1 00:00:01,917 --> 00:00:03,625 [stirring music] 2 00:00:03,625 --> 00:00:05,500 - Ever since the 1950s, 3 00:00:05,500 --> 00:00:09,000 rumors have swirled around a mysterious patch of land 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,500 in the southern Nevada desert. 5 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:15,042 - Federal governments spent 60 years trying to convince us 6 00:00:15,042 --> 00:00:16,542 that it didn't exist. 7 00:00:16,542 --> 00:00:20,250 - There are stories of UFOs, secret aerospace projects, 8 00:00:20,250 --> 00:00:22,833 projects that are beyond the public's ability to understand. 9 00:00:22,833 --> 00:00:23,875 - Even the president 10 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,333 isn't briefed on what's going on there. 11 00:00:26,333 --> 00:00:29,417 - For decades, the world's been trying to find out 12 00:00:29,417 --> 00:00:32,542 what secrets lie within Area 51. 13 00:00:32,542 --> 00:00:35,167 - When it comes to nuclear testing, if you wanna talk about 14 00:00:35,167 --> 00:00:38,167 an irradiated hot zone, this place is it. 15 00:00:38,167 --> 00:00:40,583 - It's a place that may hold some very dark secrets 16 00:00:40,583 --> 00:00:44,417 about medical experimentation on unwilling participants. 17 00:00:44,417 --> 00:00:47,375 - It's one of the most tightly restricted areas in America. 18 00:00:47,375 --> 00:00:49,875 So if you want to keep something top secret, 19 00:00:49,875 --> 00:00:51,917 put it in Area 51. 20 00:00:51,917 --> 00:00:54,375 - Now, we'll explore the top theories 21 00:00:54,375 --> 00:00:57,792 surrounding America's most clandestine military base. 22 00:00:57,792 --> 00:01:02,667 What is the US government hiding inside Area 51? 23 00:01:02,667 --> 00:01:05,292 [stirring music] 24 00:01:17,167 --> 00:01:19,458 - [Laurence] In the summer of 2019, 25 00:01:19,458 --> 00:01:22,458 a social media event goes live. 26 00:01:22,458 --> 00:01:27,458 It's called Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All Of Us. 27 00:01:28,167 --> 00:01:30,333 The idea is that if enough people 28 00:01:30,333 --> 00:01:32,333 rush the facility's perimeter, 29 00:01:32,333 --> 00:01:34,292 someone could make it through 30 00:01:34,292 --> 00:01:38,708 and reveal once and for all what's hiding inside. 31 00:01:38,708 --> 00:01:43,833 - Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All Of Us 32 00:01:43,833 --> 00:01:46,708 is a huge viral sensation. 33 00:01:46,708 --> 00:01:51,708 And what started as almost an internet joke 34 00:01:51,708 --> 00:01:55,833 turned into a serious national security issue. 35 00:01:55,833 --> 00:01:59,583 - Millions of people start responding and saying, 36 00:01:59,583 --> 00:02:02,042 they're going or they're interested in going. 37 00:02:02,042 --> 00:02:04,917 To the point where the government is like, 38 00:02:04,917 --> 00:02:06,292 we have to do something about this. 39 00:02:06,292 --> 00:02:08,375 They in fact send reinforcements 40 00:02:08,375 --> 00:02:11,375 to Nevada to protect the site. 41 00:02:11,375 --> 00:02:15,458 There's personnel authorized to use deadly force if needed. 42 00:02:15,458 --> 00:02:19,208 - The hope was that Storm Area 51 would generate 43 00:02:19,208 --> 00:02:22,292 a very large crowd to overwhelm base security. 44 00:02:22,292 --> 00:02:24,458 And the numbers just didn't turn out. 45 00:02:24,458 --> 00:02:28,417 - The base has layers and layers of security. 46 00:02:28,417 --> 00:02:31,542 And everyone who is employed there 47 00:02:31,542 --> 00:02:36,417 sign non-disclosure agreements that are binding for life. 48 00:02:36,417 --> 00:02:39,250 And the penalties are severe. 49 00:02:39,250 --> 00:02:41,417 - The security perimeter around the facility 50 00:02:41,417 --> 00:02:43,375 is functionally impregnable. 51 00:02:43,375 --> 00:02:46,792 So you've got checkpoints, motion detectors, 52 00:02:46,792 --> 00:02:51,000 there are guard dogs, there's armed base security personnel. 53 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,917 The area is constantly under the surveillance of satellites 54 00:02:54,917 --> 00:02:56,333 that are passing overhead. 55 00:02:56,333 --> 00:02:59,292 - The airspace over it is restricted. 56 00:02:59,292 --> 00:03:01,042 They call it the box. 57 00:03:01,042 --> 00:03:04,625 Even if you are a pilot at the nearby Nellis Air Force Base, 58 00:03:04,625 --> 00:03:06,250 you can't fly over. 59 00:03:06,250 --> 00:03:08,208 - [Laurence] It's the most secretive base 60 00:03:08,208 --> 00:03:10,083 in the United States, 61 00:03:10,083 --> 00:03:13,958 and it's been that way for over 70 years. 62 00:03:13,958 --> 00:03:16,500 - In the early 1950s, 63 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:19,083 before there was anything called Area 51, 64 00:03:19,083 --> 00:03:21,083 just this thing called Groom Lake, 65 00:03:21,083 --> 00:03:24,583 which is a long, dry lake bed in the region. 66 00:03:24,583 --> 00:03:27,083 The closest town, Rachel, Nevada, 67 00:03:27,083 --> 00:03:30,500 very tiny, hardly anyone lives there. 68 00:03:30,500 --> 00:03:32,333 - It's believed that the base got its government name 69 00:03:32,333 --> 00:03:35,083 from an old Atomic Energy Commission map 70 00:03:35,083 --> 00:03:38,792 that designated the area as grid 51. 71 00:03:38,792 --> 00:03:42,625 - [Laurence] To the public, it's still just Groom Lake, 72 00:03:42,625 --> 00:03:47,750 but in 1955, there's an obvious uptick in security. 73 00:03:48,417 --> 00:03:51,292 - People who live in the surrounding area start noticing 74 00:03:51,292 --> 00:03:54,708 some very strange things, lights in the sky. 75 00:03:54,708 --> 00:03:57,583 Aircraft that don't look like any aircraft 76 00:03:57,583 --> 00:04:01,375 that they recognize flying 50,000 feet higher 77 00:04:01,375 --> 00:04:03,792 than the commercial aircraft of the time. 78 00:04:03,792 --> 00:04:06,917 No one knows of any aircraft around in the 1950s 79 00:04:06,917 --> 00:04:09,000 that can go that high in the air. 80 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:14,542 - This is just on the heels of the 1947 Roswell incident 81 00:04:14,542 --> 00:04:16,625 where in Roswell, New Mexico, 82 00:04:16,625 --> 00:04:20,250 an unidentified flying object crash landed to the ground. 83 00:04:20,250 --> 00:04:22,292 Initially, the government says, 84 00:04:22,292 --> 00:04:25,042 "We have found an unidentified flying object." 85 00:04:25,042 --> 00:04:27,375 And that immediately is switched to, 86 00:04:27,375 --> 00:04:28,875 "It was a weather balloon." 87 00:04:28,875 --> 00:04:32,417 And when people sense a coverup, speculation runs rampant. 88 00:04:32,417 --> 00:04:34,750 It puts this idea of UFOs 89 00:04:34,750 --> 00:04:37,625 firmly in the minds of every American citizen. 90 00:04:37,625 --> 00:04:40,167 - [Laurence] But the public definitely isn't imagining 91 00:04:40,167 --> 00:04:44,542 what happens on November 17th, 1955. 92 00:04:44,542 --> 00:04:47,917 - An airplane crashes right on the edge of Area 51. 93 00:04:47,917 --> 00:04:49,417 There's an enormous explosion. 94 00:04:49,417 --> 00:04:50,917 There's a huge pillar of smoke 95 00:04:50,917 --> 00:04:54,167 that can be seen as far away as Las Vegas. 96 00:04:54,167 --> 00:04:57,333 And news crews, as they will, go rushing 97 00:04:57,333 --> 00:05:00,208 towards the scene of the tragedy to provide coverage. 98 00:05:00,208 --> 00:05:02,542 They're turned away and by being turned away, 99 00:05:02,542 --> 00:05:04,208 this suggested that there was something 100 00:05:04,208 --> 00:05:06,542 far more secretive going on. 101 00:05:06,542 --> 00:05:07,917 - The whole thing is 102 00:05:07,917 --> 00:05:10,042 shrouded in secrecy. 103 00:05:10,042 --> 00:05:12,625 Rumors start circulating. 104 00:05:12,625 --> 00:05:16,583 Right next to Area 51 is the Nevada test site, 105 00:05:16,583 --> 00:05:19,333 where the United States is testing, 106 00:05:19,333 --> 00:05:22,000 detonating atomic bombs. 