Area 51 Part 10

"Hitler invented stealth," says Gene Poteat, the first CIA officer in the Agency's history to be a.s.signed to the National Reconnaissance Office, or NRO. Gene Poteat's job was to a.s.sess Soviet radar threats, and to do this, he observed many spy plane tests at Area 51. "Hitler's stealth bomber was called the Horten Ho 229," Poteat says, "which is also called the Horten flying wing. It was covered with radar-absorbing paint, carbon embedded in glue. The high graphic content produced a result called 'ghosting,' which made it difficult for radar to see."

The Horten Ho 229 to which Poteat refers was the brainchild of two young aircraft designers who worked for Hitler's Luftwaffe, Walter and Reimar Horten. These are the same two brothers who, in the fall of 1947, became the subject of the U.S. Army Intelligence's ma.s.sive European manhunt called "Operation Hara.s.s"-the search for a flying-saucer-type aircraft that could allegedly hover and fly.

Whatever happened to the Horten brothers? Unlike so many n.a.z.i scientists and engineers who were recruited under Operation Paperclip, Walter and Reimar Horten were originally overlooked. After being captured by the U.S. Ninth Army on April 7, 1945 captured by the U.S. Ninth Army on April 7, 1945, at their workshop in Gottingen, they were set up in a guarded London high-rise near Hyde Park London high-rise near Hyde Park. There, they were interrogated by the famous American physicist and rocket scientist Theodore Von Karman Theodore Von Karman, who decided the Horten brothers did not have much to offer the U.S. Army Air Forces by way of aircraft technology-at least not with their flying wing. After being returned to Germany, Reimar escaped to Argentina, where he was set up in a beautiful house on the sh.o.r.es of Villa Carlos Paz Lake, thanks to Argentinean president and ardent n.a.z.i supporter Juan Peron. Walter lived out his life in Baden-Baden, Germany, hiding in plain sight.

The information about the Horten brothers comes from the aircraft historian David Myhra, who, in his search to understand all-wing aircraft, industriously tracked down both Horten brothers, visited them in their respective countries in the 1980s, and recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with them on audiotape. These tapes can be found tapes can be found in the archives of the Smithsonian Air and s.p.a.ce Museum. in the archives of the Smithsonian Air and s.p.a.ce Museum.

"Reimar had me agree to two restrictions before I went to South America to interview him," Myhra explains. "One was that I couldn't ask questions about Hitler or the Third Reich." And the second was that "he said he didn't want to talk about the CIA. Reimar said there was this crazy idea that he'd designed some kind of a flying saucer and that the CIA had [supposedly] been looking for him." Myhra says Reimar Horten was adamant in his refusal to discuss anything related to the CIA. "The subject was off-limits for him," Myhra says. The conversation with Reimar Horten that Myhra refers to took place in the decade before Army Intelligence released to the public its three-hundred-page file on Operation Hara.s.s. This is the file that discusses the U.S. manhunt for the Horten brothers and their so-called flying disc. The Operation Hara.s.s file makes clear that someone from an American intelligence organization made contact with Reimar in the late 1940s to interrogate him about the flying disc. More than forty years later, Reimar Horten still refused to talk about what was said. A before I went to South America to interview him," Myhra explains. "One was that I couldn't ask questions about Hitler or the Third Reich." And the second was that "he said he didn't want to talk about the CIA. Reimar said there was this crazy idea that he'd designed some kind of a flying saucer and that the CIA had [supposedly] been looking for him." Myhra says Reimar Horten was adamant in his refusal to discuss anything related to the CIA. "The subject was off-limits for him," Myhra says. The conversation with Reimar Horten that Myhra refers to took place in the decade before Army Intelligence released to the public its three-hundred-page file on Operation Hara.s.s. This is the file that discusses the U.S. manhunt for the Horten brothers and their so-called flying disc. The Operation Hara.s.s file makes clear that someone from an American intelligence organization made contact with Reimar in the late 1940s to interrogate him about the flying disc. More than forty years later, Reimar Horten still refused to talk about what was said. A 2010 Freedom of Information Act request 2010 Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of the Army, Office of the General Counsel, Army Pentagon, issued a "no records response." A secondary appeal was also "denied." to the Department of the Army, Office of the General Counsel, Army Pentagon, issued a "no records response." A secondary appeal was also "denied."

If Stalin really did get the Horten brothers' flying disc, either from the brothers themselves or from blueprints they had drawn, how did Stalin get their flying disc to hover and fly on like that? What became of the craft's hover technology, powered by some mysterious power plant, which was also so fervently sought by Counter Intelligence Corps agents during Operation Hara.s.s? The EG&G engineer says that while he does not know what research was conducted on the "equipment" when it was at Wright-Patterson, beginning in 1947, he does know about the research conducted on the "power plant" after he received the "equipment," in Nevada in 1951.

"There was another [important] EG&G engineer another [important] EG&G engineer," he explains. That engineer was a.s.signed the task of learning about Stalin's hover technology, "which was called electromagnetic frequency, or EMF." This engineer "spent an entire year in a windowless room" inside an EG&G building in downtown Las Vegas trying to understand how EMF worked. "We figured it out," the EG&G engineer says. "We've had hover and fly technology all this time."

