t anything different from the government than a car company testing a new car model.
With the Department of Defense and the CIA declassifying the operations at Area 51, most of the hype around the base has pretty much died down, almost like the quest for answers were completed. Also, I asked myself “How would the secrets of Area 51 change my life in any way?” It was extremely hard to come up with anything I could literally live the untouched by the reveal of Area 51 secrets. With the information from this reading, what side do you choose?
Work Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Area 51.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 14 Aug. 2018, www.britannica.com/place/Area-51.
“Area 51 Facts and Fiction.” Skeptoid, skeptoid.com/episodes/4313.
Strickland, Jonathan, and Patrick J. Kiger. “How Area 51 Works.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 5 July 2007, science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/area-511.htm.
Jr., Cleve R. Wootson. “The Government Admits It Studies UFOs. So about Those Area 51 Conspiracy Theories …” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Dec. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/12/18/the-government-admits-it-studies-ufos-so-about-those-area-51-conspiracy-theories/?utm_term=.fd1e87cfe16f.
“What Goes on at Area 51?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/news/what-goes-on-at-area-51.