107 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:23,500 [bomb exploding] [stirring music] 108 00:05:23,500 --> 00:05:27,792 But the proximity of this nuclear test site 109 00:05:28,542 --> 00:05:30,250 make people think, well, 110 00:05:30,250 --> 00:05:35,208 is this something to do with nuclear secrets? 111 00:05:35,458 --> 00:05:37,625 - [Laurence] In reality, the crash is related 112 00:05:37,625 --> 00:05:41,292 to a different government program hidden in the desert. 113 00:05:41,292 --> 00:05:44,375 - During that time period, workers at Area 51, 114 00:05:44,375 --> 00:05:46,458 they're being flown in from another state 115 00:05:46,458 --> 00:05:49,375 and delivered to this secret facility. 116 00:05:49,375 --> 00:05:51,917 And that's done on purpose, 117 00:05:51,917 --> 00:05:53,833 because if you bring your personnel in 118 00:05:53,833 --> 00:05:55,542 and they can live in base housing 119 00:05:55,542 --> 00:05:57,667 or they can live in private housing 120 00:05:57,667 --> 00:06:01,417 immediately adjacent to the base, well, people might talk. 121 00:06:01,417 --> 00:06:05,417 - In reality, this November 17th, 1955 crash 122 00:06:05,417 --> 00:06:08,250 was a crash of one of those transport planes. 123 00:06:08,250 --> 00:06:10,375 But at the time, no one knew this. 124 00:06:10,375 --> 00:06:13,375 And also, the local population and the journalists 125 00:06:13,375 --> 00:06:15,958 really have no idea what this base 126 00:06:15,958 --> 00:06:17,875 at Groom Lake's purpose is. 127 00:06:17,875 --> 00:06:21,458 - All of these things just sprinkle even greater levels 128 00:06:21,458 --> 00:06:24,583 of conspiratorial suspicion on a place 129 00:06:24,583 --> 00:06:26,750 that's already a little bit suspicious to begin with. 130 00:06:26,750 --> 00:06:28,958 - The most popular theory of what's being hidden 131 00:06:28,958 --> 00:06:32,542 at this facility goes back to the early 1950s, 132 00:06:32,542 --> 00:06:33,875 and it is the development 133 00:06:33,875 --> 00:06:37,250 of one of America's most effective tools 134 00:06:37,250 --> 00:06:39,875 during Cold War, the U-2 spy plane. 135 00:06:39,875 --> 00:06:44,833 [stirring music] [airplane whirring] 136 00:06:45,333 --> 00:06:47,917 - During the Cold War, the big challenge that we were facing 137 00:06:47,917 --> 00:06:50,292 was that we didn't have much in the way 138 00:06:50,292 --> 00:06:52,833 of human intelligence on the ground in the Soviet Union. 139 00:06:52,833 --> 00:06:56,083 The kind of empirical intelligence that you needed 140 00:06:56,083 --> 00:06:58,583 was photographic intel, and we needed an aircraft 141 00:06:58,583 --> 00:07:00,542 that could collect photo intel. 142 00:07:00,542 --> 00:07:03,792 The only problem was that the airspace over the parts 143 00:07:03,792 --> 00:07:07,333 of the Soviet Union where we wanted photo intel, 144 00:07:07,333 --> 00:07:09,125 well, that was well defended airspace. 145 00:07:09,125 --> 00:07:11,708 The aircraft would be brought down by fighter interceptors 146 00:07:11,708 --> 00:07:14,125 or surface to air missiles. 147 00:07:14,125 --> 00:07:15,667 - The United States believes 148 00:07:15,667 --> 00:07:18,167 that if they can build an aircraft that can fly higher 149 00:07:18,167 --> 00:07:19,958 than any Soviet air defenses, 150 00:07:19,958 --> 00:07:22,167 they might be able to literally overfly 151 00:07:22,167 --> 00:07:24,208 Soviet territory with impunity. 152 00:07:24,208 --> 00:07:27,250 And that's what leads to the development of the U-2. 153 00:07:27,250 --> 00:07:29,583 - [Laurence] The U-2 spy plane is one of the country's 154 00:07:29,583 --> 00:07:32,375 most important top secret military programs, 155 00:07:32,375 --> 00:07:36,667 monitored closely by President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself. 156 00:07:37,625 --> 00:07:40,500 - By 1956, they were successful. 157 00:07:40,500 --> 00:07:42,375 They had their plane and the U-2 158 00:07:42,375 --> 00:07:45,417 was now entering Soviet airspace. 159 00:07:45,417 --> 00:07:47,167 And this is a big deal, 160 00:07:47,167 --> 00:07:50,083 because violating another country's airspace, 161 00:07:50,083 --> 00:07:51,625 especially that of your enemy, 162 00:07:51,625 --> 00:07:53,542 could be seen as an act of war. 163 00:07:53,542 --> 00:07:55,792 - It is highly classified. 164 00:07:55,792 --> 00:08:00,250 Only a handful of people know this thing exists. 165 00:08:00,250 --> 00:08:04,708 And after years and years of spying on the Soviet Union, 166 00:08:04,708 --> 00:08:08,667 May, 1960, the United States' luck runs out. 167 00:08:08,667 --> 00:08:11,000 - One of the CIA's U-2 pilots, 168 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,208 Francis Gary Powers, 169 00:08:12,208 --> 00:08:13,167 took off on a flight 170 00:08:13,167 --> 00:08:14,500 headed across the center 171 00:08:14,500 --> 00:08:16,375 of the Soviet Union. 172 00:08:16,375 --> 00:08:18,375 Powers was supposed to photograph 173 00:08:18,375 --> 00:08:20,083 various missile sites, 174 00:08:20,083 --> 00:08:22,708 where it looked like the Soviets might be developing 175 00:08:22,708 --> 00:08:26,083 and testing high altitude rockets. 176 00:08:26,083 --> 00:08:28,583 But Powers has the misfortune 177 00:08:28,583 --> 00:08:31,042 of some form of engine problem 178 00:08:31,042 --> 00:08:32,375 with his U-2. 179 00:08:32,500 --> 00:08:35,667 He falls into the engagement envelope of Soviet Air defenses 180 00:08:35,667 --> 00:08:37,542 and his aircraft is shot down. 181 00:08:37,542 --> 00:08:38,792 [stirring music] 182 00:08:38,792 --> 00:08:39,875 - [Reporter] On display in Moscow, 183 00:08:39,875 --> 00:08:41,583 the wreckage of Pilot Francis Powers' 184 00:08:41,583 --> 00:08:44,250 U-2 reconnaissance plane for Muscovites 185 00:08:44,250 --> 00:08:45,875 and foreign newsmen to see. 186 00:08:45,875 --> 00:08:49,250 - The US first claimed that they shot down 187 00:08:49,250 --> 00:08:51,792 a off course weather airplane, 188 00:08:51,792 --> 00:08:55,208 but the problem was that they had parts of the plane. 189 00:08:55,208 --> 00:08:59,542 And this included cameras which had, on its reels, 190 00:08:59,542 --> 00:09:03,417 images of the nuclear silos in the Soviet Union. 191 00:09:03,417 --> 00:09:05,458 - Powers winds up telling them 192 00:09:05,458 --> 00:09:07,458 that he's actually on a surveillance flight. 193 00:09:07,458 --> 00:09:10,917 He essentially admits to what he's been up to, 194 00:09:10,917 --> 00:09:15,042 and eventually Powers will be exchanged for Soviet agents 195 00:09:15,042 --> 00:09:17,167 that have been captured in the United States. 196 00:09:17,167 --> 00:09:19,667 - [Laurence] while the existence of the U-2 spy plane 197 00:09:19,667 --> 00:09:23,708 is now public, the story behind it remains top secret, 198 00:09:23,708 --> 00:09:26,042 as does the base where it was created. 199 00:09:26,042 --> 00:09:30,292 A base that some experts posit is Area 51. 200 00:09:31,583 --> 00:09:34,583 - At this time in the 1950s and the 1960s, 201 00:09:34,583 --> 00:09:37,042 Area 51, it's not like it is today. 202 00:09:37,042 --> 00:09:39,333 Today we've got tons of journalists 203 00:09:39,333 --> 00:09:41,542 who are digging into Area 51, 204 00:09:41,542 --> 00:09:43,292 trying to figure out what's going on there. 205 00:09:43,292 --> 00:09:45,917 That interest wasn't there. 206 00:09:45,917 --> 00:09:48,875 UFO enthusiasts, certainly after the Roswell incident, 207 00:09:48,875 --> 00:09:51,833 are aware of various things happening in this area. 208 00:09:51,833 --> 00:09:55,208 It's certainly a site of a lot of UFO sightings. 209 00:09:55,208 --> 00:09:56,917 All along the way though, 210 00:09:56,917 --> 00:09:59,917 the government maintains, there's nothing there. 211 00:09:59,917 --> 00:10:03,917 - Ultimately in 2013, the veil of secrecy is lifted 212 00:10:03,917 --> 00:10:07,708 and the government admits that Area 51 exists. 213 00:10:07,708 --> 00:10:10,708 And they even put out a rudimentary map of the base. 214 00:10:10,708 --> 00:10:13,917 And with this release, they acknowledge that this base 215 00:10:13,917 --> 00:10:17,833 was established in 1955 to develop 216 00:10:17,833 --> 00:10:20,500 high level aerospace technologies 217 00:10:20,500 --> 00:10:23,208 like the U-2 spy plane. 