Area 51

Podcast Transcript

Area 51 is a place where secrecy became legend and speculation turned into modern mythology.

Tucked away in the Nevada desert, it has been the alleged site for alien autopsies, hidden spacecraft, and technologies decades ahead of their time, all while the US government insisted it barely existed at all.

The reality is far less dramatic or conspiratorial.

Learn about the creation, secrecy, and theories surrounding Area 51 on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Despite all the rumors and controversy surrounding it, the origins of Area 51 are pretty mundane. In fact, because of all the theories surrounding it, many people don’t realize that Area 51 is an actual place and a real thing.

Construction on Area 51 began seventy years ago, though it wasn’t formally recognized as a military base until 2013 through a request filed through the Freedom of Information Act.

Though the base is most commonly referred to as Area 51, the technical names of the facility are either ‘Groom Lake’ or ‘Homey Airport.’

In terms of its location, the base is situated within the Nevada Test and Training Range, or NTTR. This range is part of an established space where the American military can test, develop, and train new tactics and weapons. Notably, this testing range is part of the Major Range Test Facility Bases, which are mainly used by the Department of Defense.

To highlight its vast scale, the NTTR is the largest continuous area of ground and air available in the United States for peacetime military operations. This region spans 2.9 million acres of land, encompasses 5,000 square miles of airspace, and shares 7,000 square miles of military operating area with civilian aircraft allowed.

It larger than the state of Rhode Island in size.

Area 51 itself is located at Groom Lake, a dried lakebed in southern Nevada, roughly 83 miles from Las Vegas. The lakebed is so flat it is used as a runway for the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site.

The CIA first established the Groom Lake Test Facility in April of 1955 as part of Project AQUATONE, intended as a development and testing facility for the Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane.

The decision to test the U-2 Spy Plane at a secret military facility was made because the project demanded extreme secrecy. After all, having people know about your secret spy plane project negates the power of having a spy plane.

The director of the U-2 Spy Plane project, Richard Bissell Jr., reportedly conducted a search for the perfect spot to develop the plane, and when flying over the area that became Area 51 thought it was perfect.

The location sat between the Emigrant Valley Mountain Range and the border of the Nevada Test and Training Range, helping block any visitors from viewing the aircraft. Because of this, the CIA acquired the land and designated its location as Area 51.

It is unclear how the designation “Area 51” originated, but the general assumption is that it was part of the Atomic Energy Commission’s numbering grid.

After acquiring the land the area became dubbed “Paradise Ranch.” The goal of this name was to encourage workers to move to the location, despite its location in the middle of nowhere.

Construction on the facility began on May 4, 1955. In the beginning, the base included a few trailer homes and workshops, and shelters for the team living there; by the time CIA, Air Force, and Lockheed personnel arrived on scene, the base had expanded to include other amenities.

Another major project conducted at Area 51 was Project OXCART. Starting in August of 1959, the program was designed to test anti-radar capabilities, conduct structural tests, and complete engineering designs for the Lockheed A-12, the successor spy craft to the U-2.

This project was notable because it necessitated the addition of new facilities to the base to support construction and development. Additionally, the new project led to a increased security presence at the base and the closure of the surrounding airspace.

The next major known project completed in Area 51 was the development of the D-21 Tagboard. This ship was a modified version of the A-12 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, designed to convert the A-12 into a drone.

This project was viewed as necessary due to Gary Powers’ U-2 being shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. Powers was part of a U-2 mission that conducted surveillance over the Soviet Union to gain insight into the Soviets’ nuclear capabilities.

While on his mission, a Soviet missile shot down Powers, who survived and was captured. The remaining pieces of his plane were then put on public display as proof from the Soviets that Americans were deceitful.

At the time, it was believed that U-2 planes flew too high for Soviet Radar to detect, though this was later proven untrue.

The United States attempted to deny that the plane was used for spying, claiming it was conducting weather surveillance, but the ship’s aerial camera easily revealed that it was, in fact, being used for spying.

The two sides bickered over whether or not the plane was used for spying until the American President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, admitted the truth.

After the U2 incident, despite official denials, covert surveillance continued, highlighting why the United States was developing spy drones.

The D-21 was developed by the Air Force in October of 1962, though the project fell into the CIA’s hands by the time the design was finalized in October of 1963.

The first D-21was completed by Lockheed in the Spring of 1964 and was then sent to Area 51 for further development and testing. These tests went horribly, and the project was ultimately canceled due to a change in focus on developing other projects.

The main projects in the late 1960s focused on capturing enemy military aircraft, such as Soviet MIG fighters, and returning them to Groom Lake. Once in Area 51, the enemy aircraft underwent tests in which technical, operational, and performance metrics were analyzed.

The capture and testing of enemy aircraft at Area 51 began with the Air Force, but the Navy eventually joined, creating a joint task force known as Operation DOUGHNUT. The main purpose of this project was to test Soviet-made aircraft in simulated air combat scenarios.

Other pieces of foreign technology taken and tested at Area 51 included the Soviet tracking and missile control radar systems and other enemy aircraft.

The final major project I want to discuss that occurred in Area 51 was the Lockheed Have Blue and the F-117 Program. The Have Blue program was a smaller stealth fighter prototype that served as the basis for the F-117. This program began in 1978.

