Annie Jacobsen

“The idea that Area 51 was this test facility working to move science and technology faster and further than any other nation is true and is one of the great hallmarks of Area 51. There are other areas of the base that are controversial - but they both exist simultaneously - out there in the desert.”

“In 2001, Katie Couric told 'Today Show' audiences that 7 percent of Americans doubt the moon landing happened - that it was staged in the Nevada desert.”

“Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country.”

“The oil under Libya is the champagne of oil, drop for drop the world's most valuable.”

“Who would have thought that in the 1950s, Burbank was a hotbed of international espionage?”

“I do believe that the truth gets out.”

“In the late 1960s, Ontario Airport was a throwback to a bygone era. Located 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, the airport served only two carriers, Western and Bonanza. Passengers could catch regional flights to San Francisco, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Phoenix and Los Angeles, and that was about it.”

“To understand how black projects began, and how they continue to function today, one must start with the creation of the atomic bomb. The men who ran the Manhattan Project wrote the rules about black operations. The atomic bomb was the mother of all black projects, and it is the parent from which all black operations have sprung.”

“With stealth technology, the U.S. could spy on its Cold War adversaries without running the risk of getting caught.”

“For decades, the men at Area 51 thought they'd take their secrets to the grave. At the height of the Cold War, they cultivated anonymity while pursuing some of the country's most covert projects. Conspiracy theories were left to popular imagination.”

“As far as I know, all the presidents know about Area 51. It would almost be impossible for them not to.”

“Back in the 1950s, there was a top-secret program code-named SUNTAN being conducted at a top-secret facility called Skunk Works. Its objective? To develop a liquid-hydrogen-powered spy plane. Because liquid hydrogen is incredibly volatile, early experiments were conducted inside a bomb shelter with eight-foot-thick walls.”

“The activities that went on at Camp King between 1946 and the late 1950s have never been fully accounted for by either the Department of Defense or the CIA.”

“Many of the engineers I interviewed worked on reverse-engineering technology. It's a hallmark of Area 51.”

“The area out at Area 51 that was part of the Operation Plumbbob test continues to be contaminated. It was not cleaned up until the '80s.”

“In many previously classified documents relating to activities at the base, the words 'Area 51' are conveniently blacked out. There's always a euphemism for it - like 'the test facility' or 'the base' - but never 'Area 51.'”

“Can a democratic nation fight a War on Terror and at the same time bend over backward so as not to offend a few visitors' rights?”

“The Cold War had become a battlefield marked by doublespeak. Disguise, distortion, and deception were accepted as reality. Truth was promised in a serum.”

“Everything that goes on at Area 51 is classified 'top secret' when it's going on.”

“In the winter of 1973, the American POWs held captive in Vietnam were released according to the terms of the Paris Peace Accords.”