218 00:10:23,208 --> 00:10:26,000 - With all of these declassifications, 219 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:30,042 the government says all of those UFO sightings in the 1950s 220 00:10:30,042 --> 00:10:32,792 and the 1960s, these glowing objects in the sky, 221 00:10:32,792 --> 00:10:36,500 are explained by test flights of the U-2 spy planes. 222 00:10:36,500 --> 00:10:39,208 - When you look at a U2 aircraft 223 00:10:39,208 --> 00:10:42,042 and you see the huge wings, 224 00:10:42,042 --> 00:10:45,208 the the silver color, the shininess, 225 00:10:45,208 --> 00:10:48,875 and you throw in the fact that it was going way faster 226 00:10:48,875 --> 00:10:51,542 than anyone thought aircraft could go, 227 00:10:51,542 --> 00:10:52,875 and flying way higher 228 00:10:52,875 --> 00:10:55,958 than anyone thought aircraft could fly, 229 00:10:55,958 --> 00:10:58,667 it's no wonder people reported them as UFOs. 230 00:10:59,417 --> 00:11:03,292 - Another part of the declassified materials in 2013 231 00:11:03,292 --> 00:11:05,250 was that regular commute 232 00:11:05,250 --> 00:11:07,750 that people were making from Lockheed's base, 233 00:11:07,750 --> 00:11:11,542 known as Skunk Works, in LA to Area 51 234 00:11:11,542 --> 00:11:13,125 to be working on these planes. 235 00:11:13,125 --> 00:11:16,042 So here is where we suddenly get the revelation 236 00:11:16,042 --> 00:11:19,167 about that plane crash into the mountainside, 237 00:11:19,167 --> 00:11:21,667 just outside of Area 51. 238 00:11:21,667 --> 00:11:22,833 - For the federal government, 239 00:11:22,833 --> 00:11:25,500 this wraps things up very nicely. 240 00:11:25,500 --> 00:11:28,708 It explains all of the theories that are out there. 241 00:11:28,708 --> 00:11:31,042 The bottom line is, don't worry, 242 00:11:31,042 --> 00:11:33,458 now we've told you everything you need to know. 243 00:11:33,458 --> 00:11:37,042 All this UFO stuff can, you know, can be put to rest. 244 00:11:37,042 --> 00:11:39,875 This is simply a facility for the development 245 00:11:39,875 --> 00:11:41,708 of advanced aerospace technology. 246 00:11:41,708 --> 00:11:43,292 [airplane whirring] [stirring music] 247 00:11:43,292 --> 00:11:45,250 - [Laurence] But experts who studied the base for decades 248 00:11:45,250 --> 00:11:48,292 believe there's far more to the story. 249 00:11:48,292 --> 00:11:49,875 - Of course, people are saying to themselves, 250 00:11:49,875 --> 00:11:51,292 well, wait a minute, it's great 251 00:11:51,292 --> 00:11:53,458 that you're declassifying this information. 252 00:11:53,458 --> 00:11:55,042 But his is about stuff that happened 253 00:11:55,042 --> 00:11:58,458 back in the 50s and the 60s, what about now? 254 00:12:03,292 --> 00:12:05,792 - When the Area 51 military base opens at Groom Lake, Nevada 255 00:12:05,792 --> 00:12:10,042 in 1955, the land it's on already has a history 256 00:12:10,042 --> 00:12:12,875 of top secret activities. 257 00:12:12,875 --> 00:12:14,833 - The Nevada test site was developed 258 00:12:14,833 --> 00:12:16,875 so that the American military could conduct 259 00:12:16,875 --> 00:12:18,625 atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, 260 00:12:18,625 --> 00:12:19,875 something that was critically important 261 00:12:19,875 --> 00:12:21,750 during the Cold War arms race. 262 00:12:21,750 --> 00:12:23,167 In fact, it's revealed eventually 263 00:12:23,167 --> 00:12:26,875 that the Atomic Energy Commission is conducting tests, 264 00:12:26,875 --> 00:12:30,167 not within the Nevada test site, but in parcels of land 265 00:12:30,167 --> 00:12:31,958 that are immediately to the north of it. 266 00:12:31,958 --> 00:12:35,583 The area designated 51 at Groom Lake. 267 00:12:35,583 --> 00:12:39,500 - By the time Area 51 really gets going 268 00:12:39,500 --> 00:12:43,000 in an operational sense in 1955, 269 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,625 there have already been 32 270 00:12:45,708 --> 00:12:47,333 atmospheric tests 271 00:12:47,333 --> 00:12:50,125 of nuclear bombs at the Nevada test site. 272 00:12:50,125 --> 00:12:54,500 Obviously there is radiation and fallout. 273 00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:58,083 They have to schedule these things so that the wind 274 00:12:58,083 --> 00:13:02,125 is not blowing the fallout towards Las Vegas. 275 00:13:02,125 --> 00:13:05,167 Trouble is, the fallout is blowing the other way, 276 00:13:05,167 --> 00:13:07,250 and it's going to Groom Lake. 277 00:13:07,250 --> 00:13:10,875 - You'd think that the CIA would avoid building a base 278 00:13:10,875 --> 00:13:14,042 on an area that has received all that nuclear fallout. 279 00:13:14,042 --> 00:13:17,375 But what's so good about Groom Lake is that that meant 280 00:13:17,375 --> 00:13:20,875 it was one of the most tightly restricted areas in America. 281 00:13:20,875 --> 00:13:24,042 So it's already desolate, it's already isolated, 282 00:13:24,042 --> 00:13:26,042 and it's already highly restricted. 283 00:13:26,042 --> 00:13:28,500 So if you wanna keep something top secret, 284 00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:29,458 put it in Groom Lake. 285 00:13:29,833 --> 00:13:32,417 [stirring music] 286 00:13:33,542 --> 00:13:38,250 - In 1957, the Cold War is really kind of ramping up 287 00:13:38,250 --> 00:13:39,583 to a fever pitch. 288 00:13:39,583 --> 00:13:42,458 And the idea is that we need to be ready for anything. 289 00:13:42,458 --> 00:13:44,375 In playing out these scenarios, 290 00:13:44,375 --> 00:13:49,667 the goal is to use real bombs and real people. 291 00:13:49,750 --> 00:13:52,250 - During this time, there was this program, 292 00:13:52,250 --> 00:13:55,875 Operation Plumbbob, which calls for no less 293 00:13:55,875 --> 00:13:59,292 than 29 nuclear explosions in a four month period. 294 00:13:59,292 --> 00:14:02,083 Officially, these explosions are to take place 295 00:14:02,083 --> 00:14:03,875 at the Nevada test site. 296 00:14:03,875 --> 00:14:07,417 But some researchers believe they take place 297 00:14:07,417 --> 00:14:09,917 within Area 51 as well. 298 00:14:11,333 --> 00:14:12,500 - [Laurence] According to journalist 299 00:14:12,500 --> 00:14:13,958 Annie Jacobsen's book, 300 00:14:13,958 --> 00:14:16,833 "Area 51: An Uncensored History 301 00:14:16,833 --> 00:14:19,625 of America's Top Secret Military Base," 302 00:14:19,625 --> 00:14:21,042 the government decides to conduct 303 00:14:21,042 --> 00:14:23,208 some of its most clandestine tests 304 00:14:23,208 --> 00:14:25,458 deep within the top secret facility. 305 00:14:25,458 --> 00:14:29,625 Because Area 51, unlike the Nevada test site, 306 00:14:29,625 --> 00:14:34,083 was free from government oversight and public scrutiny. 307 00:14:34,083 --> 00:14:35,875 - There are very good reasons why testing 308 00:14:35,875 --> 00:14:37,333 would be moved to Area 51. 309 00:14:37,333 --> 00:14:39,625 And there are some pretty powerful indications 310 00:14:39,625 --> 00:14:42,917 that they played fast and loose with safety concerns. 311 00:14:42,917 --> 00:14:45,458 It's believed that the US government 312 00:14:45,458 --> 00:14:48,875 likely conducted some atmospheric nuclear testing 313 00:14:48,875 --> 00:14:51,792 beyond the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, 314 00:14:51,792 --> 00:14:53,208 when we should no longer 315 00:14:53,208 --> 00:14:55,458 have been conducting atmospheric nuclear tests. 316 00:14:55,458 --> 00:14:58,458 But it sure does look like, based on evidence from Area 51, 317 00:14:58,458 --> 00:14:59,958 we still did it. 318 00:14:59,958 --> 00:15:01,542 All this does is it makes you question the extent 319 00:15:01,542 --> 00:15:05,375 to which the site was dangerously irradiated. 