Area 51 declassified
Columbus State University | The Saber
CIA confirms its base for secret planes
Local & World
Managing Editor Illustration: Sabrina Anderson
Sept 11, 2013 |
11
Malika L. Harris
COLUMB
LOCATED SERVICES
IN DAVIDSON
CENTER STUDENTS!
PHONE: (706) 507-8630 FAX: (706) 507-8262
STUDENT
After almost sixty years, and a ridiculously high number of pop culture references, the Central Intelligence Agency has finally confirmed that Area 51 is real. As The Atlantic Wire reports, the revelation comes from a recently declassified document that details the site. The 407-page paper explores the discovery, research and development of the government base, which was popularized as the home of secret alienfocused research by the The X-Files and Independence Day. However, unlike the popular series and film, the CIA document does not refer to aliens at all. Instead, it acknowledges Area 51 as the base for the government’s U-2 spy plane program. The site was used in World War II as an ‘aerial gunnery range’ for the Army Air Corps, and already had a non-paved airstrip. The site was never intended to be named Area 51 and there is nothing special behind the name. Instead the name is a carry-over from the naming scheme on a map of the much larger Nevada Test Site. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the addition of the wasteland to the test site, the name “Paradise Ranch” was chosen and is also referenced in the document, but oddly did not stick around long enough for Americans to notice the difference in name change. The declassified document U S S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y serves as H?\????X?X[??\??Y[? ?X???][?? H\?XH
LH?\?H8?%[ ?Y?????T??]\??Y[?Y[?[?Y[??\???\??Y[???[Y[? ??P?P???? ??UT?U?RSP?H? ?Y?\?[??\? ? H?\?H ?\?HS??H ?YX?Y???H[?[Y?[??H \\?? ?[X\?Y ?[? HS???S??SQS??\??\??]?YH\??]HS? ??X?[YHX?\??Y?YY ????P?SK?Q????????U?PU?VT?B??S?VH H??QVH? SH H
N? B?????? ??????T??P?T?S??QB??P????QT?8?(??????QT?8?(??VS??8?(???S??S??8?(??T?S?T???T??8?(?UT?PQ8?(?S??S?H8?(??S??T?S??H?????S?S??8?(???S??8?(??PT?S??8?(??US??8?(?T???US?8?(?SRS?US?8?(?T??H??T??8?(??S??T???SP?T?S??8?(?QT?U?H8?(?S?S?S??8?(?T?Q? ?TH8?(?Q?T??S??8?(??T?PP?HUH8?(? ?S?K?????