I asked the EG&G engineer to take me to the place where hover and fly technology was allegedly solved, and he did. Archival photographs and Atomic Energy Commission video footage confirm that the site once contained several buildings that were operated by EG&G. Not anymore. Instead, the facility inside of which an EG&G engineer unlocked one of Area 51's original secrets in the early 1950s is now nothing but an empty lot of asphalt empty lot of asphalt and weeds ringed by a chain-link fence. Is this what will become of Area 51 in sixty years? Will it too be moved? Will it go underground? Has it already? and weeds ringed by a chain-link fence. Is this what will become of Area 51 in sixty years? Will it too be moved? Will it go underground? Has it already?

What about flying saucers from a physicist's point of view? Edward Lovick, the grandfather of America's stealth technology, says that in the late 1950s, Kelly Johnson had him spend many months in Lockheed's anechoic chamber radar testing small-scale models of flying saucers. "Little wooden discs built in the Skunk Works wood shop," Lovick recalls. According to Lovick, Kelly Johnson eventually decided that round-shaped aircraft-flying discs without wings-were aerodynamically unstable and therefore too dangerous for pilots to fly. This was before the widespread use of pilotless aircraft, or drones. built in the Skunk Works wood shop," Lovick recalls. According to Lovick, Kelly Johnson eventually decided that round-shaped aircraft-flying discs without wings-were aerodynamically unstable and therefore too dangerous for pilots to fly. This was before the widespread use of pilotless aircraft, or drones.

What about the child-size pilots inside the flying disc? Shortly after the Roswell crash in July 1947, a press officer from the Roswell Army Air Field, a man named Walter Haut, was dispatched to the radio station KGFL in Roswell with a press release saying the Roswell Army Air Force was in possession of a flying disc. Haut was the emissary of the original Roswell Statement, which, in addition to being broadcast over the airwaves, was famously printed in the San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle the following day. It was Walter Haut who, three hours later, was sent back to KGFL by the commander of the Army Air Field with a second press release, one that said that the first press release was actually incorrect. the following day. It was Walter Haut who, three hours later, was sent back to KGFL by the commander of the Army Air Field with a second press release, one that said that the first press release was actually incorrect.

Walter Haut died in December 2005 and left a sworn affidavit sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death. In the text, Haut said the second press release was fraudulent, meant to cover up the first statement, which was true. Haut also said that in addition to recovering a flying craft, the military recovered bodies from a second crash site-small, child-size bodies with disproportionately large heads. "I am convinced that what I personally observed was some kind of craft and its crew from outer s.p.a.ce," Haut wrote. to be opened only after his death. In the text, Haut said the second press release was fraudulent, meant to cover up the first statement, which was true. Haut also said that in addition to recovering a flying craft, the military recovered bodies from a second crash site-small, child-size bodies with disproportionately large heads. "I am convinced that what I personally observed was some kind of craft and its crew from outer s.p.a.ce," Haut wrote.

The EG&G engineer's explanation about the child pilots inside the flying disc answers the riddle of the so-called Roswell aliens, certainly in a manner that would satisfy the fourteenth-century English friar and philosopher William of Ockham. It is an answer that is not more complicated than the riddle itself. According to the EG&G engineer, the aviators were not aliens but were created to look like them, by Josef Mengele, "shortly before or immediately after the end of the war." Children would have had great difficulty piloting an aircraft. The engineer says he was told the flying disc was piloted remotely, but offered almost no information about what would have had to have been the larger aircraft from which this early "drone" was launched. "It came down over Alaska," he says.

What about Bob Lazar? In the course of interviewing thirty-two individuals who lived and worked at Area 51, I asked the majority what they thought of Lazar's 1989 revelation about Area 51. Most made highly skeptical comments about Bob Lazar; none claimed ever to have met him. While it appears that Lazar lied about his education, his statements about S-4 should not be summarily dismissed as fraud.

The EG&G engineer says that the S-4 facility that housed the original Roswell "equipment" continued on for decades, which fits with Bob Lazar's time line. Lazar says he worked at Area 51 from 1988 to 1989. Lazar told newsman George Knapp that at S-4, he saw something through a window, inside an unmarked room, that could have been an alien. Was what happened to Lazar just like what happened to the P-38 Lightning pilot who, flying over the California desert during the dawn of the jet age, thought he saw a gorilla flying an airplane when really he saw Bell Aircraft chief test pilot Jack Woolams wearing a gorilla mask? Perhaps Lazar drew the only conclusion he could have drawn based on the information he had. And perhaps the Atomic Energy Commission had taken a page out of the CIA's playbook on deception campaigns: it needed to produce the belief that something false was something true. Perhaps scientists and engineers who were brought to S-4 in the later years were told that they were working on alien beings and alien s.p.a.cecraft. Try going public with that story and you will wind up disgraced like Bob Lazar. As it was with the P-38 Lightning pilots in 1942, it remains today. No one likes being mistaken for a fool.

"It's difficult to be taken seriously in the scientific community when you're known as 'the UFO guy,'" Bob Lazar stated on the record in 2010 for this book. to be taken seriously in the scientific community when you're known as 'the UFO guy,'" Bob Lazar stated on the record in 2010 for this book.

For decades, hundreds of serious people-civilians, lawmakers, and military personnel-have made considerable efforts to locate the records for the Roswell crash remains. And yet no such record group has ever been located, despite formal investigations by senators, congressmen, the governor of New Mexico, and the federal government's Government Accountability Office. This is because no one has known where to look. Until now, the world has been knocking on the wrong door. The information has been protected from decla.s.sification by draconian Atomic Energy Commission cla.s.sification rules, hidden inside secret Restricted Data files hidden inside secret Restricted Data files that were originally created for the Atomic Energy Commission by EG&G. that were originally created for the Atomic Energy Commission by EG&G.