320 00:15:05,375 --> 00:15:09,125 - In 1993, Eileen Welsome writes a Pulitzer Prize winning 321 00:15:09,125 --> 00:15:11,625 series of articles in the "Albuquerque Tribune" 322 00:15:11,625 --> 00:15:14,542 where she reveals the extent 323 00:15:14,542 --> 00:15:19,208 to which intentional radiation experimentation 324 00:15:19,208 --> 00:15:22,542 was being done by our government on human subjects 325 00:15:22,542 --> 00:15:26,708 in what is an unnamed Nevada test site. 326 00:15:26,708 --> 00:15:27,958 - Well, Burt, you were out there. 327 00:15:27,958 --> 00:15:29,083 How's about some comments on this radiation 328 00:15:29,083 --> 00:15:30,500 I hear so much about? 329 00:15:30,500 --> 00:15:32,708 - Well, for example, the other day I was out there 330 00:15:32,708 --> 00:15:34,667 at 2,500 yards from ground zero 331 00:15:34,667 --> 00:15:37,208 and I received one milliroentgen of radiation. 332 00:15:37,208 --> 00:15:39,500 As you can see, I'm still here. 333 00:15:39,500 --> 00:15:42,292 - [Laurence] There are those that believe Area 51 334 00:15:42,292 --> 00:15:46,208 is the unnamed Nevada location where radiation experiments 335 00:15:46,208 --> 00:15:49,375 were kept hidden from the public for decades. 336 00:15:49,375 --> 00:15:52,375 - The government is reported to be feeding children 337 00:15:52,375 --> 00:15:56,208 trace radioactive elements, intentionally exposing prisoners 338 00:15:56,208 --> 00:16:00,083 and soldiers to radiation, injecting people with plutonium. 339 00:16:00,083 --> 00:16:03,500 I mean, it's really terrible 340 00:16:03,500 --> 00:16:05,333 the things that were happening to people. 341 00:16:05,333 --> 00:16:06,667 And, of course, 342 00:16:06,667 --> 00:16:10,000 all of this was being covered up by the government. 343 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,458 - Unfortunately, the United States government 344 00:16:11,458 --> 00:16:15,750 has a long history of using citizens as test subjects. 345 00:16:15,750 --> 00:16:18,708 There's an awful lot of military personnel that are exposed 346 00:16:18,708 --> 00:16:20,500 to radiation in the 1950s 347 00:16:20,625 --> 00:16:22,917 in pursuit of the pentomic army. 348 00:16:22,917 --> 00:16:24,917 The idea that the army might be able to fight 349 00:16:24,917 --> 00:16:26,542 on a nuclear battlefield. 350 00:16:26,542 --> 00:16:29,375 And unfortunately, the government has often classified 351 00:16:29,375 --> 00:16:33,250 some citizens as being more expendable than others. 352 00:16:33,250 --> 00:16:36,208 Those suffering from physical or mental defects, 353 00:16:36,208 --> 00:16:39,000 or even those from conditions of extreme poverty. 354 00:16:39,250 --> 00:16:43,042 - In 1994, then President Bill Clinton forms a committee 355 00:16:43,042 --> 00:16:46,208 specifically to look into these claims 356 00:16:46,208 --> 00:16:48,792 of intentional radiation poisoning 357 00:16:48,792 --> 00:16:50,208 against human subjects. 358 00:16:50,208 --> 00:16:53,000 - The United States government actually did carry out 359 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,750 on our citizens experiments involving radiation. 360 00:16:56,750 --> 00:16:59,083 - [Laurence] But according to Annie Jacobsen, 361 00:16:59,083 --> 00:17:02,542 the experiments believed to be conducted at Area 51 362 00:17:02,542 --> 00:17:05,583 are cloaked in such extreme secrecy, 363 00:17:05,583 --> 00:17:09,458 even the Oval Office isn't in the loop. 364 00:17:09,458 --> 00:17:13,542 - Even for the President, the information from Groom Lake, 365 00:17:13,542 --> 00:17:17,375 specifically from Area 51, is kept classified 366 00:17:17,375 --> 00:17:20,792 because it is only releasable on a need-to-know basis. 367 00:17:20,792 --> 00:17:23,167 And even a President's committee 368 00:17:23,167 --> 00:17:25,083 to investigate this specifically 369 00:17:25,917 --> 00:17:27,667 apparently doesn't need to know. 370 00:17:28,583 --> 00:17:30,792 - [Martin] There are those who believe that the reality here 371 00:17:30,792 --> 00:17:33,375 is the government made a lot of people sick. 372 00:17:33,375 --> 00:17:38,417 And Area 51 has been cloaked in secrecy for 75 years now 373 00:17:39,750 --> 00:17:42,625 because the government doesn't want to own up to the fact 374 00:17:42,625 --> 00:17:44,333 that it irradiated a lot of people, 375 00:17:44,333 --> 00:17:45,542 and made a lot of people sick. 376 00:17:45,542 --> 00:17:47,667 So that everything has to be top secret now 377 00:17:47,667 --> 00:17:49,542 to dodge the consequences 378 00:17:49,542 --> 00:17:52,625 associated with things that it did during the Cold War. 379 00:17:52,625 --> 00:17:53,708 [planes whirring] 380 00:17:57,875 --> 00:18:00,208 - [Laurence] Over a decade after Area 51 is established, 381 00:18:00,208 --> 00:18:04,417 a significant event unfolds, not in Nevada, 382 00:18:04,417 --> 00:18:08,458 but at an air base on the other side of the world. 383 00:18:08,458 --> 00:18:11,708 - In 1966, the country of Iraq 384 00:18:11,708 --> 00:18:14,208 is an ally of the Soviet Union. 385 00:18:14,208 --> 00:18:17,083 And because of this, they have been given 386 00:18:17,083 --> 00:18:19,250 a small number of MiG jets. 387 00:18:19,250 --> 00:18:22,042 The MiG-21 is arguably the best fighter jet 388 00:18:22,042 --> 00:18:23,333 in the world at that time. 389 00:18:23,333 --> 00:18:25,875 It is the pinnacle of Soviet engineering, 390 00:18:25,875 --> 00:18:28,417 and it's also super top secret. 391 00:18:28,417 --> 00:18:31,458 - [Laurence] Iraqi Air Force Colonel Munir Redfa 392 00:18:31,458 --> 00:18:34,167 has been cleared for a routine training flight, 393 00:18:34,167 --> 00:18:38,417 but what follows will be anything but routine. 394 00:18:38,417 --> 00:18:41,542 - During the Cold War, the Israeli Mossad is constantly 395 00:18:41,542 --> 00:18:45,083 on the lookout for anyone who might be disaffected. 396 00:18:45,083 --> 00:18:47,292 And Munir Redfa is highly decorated 397 00:18:47,292 --> 00:18:49,500 from previous combat engagements. 398 00:18:49,500 --> 00:18:51,542 But he believes that his career has been stymied 399 00:18:51,542 --> 00:18:53,833 because he's of the Christian faith. 400 00:18:53,833 --> 00:18:58,292 - Because Redfa is a Christian, he's treated as an outsider. 401 00:18:58,292 --> 00:19:01,500 So, even though he's one of Iraq's most decorated pilots, 402 00:19:01,500 --> 00:19:05,125 his government still does not fully trust him. 403 00:19:05,125 --> 00:19:07,917 An undercover Mossad agent contacts Redfa 404 00:19:07,917 --> 00:19:10,208 and makes him an incredible offer. 405 00:19:10,208 --> 00:19:14,250 For $1 million, they will give him a job in Israel 406 00:19:14,250 --> 00:19:17,792 and they will secretly transport his family out of Iraq. 407 00:19:17,792 --> 00:19:22,333 - So they come up with a plan, that he is going to steal 408 00:19:22,333 --> 00:19:24,458 one of these MiG fighter planes, 409 00:19:24,458 --> 00:19:27,708 in what would become Operation Diamond, 410 00:19:27,708 --> 00:19:30,750 one of the most amazing covert operations 411 00:19:30,750 --> 00:19:32,292 of the 20th century. 412 00:19:32,292 --> 00:19:34,875 - [Laurence] What happens next will shock the world, 413 00:19:34,875 --> 00:19:39,833 and reverberate nearly 8,000 miles away at Area 51. 414 00:19:40,792 --> 00:19:43,167 - When Redfa takes off, he's supposed to be completing 415 00:19:43,167 --> 00:19:44,833 a very short flight to Baghdad. 416 00:19:44,833 --> 00:19:48,833 But Redfa has to fly out of Iraq to Jordanian airspace. 417 00:19:48,833 --> 00:19:50,958 The Iraqi air defense radar figures out 418 00:19:50,958 --> 00:19:52,625 what he's up to pretty quickly. 419 00:19:52,625 --> 00:19:55,500 He is challenged over the radio to turn back, 420 00:19:55,500 --> 00:19:58,208 otherwise interceptor aircraft will be dispatched 421 00:19:58,208 --> 00:19:59,625 to shoot him down. 422 00:19:59,625 --> 00:20:02,083 - He starts flying in these crazy zigzag patterns 423 00:20:02,083 --> 00:20:03,500 to evade being shot down. 424 00:20:03,500 --> 00:20:07,375 He flies incredibly dangerously low with this plane. 425 00:20:07,375 --> 00:20:08,917 - He's thundering along at a mere 426 00:20:08,917 --> 00:20:10,750 750 feet above ground level. 