Area 51 officially acknowledged, mapped in newly released documents

[steve2470]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/us/area-51-documents/

(CNN) -- Area 51 has long been a topic of fascination for conspiracy theorists and paranormal enthusiasts, but newly released CIA documents officially acknowledge the site and suggest that the area served a far less remarkable purpose than many had supposed.

According to these reports, which include a map of the base's location in Nevada, Area 51 was merely a testing site for the government's U-2 and OXCART aerial surveillance programs. The U-2 program conducted surveillance around the world, including over the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Area 51, about 125 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is synonymous in popular culture with government secrecy, and many have theorized that it holds the answer to one of the greatest questions plaguing mankind: Are we really alone in the universe?

But the newly released documents make no mention of alien autopsy rooms or spaceship parking lots.

[Recursion]

1. If I were testing experimental aircraft, I would like nothing better than UFO rumors

So that everytime somebody saw something weird, it got written off as a UFO nut.

[jberryhill]

2. My theory was that it worked the other way around

If there is a secret military facility in some other country, a good strategy is to inspire loonies to keep an eye on it and post every picture of it or things around it possible.

There were some UFO reports near a Soviet nuclear facility which seemed to be the same kind of thing.

[PCIntern]

3. I am shocked...SHOCKED, that the government

Didn't reveal anything...

http://m.