What Secrets Are Concealed at Area 51?

by Jessica Lopez, age 11

Do you believe that UFOs are real? Have you ever heard of people seeing UFOs near Area 51? Do you wonder what could exist at this location?

Area 51, located in southern Nevada, is one of the most secretive military training ranges for the U.S. Air Force. It is formally known as the Nevada Test and Training Range at Groom Lake.

The public did not find out about Area 51 until August 2013. This was years after Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson, senior fellow at the George Washington University National Security Archive, submitted the Freedom of Information Act Request in 2005. This request made the CIA release information about the military base.

For a long time, the public has wondered what was hidden in this location, and rumors about aliens sparked interest in a possible raid of Area 51. In 2019, as a joke, an event on Facebook named “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All Of Us” was planned to invade the base. As many as 1.5 million people signed up for the event. Even rapper Lil Nas X joined in to make a music video showing the raiding of Area 51.

Although the raid was taken as a joke online, government officials were concerned for the military base.

“[Area 51] is an open training range for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,”a U.S Air Force spokesperson said.

Many conspiracy theories have been created about Area 51. Some of the earliest Unidentified Flying Objects (U.F.O.) sightings were seen in the 1950’s near this military base. There have been speculations about UFO signals coming from top-secret construction of spy planes or even aliens.

Ultimately, Area 51 is still unknown to the public and will continue to be protected for military forces and their tasks.

[Source: Times.com]