427 00:20:10,750 --> 00:20:13,083 The Iraqi Air Force are pursuing him. 428 00:20:13,083 --> 00:20:15,375 The route that he is flying confuses them. 429 00:20:15,375 --> 00:20:18,208 He's on radar one minute and then off radar the next. 430 00:20:18,208 --> 00:20:19,667 They can't keep up with him. 431 00:20:19,667 --> 00:20:23,083 He then eventually flies out across Turkish airspace, 432 00:20:23,083 --> 00:20:24,875 out over the Mediterranean, 433 00:20:24,875 --> 00:20:26,792 and then completes a turn that will take him 434 00:20:26,792 --> 00:20:29,125 to his final destination, which is a secret air base 435 00:20:29,125 --> 00:20:31,708 in the Negev Desert in Israel. 436 00:20:31,708 --> 00:20:34,542 - [Laurence] The Mossad has been trying to get its hands 437 00:20:34,542 --> 00:20:38,042 on this top secret Soviet tech for years. 438 00:20:38,042 --> 00:20:40,458 And now they finally have it. 439 00:20:40,458 --> 00:20:42,708 The MiG, the most advanced 440 00:20:42,708 --> 00:20:45,667 Soviet fighter plane at this time. 441 00:20:45,667 --> 00:20:49,583 And behind the scenes, the Americans are also desperate 442 00:20:49,583 --> 00:20:53,292 to get their hands on the stolen Soviet aircraft. 443 00:20:55,292 --> 00:20:58,417 - At that time, Soviet built MiGs are being used 444 00:20:58,417 --> 00:21:00,042 in the skies over North Vietnam. 445 00:21:00,042 --> 00:21:04,208 And in particular, the MiG-21 is a very capable interceptor. 446 00:21:04,208 --> 00:21:06,708 It's fast, it's maneuverable, it's well armed. 447 00:21:06,708 --> 00:21:08,625 And it's dangerous and it's causing problems 448 00:21:08,625 --> 00:21:10,542 for American fighter aircraft 449 00:21:10,542 --> 00:21:12,125 that are trying to fight it off. 450 00:21:12,125 --> 00:21:14,542 But once you get your hands on a MiG-21, 451 00:21:14,542 --> 00:21:16,875 you can essentially find out its weaknesses. 452 00:21:16,875 --> 00:21:19,875 - In just a few years, the air war in Vietnam 453 00:21:19,875 --> 00:21:21,792 has taken a turn. 454 00:21:21,792 --> 00:21:25,375 By '68, American aircraft are shooting down MiGs 455 00:21:25,375 --> 00:21:29,042 with a ratio of 13 to one in the American advantage. 456 00:21:29,042 --> 00:21:31,917 - The turnaround happens so quickly, 457 00:21:31,917 --> 00:21:35,792 that there was speculation that the American government 458 00:21:35,792 --> 00:21:39,208 must have gotten its hands on one of these MiG planes. 459 00:21:39,208 --> 00:21:40,875 And there was, of course, suspicion, 460 00:21:40,875 --> 00:21:43,042 where might something like that be worked on? 461 00:21:43,042 --> 00:21:44,458 Where might it take place? 462 00:21:44,458 --> 00:21:47,458 Some theorists think it's Area 51. 463 00:21:47,458 --> 00:21:50,792 [gentle stirring music] 464 00:21:52,708 --> 00:21:56,208 - Soon after the defection of Redfa, 465 00:21:56,208 --> 00:22:01,333 Soviet surveillance over Area 51 gets really ramped up. 466 00:22:01,625 --> 00:22:06,083 In addition, locals report an uptick in activity 467 00:22:06,083 --> 00:22:08,542 in the skies over Area 51. 468 00:22:08,542 --> 00:22:11,542 Sightings of strange aircraft, very fast moving, 469 00:22:11,542 --> 00:22:14,417 and repeated sonic booms. 470 00:22:14,417 --> 00:22:16,708 - [Laurence] Slowly over the years, 471 00:22:16,708 --> 00:22:19,458 declassified documents revealed the true story 472 00:22:19,458 --> 00:22:22,042 behind the stolen MiG. 473 00:22:22,042 --> 00:22:25,500 - It's really not until declassified materials in 2013, 474 00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:28,792 we finally find out the US indeed 475 00:22:28,792 --> 00:22:32,708 did get that MiG fighter jet from the Israelis. 476 00:22:32,708 --> 00:22:36,000 The project's code name was Have Doughnut. 477 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,042 - The name Have Doughnut comes from the fact that the nose 478 00:22:39,042 --> 00:22:42,917 of the aircraft is this one gargantuan air intake. 479 00:22:42,917 --> 00:22:45,625 Because it's circular with a cone-shaped piece 480 00:22:45,625 --> 00:22:48,042 in the center, to some people it looks like a donut. 481 00:22:48,042 --> 00:22:53,417 - By 1968, the United States has reverse engineered 482 00:22:53,417 --> 00:22:56,208 this aircraft and have their own MiGs. 483 00:22:56,208 --> 00:23:00,125 It's this secret air force of MiGs, 484 00:23:00,125 --> 00:23:03,125 and some people say it explains 485 00:23:03,125 --> 00:23:05,542 a lot of these UFO sightings. 486 00:23:05,542 --> 00:23:07,917 - Once the US built its own MiGs, 487 00:23:07,917 --> 00:23:10,542 they can then study its fighting characteristics. 488 00:23:10,542 --> 00:23:12,375 So US pilots were taught 489 00:23:12,375 --> 00:23:15,083 to use hit and run tactics, 490 00:23:15,083 --> 00:23:17,125 to have quick engagements. 491 00:23:17,125 --> 00:23:19,708 And also, get out of there, 492 00:23:19,708 --> 00:23:22,875 and do so by gaining altitude really fast. 493 00:23:22,875 --> 00:23:25,042 This pilot training was ultimately moved 494 00:23:25,042 --> 00:23:28,333 to Southern California in 1969, 495 00:23:28,333 --> 00:23:31,708 and it became known as the Top Gun program. 496 00:23:31,708 --> 00:23:33,542 - Because of Have Doughnut, 497 00:23:33,542 --> 00:23:36,750 the United States turns the tables on the MiG. 498 00:23:36,750 --> 00:23:39,083 Eventually, the US Navy and the US Air Force 499 00:23:39,083 --> 00:23:41,375 shoot down 137 MiGs. 500 00:23:41,375 --> 00:23:43,750 And those shoot downs were occasioned entirely 501 00:23:43,750 --> 00:23:46,208 on the lessons learned from Have Doughnut. 502 00:23:46,208 --> 00:23:48,375 - [Laurence] Some intelligence experts argue, 503 00:23:48,375 --> 00:23:53,125 this is the main reason for area 51's extreme secrecy. 504 00:23:53,125 --> 00:23:55,042 It houses stolen MiGs, 505 00:23:55,042 --> 00:23:58,583 and other highly classified enemy aircraft. 506 00:23:58,583 --> 00:24:00,792 Not everyone agrees. 507 00:24:00,792 --> 00:24:04,208 - Stealing military aircraft from an adversary 508 00:24:04,208 --> 00:24:08,208 is something that goes on pretty much all the time. 509 00:24:08,208 --> 00:24:12,750 And so, people then say, well, does that really justify 510 00:24:12,750 --> 00:24:15,542 the excessive secrecy at Area 51? 511 00:24:15,542 --> 00:24:20,500 And why was its existence denied for years and years? 512 00:24:21,333 --> 00:24:22,458 And that's led people to say, 513 00:24:22,458 --> 00:24:24,042 maybe there was something else, 514 00:24:24,042 --> 00:24:27,917 programs beyond anything the public can conceive. 515 00:24:32,708 --> 00:24:34,708 - According to some reports, 516 00:24:34,708 --> 00:24:37,792 spy plane testing at Area 51 in the 1950s and 60s 517 00:24:37,792 --> 00:24:42,417 accounted for half of all UFO sightings on the West Coast. 518 00:24:42,417 --> 00:24:44,875 The odd looking top secret aircraft 519 00:24:44,875 --> 00:24:47,958 are believed to have fooled plenty of people. 520 00:24:47,958 --> 00:24:51,083 But for many researchers, this doesn't really explain 521 00:24:51,083 --> 00:24:53,667 the strangest activity people have witnessed 522 00:24:53,667 --> 00:24:57,417 and continue to witness over Area 51. 523 00:24:57,417 --> 00:24:59,583 They believe the real answer lies 524 00:24:59,583 --> 00:25:01,458 in the testimony of one man. 525 00:25:02,125 --> 00:25:06,958 - On May 15th in 1989, on local Las Vegas news, 526 00:25:06,958 --> 00:25:10,625 a man gives an interview and claims that he worked 527 00:25:10,625 --> 00:25:14,125 at a secret military base near Area 51, 528 00:25:14,125 --> 00:25:16,875 known as S4 in southern Nevada. 529 00:25:16,875 --> 00:25:21,542 And it was his job specifically to reverse engineer 530 00:25:21,542 --> 00:25:25,750 anti-gravity propulsion systems from UFO technology. 531 00:25:26,875 --> 00:25:28,708 - So, it was real obvious what was in the hangar. 532 00:25:28,708 --> 00:25:29,667 You could see about three quarters 533 00:25:29,667 --> 00:25:30,875 of the edge of the craft. 534 00:25:30,875 --> 00:25:32,583 It was a typical flying saucer. 