So now it is known.

How did Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush get so much power? He was once the most important scientist in America. President Truman awarded him the Medal for Merit in a White House ceremony, President Johnson presented him with the National Medal of Science, and the queen of England dubbed him a knight. The statements made by the EG&G engineer about what Vannevar Bush authorized engineers and scientists to do at Area 51's S-4 facility are truly shocking and almost unbelievable. Except a clear historical precedent exists for Vannevar Bush having exactly this kind of power, secrecy, and control. get so much power? He was once the most important scientist in America. President Truman awarded him the Medal for Merit in a White House ceremony, President Johnson presented him with the National Medal of Science, and the queen of England dubbed him a knight. The statements made by the EG&G engineer about what Vannevar Bush authorized engineers and scientists to do at Area 51's S-4 facility are truly shocking and almost unbelievable. Except a clear historical precedent exists for Vannevar Bush having exactly this kind of power, secrecy, and control.

Vannevar Bush lorded over the mother of all black operations-the engineering of the world's first nuclear bomb. And as director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, which controlled the Manhattan Project, Vannevar Bush was also in charge of human experiments to study the effects human experiments to study the effects of the bioweapons lewisite and mustard gas on man. Some of those human guinea pigs were soldiers and others were conscientious objectors to the war, but a 1993 study of these programs by the National Academy of Sciences made clear that the test subjects were not consenting adults. " of the bioweapons lewisite and mustard gas on man. Some of those human guinea pigs were soldiers and others were conscientious objectors to the war, but a 1993 study of these programs by the National Academy of Sciences made clear that the test subjects were not consenting adults. "Although the human subjects were called 'volunteers,' it was clear from the official reports that recruitment of the World War II human subjects, as well as those in the later experiments, was accomplished through lies and half-truths," wrote the Inst.i.tute of Medicine. were called 'volunteers,' it was clear from the official reports that recruitment of the World War II human subjects, as well as those in the later experiments, was accomplished through lies and half-truths," wrote the Inst.i.tute of Medicine.

The "later experiments" to which the committee refers were conducted by a group also under Vannevar Bush's direction, this one called the Committee on Medical Research. As discovered by President Clinton's advisory committee on human experiments, this so-called medical research involved using as guinea pigs individuals living at the Dixon Inst.i.tution for the r.e.t.a.r.ded, in Illinois, and at the New Jersey State Colony for the Feeble-Minded Dixon Inst.i.tution for the r.e.t.a.r.ded, in Illinois, and at the New Jersey State Colony for the Feeble-Minded. The doctors were testing vaccines for malaria, influenza, and s.e.xually transmitted diseases. Some programs continued until 1973.

Even more troubling is this: buried in Atomic Energy Commission archives is the fact that the first incarnation of the Manhattan Project had a letter-number designation of S-1 letter-number designation of S-1. Were there two other programs that transpired between S-1 and S-4? And if so, what were they? What else might have been done to push science in a way that the ends could justify the means?

In this book, many pieces of the Area 51 puzzle are put into place, but many questions remain. What goes on at Area 51 now? We don't know. We won't know for decades. Airplanes have gotten faster and stealthier. Remote-controlled spy planes fire missiles. Cla.s.sified delivery systems drop bombs. The players are mostly the same: CIA, Air Force, Department of Energy, Lockheed, North American, General Atomics, and Hughes. These are but a few.

The biggest players tend to remain, as always, behind the veil. Almost a century ago, in 1922, Vannevar Bush cofounded a company that contracted first with the military and later with the Atomic Energy Commission. He called his company Raytheon because it meant "light from the G.o.ds." Raytheon has always maintained a considerable presence at the Nevada Test Site, the Nevada Test and Training Range, and Area 51. Currently, it is the fifth-biggest defense contractor in the world. It is the world's largest producer of guided missiles and the leader in developing radar technology for America's early-warning defense system. This is the same system that, in the 1950s, CIA director General Walter Bedell Smith feared the Soviets might overrun with a UFO hoax, leaving the nation vulnerable to an air attack.

As for EG&G, they were eventually acquired by the powerful Carlyle Group at the end of the twentieth century but later resold, in 2002, to another corporate giant called URS. Currently, EG&G remains partnered with Raytheon in a joint venture at the Nevada Test and Training Range and at Area 51. The program, called JT3 JT3-Joint Test, Tactics, and Training, LLC-provides "engineering and technical support for the Nevada Test and Training Range," according to corporate brochures. When asked what exactly that means, EG&G's parent company, URS, declined to comment. This is corporate America's way of saying, "You don't have a need-to-know."

