Area 51, a top-secret U.S. military facility in the Nevada desert, has been at the center of many conspiracy theories for decades, many of which conclude that Area 51 conducts tests on alien life and UFOs. The highly guarded government location releases very little information to the public leaving much room for speculation—the government didn’t even formally acknowledge the existence of Area 51 until 2013. In 2019, thousands of alien enthusiasts stormed the surrounding area after a “joke” Facebook event was created— that 2 million people responded to. Despite the secrecy and rumors surrounding the location, here are some things we do know.
Though we all know Area 51 under that title, the U.S. government’s official name for the mysterious location is the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is a unit of the Nellis Air Force Base.
One of the reasons people can never be entirely sure about what is going on at Area 51 is that it is a highly classified secret military facility. It was not until 2013 that the U.S. government even acknowledged the existence and name “Area 51.”
This information came out as part of a broader set of documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request, which is something regular citizens and groups can do to ask the U.S. government to provide details about government activities. In this case, the request made public formerly classified CIA information regarding the historical development and testing of the U-2 spy plane. The information also revealed where it was tested: Area 51!
As a national security historian, I know there’s a long history of secrets at Area 51. I also know that none of those secrets have anything to do with space aliens.
The place
The base commonly referred to as Area 51 is located in a remote area of southern Nevada, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Las Vegas. It is in the middle of a federally protected area of the U.S. Air Force’s Nevada Test and Training Range, now known as the Nevada National Security Site, which is inside the larger Nellis Air Force Range.