535 00:25:32,583 --> 00:25:35,458 It was, I say typical, 536 00:25:35,458 --> 00:25:37,750 I mean, like anything you'd see in a cartoon. 537 00:25:37,750 --> 00:25:40,083 - [Reporter] According to Lazar, the United States Navy 538 00:25:40,083 --> 00:25:43,125 has possession of nine alien spaceships, 539 00:25:43,125 --> 00:25:47,708 one of which Lazar was assigned to analyze at Area 51. 540 00:25:47,708 --> 00:25:50,458 - This is really major news. 541 00:25:50,458 --> 00:25:51,917 I mean, this blows up 542 00:25:51,917 --> 00:25:54,542 the conspiracy theories about Area 51. 543 00:25:54,542 --> 00:25:57,292 He says that we have had alien encounters. 544 00:25:57,292 --> 00:26:00,333 That what's being hidden there is not nuclear secrets, 545 00:26:00,333 --> 00:26:04,750 is not spy planes, but is in fact known alien technology. 546 00:26:04,750 --> 00:26:08,167 [gentle stirring music] 547 00:26:09,667 --> 00:26:13,583 - According to Bob Lazar, his road to Area 51 began 548 00:26:13,583 --> 00:26:15,125 when he was working at Los Alamos, 549 00:26:15,125 --> 00:26:17,208 and he attended a lecture that was given 550 00:26:17,208 --> 00:26:20,208 by the father of the hydrogen bomb, Edward Teller. 551 00:26:20,208 --> 00:26:23,333 And Edward Teller then recommends that he get hired 552 00:26:23,333 --> 00:26:25,750 by this company EG&G. 553 00:26:25,750 --> 00:26:29,042 - EG&G has been referred to as the most important 554 00:26:29,042 --> 00:26:32,208 defense contractor that you've never heard of. 555 00:26:32,208 --> 00:26:33,583 And according to Lazar, 556 00:26:33,583 --> 00:26:36,417 EG&G apparently has been, 557 00:26:36,417 --> 00:26:38,375 since the mid 50s, 558 00:26:38,375 --> 00:26:42,292 doing clandestine work at Area 51. 559 00:26:42,708 --> 00:26:45,500 - [Laurence] Upon being hired by EG&G 560 00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:47,833 to work at Area 51, 561 00:26:47,833 --> 00:26:52,708 Lazar realizes why his employer is so secretive. 562 00:26:52,708 --> 00:26:56,042 - Lazar is assigned to work at a location called S4, 563 00:26:56,042 --> 00:26:58,458 which is several miles from the main base. 564 00:26:58,458 --> 00:27:02,375 Lazar claims that at S4, the government has flying saucers, 565 00:27:02,375 --> 00:27:05,792 anti-matter reactors, and other advanced technologies 566 00:27:05,792 --> 00:27:07,875 that nobody knows about. 567 00:27:07,875 --> 00:27:11,625 He says that his main job at S4 was to reverse engineer 568 00:27:11,625 --> 00:27:14,500 one of the anti-gravity propulsion technologies 569 00:27:14,500 --> 00:27:16,417 from this alien aircraft. 570 00:27:16,417 --> 00:27:18,042 - Bob explains that 571 00:27:18,042 --> 00:27:21,083 this technology is actually operational, 572 00:27:21,083 --> 00:27:24,542 but nobody understands how it works. 573 00:27:24,542 --> 00:27:27,042 And in fact, he says he was given a manual 574 00:27:27,042 --> 00:27:30,875 for one of these ships that includes images of aliens, 575 00:27:30,875 --> 00:27:33,875 which he understands to be the pilots of these ships. 576 00:27:35,042 --> 00:27:37,292 - Human hands did not put this together. 577 00:27:39,042 --> 00:27:42,833 The technology was far beyond anything that we had. 578 00:27:42,833 --> 00:27:45,792 - [Laurence] Lazar is purportedly so blown away 579 00:27:45,792 --> 00:27:47,625 by what he's seeing at work, 580 00:27:47,625 --> 00:27:50,250 he can no longer keep it a secret. 581 00:27:50,250 --> 00:27:53,750 - Lazar tells his friend and his wife about this. 582 00:27:53,750 --> 00:27:57,417 And he says that there is one particular location 583 00:27:57,417 --> 00:28:00,083 where if you climb up this mountain, 584 00:28:00,083 --> 00:28:04,375 you can see on onto Area 51 airspace. 585 00:28:04,375 --> 00:28:05,875 You can see where these tests 586 00:28:05,875 --> 00:28:08,125 of flying saucers are taking place. 587 00:28:08,125 --> 00:28:11,875 - Eventually he's caught, he's fired, 588 00:28:11,875 --> 00:28:15,125 and he is told never to come back. 589 00:28:15,125 --> 00:28:17,833 And after this, he begins to suspect 590 00:28:17,833 --> 00:28:19,708 that maybe he's being followed. 591 00:28:19,708 --> 00:28:21,875 He says his tires are slashed. 592 00:28:21,875 --> 00:28:24,333 He says that people are tracking him, 593 00:28:24,333 --> 00:28:27,167 and that's when he decides it's time to go public. 594 00:28:27,167 --> 00:28:29,292 - [Laurence] Information soon surfaces, 595 00:28:29,292 --> 00:28:32,875 calling Lazar's credibility into question. 596 00:28:32,875 --> 00:28:35,958 - EG&G claims that they don't have any record 597 00:28:35,958 --> 00:28:38,125 of Lazar ever working for the company. 598 00:28:38,125 --> 00:28:40,833 He also claims to have attended MIT, 599 00:28:40,833 --> 00:28:42,417 and they claim that they don't have 600 00:28:42,417 --> 00:28:44,333 any record of him ever attending. 601 00:28:44,333 --> 00:28:48,042 Los Alamos also says that Lazar never worked there, 602 00:28:48,042 --> 00:28:51,708 but local reporters dig up an old phone book from Los Alamos 603 00:28:51,708 --> 00:28:53,917 and Lazar's name is inside. 604 00:28:53,917 --> 00:28:57,458 So they think that's proof that Lazar did in fact 605 00:28:57,458 --> 00:28:59,000 work at Los Alamos. 606 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,042 - Now, according to Lazar, 607 00:29:01,042 --> 00:29:03,042 this is all part of the government coverup. 608 00:29:03,042 --> 00:29:06,125 They go in and they clear out any reference of him, 609 00:29:06,125 --> 00:29:08,625 so that it looks like he's been lying. 610 00:29:08,625 --> 00:29:11,333 - There are die hard Lazar supporters 611 00:29:11,333 --> 00:29:13,875 who believe he is absolutely telling the truth, 612 00:29:13,875 --> 00:29:17,042 that the campaign against him is a smear campaign. 613 00:29:17,042 --> 00:29:19,125 He's being erased from history, 614 00:29:19,125 --> 00:29:22,208 that he did work at Los Alamos, he did attend MIT. 615 00:29:22,208 --> 00:29:25,042 And there's others who believe that he's a fraud, 616 00:29:25,042 --> 00:29:26,708 that he is making all of this up, 617 00:29:26,708 --> 00:29:30,042 that all of this is simply a pack of lies. 618 00:29:30,042 --> 00:29:33,875 - [Laurence] But Lazar's testimony is not the only case 619 00:29:33,875 --> 00:29:36,750 of an alleged insider claiming there are secrets 620 00:29:36,750 --> 00:29:39,083 hidden within Area 51. 621 00:29:39,083 --> 00:29:42,292 - Bob Lazar, however, was not the only person 622 00:29:42,292 --> 00:29:46,208 to come forward and talk about his time spent at Area 51. 623 00:29:46,208 --> 00:29:48,958 In 2011, in Annie Jacobsen's book, 624 00:29:48,958 --> 00:29:51,375 she interviews an unnamed source 625 00:29:51,375 --> 00:29:55,083 who says that he was one of five engineers 626 00:29:55,083 --> 00:29:59,250 also contracted by EG&G and sent to Area 51. 627 00:29:59,250 --> 00:30:03,000 This unnamed engineer's claims are incredibly similar 628 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:07,167 to Bob Lazars claims for what's going on at Area 51. 629 00:30:07,167 --> 00:30:10,875 - Annie Jacobsen's source, his duties, 630 00:30:10,875 --> 00:30:13,208 trying to figure out the propulsion system, 631 00:30:13,208 --> 00:30:15,042 trying to reverse engineer it, 632 00:30:15,042 --> 00:30:17,833 sound very similar to Bob Lazar's duties. 633 00:30:17,833 --> 00:30:22,292 Also the name of the facility, Sigma 4, 634 00:30:22,292 --> 00:30:25,917 or S4, and that's exactly what Bob Lazar said. 635 00:30:30,667 --> 00:30:33,583 - [Laurence] In 2020, Area 51 researchers are buzzing 636 00:30:33,583 --> 00:30:37,583 with excitement over a video posted on social media. 637 00:30:37,583 --> 00:30:42,042 It purports to show entrances to an underground base 638 00:30:42,042 --> 00:30:46,417 below Area 51, portals that didn't exist 639 00:30:46,417 --> 00:30:49,042 in older satellite photos. 640 00:30:49,042 --> 00:30:53,375 - A video shows what appears to be entrances 641 00:30:53,375 --> 00:30:56,042 to some sort of underground facility. 