The veil has been lifted. The curtain has been pulled back on Area 51. But what has been revealed in this book is like a single bread crumb in a trail. There is so much more that remains unknown. Where does the trail lead? How far does it go? Will it ever end?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Many have asked me how this book came to be. In 2007, I was at a Christmas Eve dinner when my husband's uncle's wife's sister's husband-a spry physicist named Edward Lovick, who was eighty-eight years old at the time-leaned over to me and said, "Have I got a good story for you." As a national security reporter, I hear this line frequently-my work depends on it-but what Lovick told me ranked among the most surprising and tantalizing things I'd heard in a long time. Until then, I was under the impression that Lovick had spent his life designing airplane parts. Over dinner I learned that he was actually a physicist and that he'd played a major role in the development of aerial espionage for the CIA. The reason Lovick could suddenly divulge information that had been kept secret for fifty years was because the CIA had just decla.s.sified it. When I learned that much of Lovick's clandestine work took place at that mysterious and mythic location Area 51, also called Groom Lake, I smiled. So, the place was real after all. Immediately, I wrote to the Office of the a.s.sistant Secretary of Defense requesting an official tour of the Groom Lake Area-Lovick also told me that the CIA had given up control of the place decades earlier. My request was formally denied, on Department of Defense letterhead, but oddly with the words "the Groom Lake Area" separated out in quotes attributed to me, so as to make clear the Pentagon's official position regarding their Nevada base: That locale may be part of your lexicon, That locale may be part of your lexicon, they seemed to be saying, they seemed to be saying, but it is most definitely not officially part of ours but it is most definitely not officially part of ours. As an investigative journalist I sought to know why.

Since then, more individuals than I could have ever imagined have generously shared their Area 51 stories with me. I am indebted to each and every one of them. The list I thank includes everyone in this book: the legendary soldiers, spies, scientists, and engineers-professionals who, for the most part, are not known for sharing their inner lives. That so many individuals opened up with me-relaying their triumphs and tragedies, their sorrows and joys-so that others may make sense of it all has been an experience of a lifetime. Why I was given access to information that countless others have been denied remains a great mystery to me. A reporter is dependent on primary sources. From their stories, and using keywords such as operational cover names, I was then able to locate corroborating doc.u.ments, often found deeply buried in U.S. government archives. I wouldn't have had a clue where to look without their aid. Specific examples are sourced in the Notes section.

T. D. Barnes is one of the most generous people I have met. He introduced me to many people, who in turn introduced me to their colleagues and friends. Barnes took me to Creech Air Force Base, at Indian Springs, Nevada, as part of a very private tour. There I was allowed to watch U.S. Air Force pilots fly drones halfway across the world, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Barnes also arranged for my tours of Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, where I sat inside a Russian MiG fighter jet and examined the Hawk missile system and the F-117 Nighthawk up close. And it was Barnes who, in the fall of 2010, advocated tirelessly on my behalf to allow me to join a group of pilots and engineers at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and at the Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters in Was.h.i.+ngton, DC, as part of a week-long symposium on overhead espionage. I met many people during this trip who were extraordinarily helpful to me, on background, and I thank them all.

Ken Collins lives in the same city as I do, which meant that for a year and a half I got to interview him regularly over lunch. He is a remarkable pilot and an even more extraordinary person. Thank you, Colonel Slater, Frank Murray, Roger Andersen, Tony Bevacqua, and Ray Goudey, for sharing so many unique flying stories with me. Thank you, Buzz Aldrin, for explaining to me what it feels like up there on the moon.

Al O'Donnell arranged for my temporary security clearance so that I could accompany him to the federally restricted land that is the Nevada Test Site. Looking into the Sedan nuclear crater-so vast it is visible from outer s.p.a.ce-is not something I will ever forget. While Area 51, Area 25, and Area 13 were off-limits to us on that visit, that I was able even to get within a stone's throw of these three hidden places is thanks to O'Donnell. And a special thanks to Ruth, Al's very capable wife. From Jim Freedman I learned things that could be contained in their own book. Freedman has the unusual ability to share deeply personal experiences with stunning clarity, objectivity, and conviction. Once, he explained why: "I tell you all this, Annie, because you give a d.a.m.n."

Dr. Bud Wheelon, the CIA's first deputy director of science and technology, has given only a few interviews in his life. I am grateful to have joined those ranks. During one of our interviews he stopped mid-story to thoroughly explain missile technology to me. From that moment on I understood what was at stake during the Cuban missile crisis. How close we came to nuclear war.

Lieutenant Colonel Hervey Stockman and Colonel Richard Leghorn are legends among legendary men. Colonel Leghorn generously shared with me artifacts he had stored away in his attic, s.h.i.+pping original photographs, long-lost articles, and out-of-print books across the country for my review. Thanks to his a.s.sistant, Barbara Austin, for her help. Hervey Stockman was not so easy to locate at first, but when I finally did reach him, on the telephone, it was a magical moment. Thank you, Peter Stockman, for sending me a copy of Hervey's oral history, which was an invaluable source of information.

For all the investigating that goes on in writing a book like this, sometimes the most sought-after information comes in the most whimsical of ways. In the summer of 2009, I went to the Nuclear Testing Archive library in Las Vegas to locate decla.s.sified doc.u.ments on the Project 57 "dirty bomb" test, ones that were mysteriously missing from the Department of Energy's online repository. Even in person, the staff was unable to fulfill my records request. Hindered and frustrated, I took a walk around the adjacent atomic-testing museum to cool down. Reporter's notebook in hand, I was staring at a photograph of a mushroom cloud hanging on the wall when the museum's security guard walked up and said h.e.l.lo. It was Richard Mingus. We'd met briefly before, on an earlier visit. I told Mingus that I felt records on Project 57 were being withheld from me over at the library. In his characteristic matter-of-fact style Mingus said, "Well, I worked on that test. What is it you'd like to know?" Mingus, I quickly learned, was also one of the CIA's original Area 51 security guards. Thanks to Mingus, the "missing" Project 57 doc.u.ments became easier to locate.

