Not only has the CIA acknowledged the existence of Area 51 but the agency has also mapped out its location.
The secret base is frequently the subject of conspiracy theories and today the CIA shed some light on the legendary Area 51. The Inquisitr reported earlier that a 400 page report was made public today thanks to a Freedom of Information request by Jeffrey T. Richelson, a senior fellow at the National Security Archives.
The report names the secret base, details some of the experiments that were done there, and even pinpoints Area 51 on a map.
CNN reports that the secret base was primarily used to test the U-2 spy plane and the OXCART aerial surveillance program.
A passage from the report states that the secretive tests may have contributed to a rise of “UFO sightings” in the area.
The report reads: “The U-2 and later OXCART flights accounted for more than one-half of all UFO reports during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s… High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side effect — a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
So where did this sightings occur? A map that was also released with the report shows Area 51 about 125 miles northwest of Las Vegas. That puts Area 51 in the middle of the Nellis Air Force Range which is still used by the government for test flights. The Review Journal notes that the restricted airspace surrounding Nellis Air Force Range is known to pilots as “the box” or “the container.”
Here’s a map of Area 51 from the National Security Archives.