642 00:30:56,833 --> 00:30:58,333 And this is something new. 643 00:30:58,333 --> 00:31:02,375 Comparing it with earlier satellite photographs, 644 00:31:02,375 --> 00:31:03,833 they weren't there. 645 00:31:03,833 --> 00:31:06,083 And there are people now who believe 646 00:31:06,083 --> 00:31:09,167 the base is being extended, 647 00:31:09,167 --> 00:31:11,875 but most of it's under the surface. 648 00:31:11,875 --> 00:31:14,917 And that's just part of maybe 649 00:31:14,917 --> 00:31:19,458 a much wider network of underground facilities, 650 00:31:19,458 --> 00:31:22,667 underground bases, underground tunnels. 651 00:31:22,667 --> 00:31:26,500 [gentle stirring music] 652 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:29,000 - There are very good reasons why facilities would be moved 653 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:30,375 underground at Area 51. 654 00:31:30,375 --> 00:31:33,333 The fact that we now live in an era when satellites 655 00:31:33,333 --> 00:31:35,417 can look at anything anytime that they want to. 656 00:31:35,417 --> 00:31:38,375 If the site is going to continue as a site 657 00:31:38,375 --> 00:31:40,958 where secret aerospace projects are being developed, 658 00:31:40,958 --> 00:31:42,375 everything's gonna have to go underground 659 00:31:42,375 --> 00:31:44,458 'cause the Russians can otherwise see it. 660 00:31:44,458 --> 00:31:47,375 - Russian satellites have been watching this piece of land 661 00:31:47,375 --> 00:31:49,042 since the Cold War. 662 00:31:49,042 --> 00:31:52,792 So, clearly, there's something going on there 663 00:31:52,792 --> 00:31:54,167 that isn't visible on the surface. 664 00:31:54,333 --> 00:31:57,542 - Michael Schratt is a UFO researcher 665 00:31:57,542 --> 00:32:02,125 who specializes in looking at military bases, 666 00:32:02,125 --> 00:32:07,125 underground facilities that tie in with aviation. 667 00:32:07,125 --> 00:32:11,792 And he believes that there is an immense 668 00:32:11,792 --> 00:32:15,417 underground facility at Area 51. 669 00:32:15,417 --> 00:32:18,208 - According to Schratt, there is an underground tunnel 670 00:32:18,208 --> 00:32:21,708 from Area 51 all the way to Edwards Air Force Base 671 00:32:21,708 --> 00:32:24,208 in California some 400 miles away. 672 00:32:24,208 --> 00:32:28,083 He also claims that there's a tunnel that goes from Area 51 673 00:32:28,083 --> 00:32:31,167 to Wright Air Force Base in Ohio. 674 00:32:31,167 --> 00:32:35,125 And that tube would have to be almost 2,000 miles long. 675 00:32:35,125 --> 00:32:37,417 It would be massive in scale. 676 00:32:37,417 --> 00:32:40,667 - Schratt's thesis is not outrageous when you consider 677 00:32:40,667 --> 00:32:43,917 that the era of the Cold War led to the creation 678 00:32:43,917 --> 00:32:45,875 of these secret underground facilities 679 00:32:45,875 --> 00:32:48,917 where senior members of the Senate, 680 00:32:48,917 --> 00:32:50,208 the House of Representatives, the President, 681 00:32:50,208 --> 00:32:51,750 the Vice President, and their families, 682 00:32:51,750 --> 00:32:54,875 where they could go in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack. 683 00:32:54,875 --> 00:32:58,167 - But you have to wonder how the government could undertake 684 00:32:58,167 --> 00:33:00,958 such a massive underground construction effort 685 00:33:00,958 --> 00:33:03,167 without the public finding out about it. 686 00:33:03,167 --> 00:33:05,208 Schratt claims that they got away with this 687 00:33:05,208 --> 00:33:09,250 because records of patents and inventions that suggest 688 00:33:09,250 --> 00:33:11,833 scientists and engineers at Los Alamos came up 689 00:33:11,833 --> 00:33:16,667 with a nuclear powered drill that could melt rock on contact 690 00:33:16,667 --> 00:33:20,583 and could move through the ground at three miles per day. 691 00:33:20,583 --> 00:33:24,042 - Hypothetically, as this drill is powering its way 692 00:33:24,042 --> 00:33:26,875 through the land, it is actually melting the minerals 693 00:33:26,875 --> 00:33:28,167 that it's moving through. 694 00:33:28,167 --> 00:33:30,958 And leaving almost a glass like surface 695 00:33:30,958 --> 00:33:32,583 on the walls behind it. 696 00:33:32,583 --> 00:33:36,042 The implications of this are that there could be an entire 697 00:33:36,042 --> 00:33:38,750 underground network beneath the US, 698 00:33:38,750 --> 00:33:42,208 of which Area 51 is only one part. 699 00:33:42,208 --> 00:33:45,250 - [Laurence] There is evidence suggesting a sprawling 700 00:33:45,250 --> 00:33:49,458 underground tunnel system beneath the Nevada test site, 701 00:33:49,458 --> 00:33:52,042 the government's nuclear testing facility 702 00:33:52,042 --> 00:33:55,125 right next door to Area 51. 703 00:33:55,125 --> 00:33:57,208 - In fact, we know that massive tunnels 704 00:33:57,208 --> 00:34:00,042 have been dug at various locations. 705 00:34:00,042 --> 00:34:03,292 According to one witness, under the Nevada test site 706 00:34:03,292 --> 00:34:07,208 right next door to Area 51, there are all sorts of tunnels 707 00:34:07,208 --> 00:34:10,708 used to move around equipment and personnel. 708 00:34:10,708 --> 00:34:14,375 So if it's the case that there is a network like this 709 00:34:14,375 --> 00:34:17,250 under the Nevada test site, it stands to reason 710 00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:20,292 that there could well be one under Area 51. 711 00:34:20,292 --> 00:34:23,250 If there is, what's it being used for? 712 00:34:23,250 --> 00:34:26,208 - A lot of people think the connection to Area 51 713 00:34:26,208 --> 00:34:28,125 makes it seem almost obvious, 714 00:34:28,125 --> 00:34:31,750 this has something to do with alien technologies. 715 00:34:31,750 --> 00:34:35,250 - In 2023, Christopher Mellon, former Deputy 716 00:34:35,250 --> 00:34:37,875 under Secretary of Defense under Bill Clinton 717 00:34:37,875 --> 00:34:40,500 and George W. Bush, claims 718 00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:44,333 that there is a whole lot of information out there 719 00:34:44,333 --> 00:34:47,583 about government possession of alien technology. 720 00:34:47,583 --> 00:34:52,375 And maybe actual aliens that the public needs to know about. 721 00:34:52,375 --> 00:34:54,542 - [Laurence] Mellon states, the US government 722 00:34:54,542 --> 00:34:58,250 should be transparent with its knowledge of UFOs. 723 00:34:58,250 --> 00:35:03,208 And in 2024, he posts a redacted document, 724 00:35:03,208 --> 00:35:06,375 allegedly showing a conversation between him 725 00:35:06,375 --> 00:35:09,083 and a high level US intelligence official 726 00:35:09,083 --> 00:35:11,500 discussing an alien spacecraft 727 00:35:11,500 --> 00:35:16,042 that crashed 300 miles away from Area 51. 728 00:35:16,042 --> 00:35:18,458 - So this redacted text conversation 729 00:35:18,458 --> 00:35:22,167 with an unnamed government official says specifically, 730 00:35:22,167 --> 00:35:25,125 that we are dealing with a recovered UAP, 731 00:35:25,125 --> 00:35:27,458 an unidentified aerial phenomenon, 732 00:35:27,458 --> 00:35:31,542 that was recovered from Kingman, Arizona in the 1950s. 733 00:35:31,542 --> 00:35:34,042 - If this is genuine, it suggests 734 00:35:34,042 --> 00:35:37,375 that there really is something to the claims 735 00:35:37,375 --> 00:35:42,042 that we have encountered alien life and alien technology. 736 00:35:42,042 --> 00:35:45,542 This could explain the amazing level of secrecy 737 00:35:45,542 --> 00:35:49,708 surrounding Area 51, that this facility is being used 738 00:35:49,708 --> 00:35:53,792 to house alien technology and maybe actual aliens. 739 00:35:58,833 --> 00:36:00,583 - [Laurence] Area 51 may be the most secretive, 740 00:36:00,583 --> 00:36:04,042 highly guarded base on American soil, 741 00:36:04,042 --> 00:36:07,875 but it still shows up on satellite images. 742 00:36:07,875 --> 00:36:10,375 - With the use of Google Earth, you can look at Area 51. 743 00:36:10,375 --> 00:36:13,667 Now, some areas, critical infrastructure is blurred 744 00:36:13,667 --> 00:36:16,042 so that you can't see what's actually happening there. 