At the National Archives and Records Administration, thank you to Timothy Nenninger, chief of the Textual Records Reference Staff, Martha Murphy, chief of Special Access and FOIA Staff, and Tom Mills, who specializes in World War II records; thank you, Rita Cann, at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri; Martha DeMarre of the Nuclear Testing Archive in Las Vegas; Troy Wade of the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation; Tech Sergeant Jennifer Lindsey of the U.S. Air Force; Staff Sergeant Alice Moore, Creech Air Force Base; Dr. David R. Williams, NASA; Dr. David Robarge, chief historian, Central Intelligence Agency; Tony Hiley, curator and director of the CIA Museum; Cheryl Moore, EEA CIA; Jim Long, Laughlin Heritage Foundation Museum; R. Cargill Hall, historian emeritus, National Reconnaissance Office; Dr. Craig Luther, chief historian, Edwards Air Force Base; S. Eugene Poteat, president of the a.s.sociation of Former Intelligence Officers; Melissa Dalton, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics; Dr. Jeffrey Richelson, National Security Archives; David Myhra, author and aviation historian; Fred Burton, former special agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service; Sherre Lovick, former Lockheed Skunk Works engineer; Colonel Adelbert W. "Buz" Carpenter, former SR-71 pilot; Charles "Chuck" Wilson, former U-2 pilot; Arthur Beidler, 67th Reconnaissance Tactical Squadron, j.a.pan; Dennis Nordquist, Pratt & Whitney mechanical engineer; Tony Landis, NASA photographer; Michael Schmitz, Roadrunners Internationale photographer; Joerg Arnu, Norio Hayakawa, and Peter Merlin of Dreamlandresort.com. A special thank you to Doris Barnes, Barbara Slater, Stacy Slater Bernhardt, Stella Murray, Mary Martin, and Mary Jane Murphy. Thank you, Jeff King, for making me such an excellent map, and Ploy Siripant, for a phenomenal job on the jacket. Thank you Tommy Harron, Jerry Maybrook, and Jeremy Wesley for the great work on the audio book.

Once I completed a draft of this ma.n.u.script, my editor, John Parsley, helped me to refine it into the book that it is. What I learned from John about storytelling is immeasurable. Thank you also to Nicole Dewey, Geoff Shandler, and Michael Pietsch.

I owe a debt of grat.i.tude to Jim Hornfischer, the perfect agent for someone like me, and to my confidant Frank Morse. Thank you for the wise counsel, Steve Younger, David Willingham, Aron Ketchel, Eric Rayman, and Karen Andrews.

It takes a village to make a writer. I'm one of the lucky ones who has always known writing is what I was meant to do. I arrived at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hamps.h.i.+re, at the age of fifteen, typewriter in hand, and wrote for nearly twenty years straight without earning as much as one cent. Only at the age of thirty-four did things s.h.i.+ft for me, and I've earned my living as a writer ever since. I say that for all of the writers following in my footsteps. Don't give up. My village fire keepers-those to whom I am deeply indebted for their individually imperative roles-include Alice and Tom Soininen, Julie Elkins, John Soininen; my writing teacher at St. Paul's School, Michael Burns, and at Princeton University, Paul Auster, Joyce Carol Oates, and P. Adams Sitney; my storytelling hero in Greece, John Zervos; those who supported me in Big Sur: Lisa Firestone, Thanis Iliadis, Alex Timken, Robert Jolliffe, Harriet and Jeremy Polturak, James Young, Nate Downey, Emmy Starr and Stephen Vehslage, Samantha Muldoon, Erin Gafill and Tom Birmingham; my mentors in Los Angeles: Rachel Resnick, Keith Rogers, Kathleen Silver, Rio Morse, and my friend and editor in chief at the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Nancie Clare, who commissioned my original two-part series on Area 51 for the magazine; my fellow writers from group: Kirston Mann, Sabrina Weill, Mich.e.l.le Fiordaliso, Nicole Lucas Haimes, Annette Murphy, Terry Rossio, Jolly Stamat, Moira McMahon, Lisa Gold; fellow storyteller Lucy Firestone; my mother-in-law, Marion Wroldsen, not only for her deep love of reading but for lending me her son. Nancie Clare, who commissioned my original two-part series on Area 51 for the magazine; my fellow writers from group: Kirston Mann, Sabrina Weill, Mich.e.l.le Fiordaliso, Nicole Lucas Haimes, Annette Murphy, Terry Rossio, Jolly Stamat, Moira McMahon, Lisa Gold; fellow storyteller Lucy Firestone; my mother-in-law, Marion Wroldsen, not only for her deep love of reading but for lending me her son.

Nothing in this world is so joyful as being the wife of Kevin Jacobsen and the mother of our two boys. While writing this book, it was Kevin who made endless sandwiches for me, brewed pots of coffee, and let me travel to wherever it was that I needed to go. Kevin hears out every first draft, usually standing in our kitchen or yard. Everything gets better after I listen to what he has to say.

NOTES.

Prologue: The Secret City 1. Nevada Test and Training Range Nevada Test and Training Range: Map reference number NTTR01, NGA stock no. 84413.