Most of the development and completion occurred at Area 51, specifically during the development and testing stage, with the final portion of the project being moved to a newer, larger base.

After the project was moved, Area 51 continued work on the F-117 to test the plane’s weapons, conduct radar profiling, and train the first group of pilots.

Since the F-117 became operational in 1983, the base has remained active. The facility has been expanded multiple times, though the exact reason for these expansions has never been specified; it is likely linked to the development of new military aircraft.

A major reason for Area 51’s notoriety is the lack of information from the US Government. The area has been permanently off-limits to civilians, and there are strict security measures, including regularly checked clearances and bans on weapons and cameras. This security is so extreme that other military pilots at NTTR will be disciplined if they enter Area 51’s airspace.

Adding to the mystery are the topographical maps of the region provided by the United States Geological Survey, which only show the existence of Groom Mine, a mineral mine that was in operation prior to the bases’ construction.

Yet when aerial photographs of the region were publicly released in 1959 and 1969, they included images of the military base, so the public knew that something was there.

Additionally, Civil Aviation Charts developed by the Nevada Department of Transportation showed a massive restricted zone over the region where Area 51 was located, drawing more attention and suspicion to the site.

The site was only formally recognized by the United States Air Force in 1998, and only recognized by the CIA in June of 2013, when they admitted to the U-2 plane being tested in Area 51. This made the CIA the first government agency to acknowledge any activity happening at the site.

Over time, Area 51 has become one of the most well-known sites for conspiracy theories in the United States. These theories mainly focus on extraterrestrial life and UFO sightings. Despite these suspicions, the United States has denied all accusations and maintains that the base is used for flight testing.

However, these theories have led the surrounding area to become a popular tourist destination, earning it the nickname “Extraterrestrial Highway.” This comes from the rumors from locals in the area who reported UFO sightings, though it is widely thought that these reports were primarily from the base’s test flights.

The modern explosion of Area 51 conspiracies can be traced to 1989, when self-proclaimed physicist Bob Lazar claimed on television that he had worked at a nearby facility reverse engineering alien spacecraft.

Lazar has never presented any evidence beyond his own testimony to support his claims, and despite claiming to have graduated from MIT and Caltech, neither university has any record of his attendance.

From this initial claim, more theories began to spread. Some of these include using the base to manipulate the weather, develop new space exploration systems and energy weapons, and store and reverse-engineer alien ships.

Despite none of these conspiracy theories ever being proven, Area 51 still attracts its fair share of controversy. In some cases legitimate.

One of the largest scandals involved a 1994 lawsuit.

This lawsuit was filed against the United States Air Force and the Environmental Protection Agency by five unnamed civilian contractors or widows of civilian contractors. They claimed they witnessed large quantities of mystery chemicals burned in open trenches and pits at Area 51. They claimed that this resulted in the complainants having respiratory, skin, and liver issues.

When the complacent’s bodies were tested, evidence showed high levels of toxic chemicals in their body fat. The lawsuit sought compensation for these illnesses under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which governs the proper disposal of toxic chemicals.

Additionally, they asked to learn which chemicals were present in order to receive proper treatment.

To prevent the information on these chemicals from getting out, the United States invoked “State Secrets Privilege,” which is a doctrine that allows the US government to withhold information in court if it feels it could harm national security or foreign relations.

The judge in this case rejected the government’s claim, but before any information could be released, President Bill Clinton used his power to issue a presidential edict exempting Area 51 from environmental disclosure laws. By making this move, the judge dismissed the lawsuit due to insufficient evidence.

This ruling has been appealed, claiming that the government was abusing its power to classify information. In response, the US Air Force stated that revealing the identities of the chemicals would reveal information on operational capabilities and the scope of various classified operations.

After this, a US Appeals Court rejected the appeal. They then attempted to bring the case to the Supreme Court, but the Court refused to hear it, ending the complainant’s case.

Since then, Presidents have continued to issue or support executive orders exempting Groom Lake from environmental laws.

Information on Area 51 or Groom Lake is likely to remain classified for decades to come.

It really isn’t surprising that so many conspiracy theories have centered around Area 51. It is an actual government facility with extreme secrecy surrounding it. No one knows what presently goes on there, and almost no images or even descriptions of the facility have ever been made public.

All of this mystery allows people to fill the gaps in knowledge with whatever they want.

Whether the base is holding alien technology or just testing advanced aircraft, the mystery and notoriety of the location will probably continue to fuel conspiracies for years to come.

The Executive Producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The Associate Producers are Austin Oetken and Cameron Kieffer.

Research and writing for this episode were provided by THE… Olivia Ashe.

Today’s review comes from listener Celticblue13 from Apple Podcasts in the United Kingdom. They write:

Fun and informative
Finally became a completionist, so feel sufficiently educated enough to leave a review.

This podcast is great, the host has an easy style whereby you feel as if you are merely listening to a short tale, but suddenly realise you’ve been educated!

I have a broad, but admittedly shallow, knowledge base, so I’m usually aware of the topic and yet still learn, but sometimes hear something totally new, such as the prime minister who was eaten! Would highly recommend!

Thanks, Celticblue! You’ve discovered my secret. Stealth learning. You don’t even know its happening.

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