745 00:36:16,042 --> 00:36:18,083 But Area 51 is not. 746 00:36:18,083 --> 00:36:20,375 But it's what's going on inside the buildings, 747 00:36:20,375 --> 00:36:22,708 and specifically the hangars at Area 51, 748 00:36:22,708 --> 00:36:25,208 that's where the interesting things happen. 749 00:36:25,208 --> 00:36:27,208 - Every time Google Earth updates 750 00:36:27,208 --> 00:36:31,708 its images of Area 51, 751 00:36:31,708 --> 00:36:34,458 researchers become very excited because they wanna see 752 00:36:34,458 --> 00:36:36,708 what kind of changes have taken place 753 00:36:36,708 --> 00:36:38,458 since the last time it was updated. 754 00:36:38,458 --> 00:36:41,208 These researchers scour these photos 755 00:36:41,208 --> 00:36:43,500 for any kind of differences. 756 00:36:43,500 --> 00:36:45,583 - [Laurence] In 2020, those images show 757 00:36:45,583 --> 00:36:49,417 a pretty big modification to two of the bases hangars. 758 00:36:50,667 --> 00:36:52,875 - Structures are built under the existing hangars 759 00:36:52,875 --> 00:36:56,375 at Area 51, these porticos that cover the existing hangars 760 00:36:56,375 --> 00:36:58,542 and provide these big extensions. 761 00:36:58,542 --> 00:37:00,583 These hangars were built during the development 762 00:37:00,583 --> 00:37:02,250 of the F-117 stealth fighter. 763 00:37:02,250 --> 00:37:04,875 Now, although that aircraft is no longer in service, 764 00:37:04,875 --> 00:37:07,958 it's believed that the existing structures could be adapted 765 00:37:07,958 --> 00:37:09,708 for a contemporary use, 766 00:37:09,708 --> 00:37:11,458 that they could be used by modern aircraft. 767 00:37:11,458 --> 00:37:14,625 Or these extensions that appeared suddenly in 2020, 768 00:37:14,625 --> 00:37:16,542 they might actually be there to obscure 769 00:37:16,542 --> 00:37:19,417 where secret aerospace projects are being developed. 770 00:37:19,417 --> 00:37:22,708 - Some theorists think these new kinds of hangars 771 00:37:22,708 --> 00:37:25,917 are designed to house something pretty different. 772 00:37:25,917 --> 00:37:28,250 Maybe rather than housing 773 00:37:28,250 --> 00:37:30,542 a small number of really big aircraft, 774 00:37:30,542 --> 00:37:33,208 they might be housing a really big number 775 00:37:33,208 --> 00:37:34,708 of very small aircraft. 776 00:37:34,708 --> 00:37:37,250 That this could be advanced technology 777 00:37:37,250 --> 00:37:39,750 that the Air Force doesn't want us to know about, 778 00:37:39,750 --> 00:37:44,042 waves of tiny aircraft that can attack simultaneously. 779 00:37:44,042 --> 00:37:46,875 [stirring music] 780 00:37:48,125 --> 00:37:51,167 - This drone swarm is in its infancy. 781 00:37:51,167 --> 00:37:54,375 I mean, we see in a very sort of low tech, 782 00:37:54,375 --> 00:37:56,375 but highly effective way, 783 00:37:56,375 --> 00:37:58,958 tanks and armored vehicles being destroyed 784 00:37:58,958 --> 00:38:02,458 by drones in the war in Ukraine. 785 00:38:02,458 --> 00:38:06,750 And using AI, they would act as a single entity, 786 00:38:06,750 --> 00:38:08,500 but it's almost like a giant robot. 787 00:38:08,500 --> 00:38:12,042 It's arguably going to be the next generation of warfare. 788 00:38:12,042 --> 00:38:13,958 - [Martain] So what is it about these new structures 789 00:38:13,958 --> 00:38:15,542 that suggest drone swarm? 790 00:38:15,542 --> 00:38:18,458 Some researchers believe that the layout of the new hangars 791 00:38:18,458 --> 00:38:21,375 is structured in such a way that a drone swarm 792 00:38:21,375 --> 00:38:24,375 can be activated, it can then exit the structure. 793 00:38:24,375 --> 00:38:26,458 It can fly a simulated combat mission, 794 00:38:26,458 --> 00:38:27,667 and then return to the structure 795 00:38:27,667 --> 00:38:29,250 and fly in from the other side. 796 00:38:29,250 --> 00:38:31,458 It would be pretty difficult for operators 797 00:38:31,458 --> 00:38:34,125 to manage a big drone swarm. 798 00:38:34,125 --> 00:38:36,833 And the layout of this facility suggests 799 00:38:36,833 --> 00:38:39,792 that it was created to make it easier to do that. 800 00:38:40,792 --> 00:38:42,000 - [Laurence] While there's no proof 801 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,042 of such an experimental program underway, 802 00:38:45,042 --> 00:38:48,167 there have allegedly been strange sightings 803 00:38:48,167 --> 00:38:51,375 in the Nevada skies ever since 2020 804 00:38:51,375 --> 00:38:53,917 when the hangars were modified. 805 00:38:53,917 --> 00:38:57,083 - There've been some new sightings over Area 51 806 00:38:57,083 --> 00:39:00,333 that kind of seem like they could connect to this idea. 807 00:39:00,333 --> 00:39:02,875 One person reported seeing 808 00:39:02,875 --> 00:39:05,833 over 100 individual UFOs, 809 00:39:05,833 --> 00:39:08,208 almost all just at the same time. 810 00:39:08,208 --> 00:39:11,917 Someone described a fireball within a cube. 811 00:39:11,917 --> 00:39:16,375 - In the fall of 2024, another witness reported seeing 812 00:39:16,375 --> 00:39:18,708 strange lights every single night 813 00:39:18,708 --> 00:39:22,875 consecutive for two months at Area 51. 814 00:39:22,875 --> 00:39:25,125 - [Laurence] The timing leaves some to wonder 815 00:39:25,125 --> 00:39:29,208 if what was happening over Area 51 could be related 816 00:39:29,208 --> 00:39:33,417 to the rash of alleged drone sightings at the end of 2024 817 00:39:33,417 --> 00:39:38,042 that had experts baffled from coast to coast. 818 00:39:38,042 --> 00:39:41,417 - This gets a lot bigger than just the Nevada desert, 819 00:39:41,417 --> 00:39:43,458 because we have started getting reports 820 00:39:43,458 --> 00:39:47,042 of drones being spotted everywhere. 821 00:39:47,042 --> 00:39:50,708 This came to a head in November of 2024 in New Jersey, 822 00:39:50,708 --> 00:39:54,583 where many, many people were seeing drones, 823 00:39:54,583 --> 00:39:57,125 unexplained multiple drones at a time. 824 00:39:57,125 --> 00:40:00,542 We got social media postings, uploaded videos, 825 00:40:00,542 --> 00:40:02,875 all about these drones in New Jersey. 826 00:40:02,875 --> 00:40:05,875 - Local law enforcement and various government officials 827 00:40:05,875 --> 00:40:08,292 claimed to have no idea what's going on. 828 00:40:08,292 --> 00:40:10,792 But if this is some kind of black op 829 00:40:10,792 --> 00:40:14,167 or something that's being developed in Area 51, 830 00:40:14,167 --> 00:40:15,042 it's not as though the government 831 00:40:15,042 --> 00:40:16,417 is gonna let us know about it. 832 00:40:16,417 --> 00:40:18,250 - To this day, we still don't know 833 00:40:18,250 --> 00:40:20,208 what's happening at Area 51. 834 00:40:20,208 --> 00:40:23,417 This history of secrecy associated with Groom Lake, 835 00:40:23,417 --> 00:40:25,708 it extends into the present. 836 00:40:25,708 --> 00:40:28,042 It's not something that belongs to the 1950s. 837 00:40:28,042 --> 00:40:30,625 It's not something that belongs to the previous century 838 00:40:30,625 --> 00:40:32,292 and the era of the Cold War, 839 00:40:32,292 --> 00:40:34,292 it's something that belongs to today. 840 00:40:34,292 --> 00:40:37,708 [stirring music] 841 00:40:37,708 --> 00:40:40,208 - Is Area 51 hiding some kind of 842 00:40:40,208 --> 00:40:43,042 extraterrestrial evidence? 843 00:40:43,042 --> 00:40:45,042 Or is the intense secrecy 844 00:40:45,042 --> 00:40:46,458 intended to protect 845 00:40:46,458 --> 00:40:48,542 more traditional military secrets? 846 00:40:48,542 --> 00:40:50,708 We may never know. 847 00:40:50,708 --> 00:40:53,417 Then again, the government once refused 848 00:40:53,417 --> 00:40:56,875 to say Area 51 even existed. 849 00:40:56,875 --> 00:40:58,458 Perhaps with time, 850 00:40:58,458 --> 00:41:00,708 the truth will finally be revealed. 851 00:41:00,708 --> 00:41:02,458 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 852 00:41:02,458 --> 00:41:03,583 Thank you for watching 853 00:41:03,583 --> 00:41:06,375 "History's Greatest Mysteries." 854 00:41:06,375 --> 00:41:08,417 [stirring music]