2. Nevada Test Site Nevada Test Site: Map based on NTS Boundary Coordinates: FFACO, appendix 1, January 1998, revision 2, 6. On Aug 23, 2010, the Nevada Test Site changed its name to the Nevada National Security Site. Throughout the book, I refer to it as the Nevada Test Site, as that is the name it went by for nearly sixty years.

3. 105 nuclear weapons 105 nuclear weapons: Department of Energy, "United States Nuclear Tests," xiixv. Total atmospheric for Nevada Test Site (NTS) is officially listed as 100 and total Nellis Air Force Range (NAFR) is listed as 5. Underground is 804 by U.S. plus 24 by U.S./UK for a total of 933.

4. weapons-grade plutonium and uranium weapons-grade plutonium and uranium: Darwin Morgan, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Site Office, clarified: "The [Nevada Test Site] has never been a repository for weapons grade plutonium or uranium. Of course there is the 'expended' material from 828 underground nuclear weapons tests that is contained within the cavities where the tests were conducted." E-mail, September 21, 2010.

5. two known exceptions two known exceptions: Memo, Top Secret Oxcart, Oxcart Reconnaissance Operation Plan, BYE 2369-67, 15; second example from interview with Peter Merlin.

6. bomb's price tag bomb's price tag: Brookings Inst.i.tute, "50 Facts about U.S. Nuclear Weapons," fact no. 1 (1996 dollars: $20,000,000,000; 2011 dollars: $28,000,000,000).

7. was relayed to him by two men was relayed to him by two men: Wiesner, Vannevar Bush, Vannevar Bush, 98. This fact is hardly known; credit is usually given to General Leslie R. Groves and War Secretary Henry L. Stimson. Wiesner, Vannevar Bush's biographer at the National Academy of Sciences (he was also a science adviser to President Eisenhower), wrote: "Bush... had the duty, after the death of President Roosevelt, of giving President Truman his first detailed account of the bomb." 98. This fact is hardly known; credit is usually given to General Leslie R. Groves and War Secretary Henry L. Stimson. Wiesner, Vannevar Bush's biographer at the National Academy of Sciences (he was also a science adviser to President Eisenhower), wrote: "Bush... had the duty, after the death of President Roosevelt, of giving President Truman his first detailed account of the bomb."

8. no one knew the Manhattan Project was there no one knew the Manhattan Project was there: Wills, Bomb Power, Bomb Power, 1013. Wills elaborated on how Truman had some suspicions when he was vice president and approached War Secretary Henry L. Stimson, who told him to back off, which Truman did. 1013. Wills elaborated on how Truman had some suspicions when he was vice president and approached War Secretary Henry L. Stimson, who told him to back off, which Truman did.

9. who would control its "unimaginable destructive power" who would control its "unimaginable destructive power": Smyth, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, 13.7. Also known as 13.7. Also known as The Smyth Report, The Smyth Report, it was released by the government six days after Hiros.h.i.+ma, on August 12, 1945. Here, Smyth chronicled the administrative and technical history of the Manhattan Project, also called the Manhattan Engineering District (MED). The purpose of the report was allegedly to give citizens enough information about nuclear energy for them to partic.i.p.ate in a public debate about what to do next. The report also encouraged the idea that handing the bomb over to civilian control, as opposed to military control, would be a more democratic scenario. Instead, the controls imposed by the Atomic Energy Commission would ultimately prove to be even more impenetrable than military controls; Hewlett and Anderson, it was released by the government six days after Hiros.h.i.+ma, on August 12, 1945. Here, Smyth chronicled the administrative and technical history of the Manhattan Project, also called the Manhattan Engineering District (MED). The purpose of the report was allegedly to give citizens enough information about nuclear energy for them to partic.i.p.ate in a public debate about what to do next. The report also encouraged the idea that handing the bomb over to civilian control, as opposed to military control, would be a more democratic scenario. Instead, the controls imposed by the Atomic Energy Commission would ultimately prove to be even more impenetrable than military controls; Hewlett and Anderson, New World. New World.

10. the concept "born cla.s.sified" came to be the concept "born cla.s.sified" came to be: Quist, Security Cla.s.sification, Security Cla.s.sification, 1. Here Quist writes: "The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 was the first and, other than its successor, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, to date the only U.S. statute to establish a program to restrict the dissemination of information. This Act transferred control of all aspects of atomic (nuclear) energy from the Army, which had managed the government's World War II Manhattan Project to produce atomic bombs, to a five-member civilian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). These new types of bombs, of awesome power, had been developed under stringent secrecy and security conditions. Congress, in enacting the 1946 Atomic Energy Act, continued the Manhattan Project's comprehensive, rigid controls on U.S. information about atomic bombs and other aspects of atomic energy. The Atomic Energy Act designated the atomic energy information to be protected as 'Restricted Data' and defined that data." 1. Here Quist writes: "The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 was the first and, other than its successor, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, to date the only U.S. statute to establish a program to restrict the dissemination of information. This Act transferred control of all aspects of atomic (nuclear) energy from the Army, which had managed the government's World War II Manhattan Project to produce atomic bombs, to a five-member civilian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). These new types of bombs, of awesome power, had been developed under stringent secrecy and security conditions. Congress, in enacting the 1946 Atomic Energy Act, continued the Manhattan Project's comprehensive, rigid controls on U.S. information about atomic bombs and other aspects of atomic energy. The Atomic Energy Act designated the atomic energy information to be protected as 'Restricted Data' and defined that data."

