For decades the U.S. government would not even name Area 51. That changed in August 2013, when a declassified CIA history obtained by the National Security Archive referred to it openly. Together with a 1997 CIA study, it explains much of the link between Area 51 and UFOs. This guide sets out what those records say.
The document is The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954–1974, a CIA history by Gregory Pedlow and Donald Welzenbach. The National Security Archive at George Washington University obtained it under a 2005 Freedom of Information Act request by senior fellow Jeffrey T. Richelson and posted it on August 15, 2013, with numerous references to Area 51 and Groom Lake and a map of the area restored.
According to the Archive's summary, during a 1955 search for a test site the CIA team found "what appeared to be an airstrip near a salt flat known as Groom Lake," and agreed it "would make an ideal site for testing the U-2 and training its pilots." The site, "known by its map designation — Area 51," was added to the Nevada Test Site.
When the Justice Department adds Epstein files or the Pentagon publishes new UFO files, we email you a short summary and a link to the official records.
The CIA history is about two spy-plane programs: the U-2 and the faster, higher-flying A-12 (code-named OXCART). Later National Security Archive postings, in October 2013, documented Area 51's role in the development of U.S. stealth aircraft in the 1970s and 1980s. The CIA history contains no account of UFOs or extraterrestrial craft at the site.
A 1997 study by CIA historian Gerald K. Haines, "CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90," published in the CIA journal Studies in Intelligence, offers the clearest official explanation. Haines reported later CIA estimates that "over half of all UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were accounted for by manned reconnaissance flights" — the U-2 and OXCART programs — over the United States.
None of the declassified records discussed here describes alien technology or recovered craft at Area 51. Claims of that kind — including those associated with Bob Lazar — are not supported by any official document released to date. AARO's 2024 Historical Record Report also found no evidence of programs reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
According to a declassified CIA history released in 2013, the CIA selected Groom Lake (Area 51) in 1955 to test the U-2 spy plane and train its pilots; the A-12 OXCART was later tested there too. Later records document its role in stealth aircraft development.
No official record says so. The declassified CIA history describes spy-plane testing, and a 1997 CIA study concluded that over half of UFO reports from the late 1950s through the 1960s were accounted for by those secret reconnaissance flights.
The first openly declassified official references came in a CIA history of the U-2 and OXCART programs, obtained by the National Security Archive under FOIA and posted on August 15, 2013.
Facts on this page were checked against the sources below on October 22, 2026 by Himanshu Singh. Spot an error? Email hello@nowdeclassified.com.
We'll email you when the government releases new Epstein files or Pentagon UFO files — with a link to our sourced explainer.
Complete guide to AARO's 2024 Historical Record Report: the government's first systematic review of historical UAP programs, what it concluded about crash retrieval claims, and what the archive record shows.
Complete archive guide to the 1947 Roswell recovery: the original FBI teletype, the press release and retraction, Project Mogul vs. the recovery narrative, and what the 2026 declassified archive adds.
Complete guide to Project Blue Book: the USAF's 1952–1969 UFO investigation, its 12,618 cases, 701 unresolved 'Unknown' designations, key investigators, and how to access the full archive in NARA.
AATIP director's first-person account of the Pentagon UAP program.
Religious-studies professor's investigation of UAP elite belief networks.
Insider claim of Roswell recovered technology distribution program.