11. seventy thousand nuclear bombs seventy thousand nuclear bombs: Brookings Inst.i.tute, "50 Facts about U.S. Nuclear Weapons," fact no. 6.

12. Atomic Energy was the first ent.i.ty to control Area 51 Atomic Energy was the first ent.i.ty to control Area 51: This is one of the central organizing premises of my book and will no doubt be contested by the Atomic Energy Commission until they are forced to decla.s.sify the project to which I refer.

13. when President Clinton when President Clinton: The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) was created by President Clinton on January 15, 1994, to investigate and make public the use of human beings as subjects of federally funded research. Created by executive order and subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the advisory committee was obligated to provide public access to its activities, processes, and papers, some of which can be viewed at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/radiation/.

14. he did not have a need-to-know he did not have a need-to-know: Author interview with EG&G engineer.

15. "give[s] the professional cla.s.sificationist unanswerable authority" "give[s] the professional cla.s.sificationist unanswerable authority": Quist, Security Cla.s.sification, Security Cla.s.sification, 24; Schwartz, 24; Schwartz, Atomic Audit, Atomic Audit, 44251. 44251.

16. largest facility is, and always has been, the Nevada Test Site largest facility is, and always has been, the Nevada Test Site: Written correspondence with Darwin Morgan, September 21, 2010, U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, Office of Public Affairs and Information.

17. not controlled by the Department of Defense not controlled by the Department of Defense: It cannot yet be determined for certain if the Department of Defense (DOD) was involved in running the very first program at Area 51. Research at NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) reveals that DOD had a lot more to do with Paperclips than previously known publicly. For example, doc.u.ments obtained by me through a FOIA request reveal "in the early 1950s the Defense Department [Office of Defense Research and Engineering (ORE)] and the JIOA took up overall direction of PAPERCLIP, which ran under the acronym of DEFSIP, or Defense Scientist Immigration Program." JIOA stands for Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency and was run by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. These multiple agencies and multiple chains of command serve to hide information.

Chapter One: The Riddle of Area 51.

Interviews: Joerg Arnu, George Knapp, Thornton "T.D." Barnes, Colonel Hugh Slater, Richard Mingus, Ernest "Ernie" Williams, Dr. Albert "Bud" Wheelon, Colonel Kenneth Collins, Colonel Sam Pizzo, Norio Hayakawa, Stanton Friedman 1. Nighttime is the best time Nighttime is the best time: Interview with Joerg Arnu.

2. Robert Scott Lazar appeared on Robert Scott Lazar appeared on Eyewitness News Eyewitness News: Interview with George Knapp; George Knapp, "Bob Lazar: The Man Behind Area 51," Eyewitness News Investigates, http://area51.eyewitnessnews8.com/.

3. veiled threats of incarceration veiled threats of incarceration: A common note among most Area 51 employees interviewed, certainly among the Air Force enlisted men, was the "threat of Leavenworth," meaning incarceration at the largest federal security prison in the United States at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

4. Dr. Edward Teller Dr. Edward Teller: Teller, who died in 2003 at the age of ninety-five, never confirmed or denied that he referred Lazar to EG&G for work at Area 51.

*contaminated with plutonium: Interviews with Richard Mingus; see notes for chapter 6.

5. for a lecture Teller was giving for a lecture Teller was giving: The subject of Teller's lecture was the nuclear freeze movement under way in a postThree Mile Island world.

6. a page-1 story featuring Bob Lazar a page-1 story featuring Bob Lazar: Los Alamos Monitor, Los Alamos Monitor, June 27, 1982, identifies Lazar as "a physicist at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility." June 27, 1982, identifies Lazar as "a physicist at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility."

7. Lazar's life had reached an unexpected low Lazar's life had reached an unexpected low: The most comprehensive information on Lazar is available at the Area 51 research Web site Dreamlandresort.com, created by Joerg H. Arnu in 1999. In "The Bob Lazar Corner" one can find a time line of Lazar's story as well as a compilation of public records, letters, and commentary about Lazar by his critics and his friends, as researched by Tom Mahood, whom I interviewed.

8. Tracy Murk Tracy Murk: According to the wedding certificate researched by Tom Mahood. Also according to Mahood's research, Tracy Ann Murk and Lazar married for a second time, on October 12, 1986 (the first wedding was April 19, 1986), with Murk inexplicably using the name Jackie Diane Evans.

9. committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide committed suicide by inhaling carbon monoxide: Ibid. Death certificate #001423-86, Clark County Health District, Las Vegas, NV; cause of death: "inhalation of motor vehicle exhaust." Sourced by Tom Mahood.

10. Fly to Area 51 Fly to Area 51: Descriptions based on multiple eyewitness interviews; see Primary Interviews.

11. designed by Raytheon to detect incoming missile signals designed by Raytheon to detect incoming missile signals: Interview with T. D. Barnes.

12. The miner kept the secrecy oath The miner kept the secrecy oath: Interview with Colonel Slater.

13. access point Gate 385 access point Gate 385: Interview with Richard Mingus.

14. trucks from the Atomic Energy Commission motor pool trucks from the Atomic Energy Commission motor pool: Interview with Ernie Williams. A farm boy from Nebraska, Williams's father was a "water witch," and Williams inherited some water-locating charm. In this manner, he is the man credited by many Roadrunners as having officially found Area 51's first water well.

15. men dressed in HAZMAT suits men dressed in HAZMAT suits: R. Kinnison and R. Gilbert, "Estimates of Soil Removal for Cleanup of Transuranics at NAEG Offsite Safety Shot Sites," FY 1981, 1984, 198691.

16. would have gone through security there would have gone through security there: Interview with anonymous EG&G employee who worked for the airline.

17. tennis matches tennis matches: Interview with Dr. Wheelon.

18. jumping into the pool jumping into the pool: Interview with Ken Collins.

19. Area 51 bar, called Sam's Place Area 51 bar, called Sam's Place: Interview with Colonel Pizzo.

20. According to Lazar According to Lazar: Lazar's original interviews with George Knapp are available on YouTube in six parts.

21. He glanced sideways, through a small nine-by-nine-inch window He glanced sideways, through a small nine-by-nine-inch window: Lazar's interview with George Knapp, part two of six, minutes 4:105:05. Knapp: "In an earlier interview, you had mentioned you saw what you thought may be an alien. Was it an alien? What did you see?" Lazar: "What I had said and all that occurred was that I was walking by a door, ah, a door that had a small, nine-by-nine window in it, little wires running through it. And glanced in there, and there were two... ah, either technicians, scientists, or whoever they were, looking down at something. And what that something was caught my eye and I never really did see what it was. A lot of people have a.s.serted, well, there was an alien, they're aliens working around there and so on and so forth, I mean, I don't think that was the case. But, ah, who knows. I was. You know. You're seeing all these fantastic things and your mind gets going and you know you catch something out of the corner of your eye, who knows what your mind is going to come up with so I certainly wouldn't stand on that as fact by any means." See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfVZcAsTxk.

22. what was maybe an alien what was maybe an alien: Lazar's interview with George Knapp, part two of six, minutes 2:333:30. Lazar says he was told the UFO he was a.s.signed to work on originated from another planet. He says he was shown autopsy photographs of the craft's alien pilots, which he described to Knapp in their interview: "One or two autopsy photographs I saw ah, dealt with just a small photograph, a bust shot essentially, just head, shoulders, and chest of an alien where the ah, ah, chest was cut open in a 'T' fas.h.i.+on and one single organ was removed. The organ itself in the other picture was cut and vivisectioned essentially the, ah, showing the different chambers in there. This was totally unrelated to anything I was doing but from that photograph it looked like what you see in UFO lore as the typical 'gray' [slang for alien alien] so how tall it was from what I could see, I couldn't tell, 'cause I only saw a portion of the photograph but if everything else you see is correct, I would imagine it was three and a half or four feet tall. But ah, there again, you know all I had to see was a photograph. And you know, I didn't have much to go on." See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfVZcAsTxk&feature=related.

23. The group made a trip The group made a trip: Tom Mahood, "The Robert Lazar Timeline, as a.s.sembled from Public Records and Statements," July 1994, updated July 1997, from dreamlandresort.com. In this time line Lazar and various friends made a total of three trips into the mountains behind Groom Lake. It was on the third trip that his group was stopped by guards.

24. transcripts of his wife's telephone conversations transcripts of his wife's telephone conversations: Ibid.

25. Norio Hayakawa Norio Hayakawa: Interview with Norio Hayakawa.

26. He had bodyguards He had bodyguards: In the interview with Knapp, Lazar said he was shot at while driving on the freeway (YouTube interview five of six, minute 6:00) and that during his debrief at Indian Springs a gun was pointed at him (ibid., minute 8:00).

27. Lie detector tests Lie detector tests: WSVN-7 News reporter Dan Hausle's interview with former policeman Terry Cavernetti, accessed on December 21, 2010, YouTube, "Bob Lazar Pa.s.ses the Lie Detector on UFOs."

28. Stanton Friedman Stanton Friedman: Interview with Stanton Friedman. Friedman was employed for fourteen years as a nuclear physicist and worked on many advanced nuclear and s.p.a.ce travel systems for companies like General Motors, General Electric, and Westinghouse. He has published eighty UFO papers, written six books, and appears in many UFO doc.u.mentaries.

29. Stanton Friedman's expose on the Roswell incident Stanton Friedman's expose on the Roswell incident: Recollections of Roswell, Testimony from 27 Witnesses Connected with Recovery of 2 Crashed Flying Saucers in New Mexico in July 1947, Recollections of Roswell, Testimony from 27 Witnesses Connected with Recovery of 2 Crashed Flying Saucers in New Mexico in July 1947, DVD, 105 minutes. DVD, 105 minutes.

30. a book based on Friedman and Moore's research was published a book based on Friedman and Moore's research was published: Berlitz and Moore, Roswell Incident. Roswell Incident. Friedman said it was a group decision to give Berlitz author credit instead of him, as Berlitz was from the Berlitz Language School family and had the credibility necessary to sell the publisher on the book's controversial subject matter. Charles Berlitz spoke twenty-five languages and is often listed as one of the most important linguists of the twentieth century. His 1974 book, Friedman said it was a group decision to give Berlitz author credit instead of him, as Berlitz was from the Berlitz Language School family and had the credibility necessary to sell the publisher on the book's controversial subject matter. Charles Berlitz spoke twenty-five languages and is often listed as one of the most important linguists of the twentieth century. His 1974 book, The Bermuda Triangle, The Bermuda Triangle, sold an estimated ten million copies. sold an estimated ten million copies.