Editing Area 51 (section)

==Security==
[[File:Area 51 Main Gate.jpg|thumb|The main gate to Area 51, on Groom Road]]

The perimeter of the base is marked out by orange posts and patrolled by guards in white pickup trucks and camouflage fatigues. The guards are popularly referred to as "camo dudes" by enthusiasts.<ref>{{cite news |title=Area 51 |first=Donovan |last=Webster |date=26 June 1994 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/26/magazine/area-51.html}}</ref><ref name="nydailynews06Aug2019"/> The guards will not answer questions about their employers; however, according to the New York ''[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]'', there are indications they are employed through a contractor such as [[AECOM]].<ref name="nydailynews06Aug2019">{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/camo-dudes-patrol-area-51-article-1.2828248 |title=Here's what we know about the 'Cammo Dudes' who patrol Area 51 |website=nydailynews.com |access-date=6 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806150939/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/camo-dudes-patrol-area-51-article-1.2828248 |archive-date=6 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.area51.org/area-51-camo-dudes/ |title=Area 51 Camo Dudes: Lethal Force Authorized – Area 51 |date=9 January 2017 |website=area51.org |access-date=6 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806145715/http://www.area51.org/area-51-camo-dudes/ |archive-date=6 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Signage around the base perimeter advises that deadly force is authorized against [[trespass]]ers.<ref name="Magazines2000">{{cite book |author=Hearst Magazines |title=Popular Mechanics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdthT2uNftoC&pg=PA142 |date=April 2000 |publisher=Hearst Magazines |pages=142–}}</ref>

Technology is also heavily used to maintain the border of the base; this includes [[Closed-circuit television|surveillance cameras]] and motion detectors. Some of these motion detectors are placed some distance away from the base on public land to notify guards of people approaching.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/28/area_51_charges_dropped/ |title=Area 51 'hacker' charges dropped |website=theregister.co.uk |access-date=6 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806145618/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/28/area_51_charges_dropped/ |archive-date=6 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Wfm x51 area51 warningsign.jpg|thumb|left|Area 51 border and warning sign stating that "photography is prohibited" and that "use of deadly force is authorized"]]

===1974 Skylab photography===
[[Dwayne A. Day]] published "Astronauts and Area 51: the [[Skylab 4|Skylab]] Incident" in ''[[The Space Review]]'' in January 2006. It was based on a memo written in 1974 to CIA director [[William Colby]] by an unknown CIA official. The memo reported that astronauts on board Skylab had inadvertently photographed a certain location:<ref name="Photo" />
{{blockquote|There were specific instructions not to do this. [redacted] was the only location which had such an instruction.}}

The name of the location was obscured,{{efn|In the declassified documents, the name ''Area 51'' is redacted in all but two instances (probably mistakes).{{sfn|Jacobsen|2012|p=xvi}}}} but the context led Day to believe that the subject was Groom Lake. Day wrote that "the CIA considered no other spot on Earth to be as sensitive as Groom Lake". Even within the agency's [[National Photographic Interpretation Center]] that handled classified reconnaissance satellite photographs, images of the site were removed from film rolls and stored separately as not all [[photo interpreter]]s had [[security clearance]] for the information.<ref name="Photo">{{cite news |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/531/1 |last=Day |first=Dwayne A. |title=Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident |author-link=Dwayne A. Day |publisher=[[The Space Review]] (online) |date=9 January 2006 |access-date=2 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316181549/http://www.thespacereview.com/article/531/1 |archive-date=16 March 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030916-4.html |title=Presidential Determination No. 2003–39 |publisher=Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov |date=16 September 2003 |access-date=10 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510015728/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030916-4.html |archive-date=10 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> The memo details debate between federal agencies regarding whether the images should be classified, with [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] agencies arguing that it should and [[NASA]] and the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] arguing that it should not be classified. The memo itself questions the legality of retroactively classifying unclassified images.<ref name="Photo" />

The memo includes handwritten remarks,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/archive/531.pdf |title=CIA memo to DCI Colby |publisher=Hosted by The Space Review |access-date=2 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060326030802/http://www.thespacereview.com/archive/531.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> apparently by [[Director of Central Intelligence]] Colby:

{{blockquote|[Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk|Rusk]]] did raise it—said State Dept. people felt strongly. But he inclined leave decision to me (DCI)—I confessed some question over need to protect since:
# [[Soviet Union|USSR]] has it from own sats
# What really does it reveal?
# If exposed, don't we just say classified USAF work is done there?}}

The declassified documents do not disclose the outcome of discussions regarding the Skylab imagery. The debate proved moot, as the photograph appeared in the Federal Government's Archive of Satellite Imagery along with the remaining Skylab photographs.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1010/1 |last=Day |first=Dwayne A. |title=Secret Apollo |author-link=Dwayne A. Day |publisher=The Space Review (online) |date=26 November 2007 |access-date=16 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712145524/http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1010/1 |archive-date=12 July 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===2019 shooting incident===
On 28 January 2019, an unidentified man drove through a security checkpoint near [[Mercury, Nevada]], in an apparent attempt to enter the base. After an {{convert|8|mi|km|abbr=off|sp=us|adj=on}} vehicle pursuit by base security, the man exited his vehicle carrying a "cylindrical object" and was shot dead by [[Nevada National Security Site|NNSS]] security officers and sheriff's deputies after refusing to obey requests to halt. There were no other injuries reported.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1154069/area-51-raid-event-facebook-where-is-area-51-aliens-ufo-2019 |title=Area 51 warning: Man shot dead for trying to enter military base |work=Express |last=Martin |first=Sean |date=July 16, 2019 |access-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717060935/https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1154069/area-51-raid-event-facebook-where-is-area-51-aliens-ufo-2019 |archive-date=17 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/chase-at-nevada-national-security-site-ends-with-man-shot-dead-1584482/ |title=Chase at Nevada National Security Site ends with man shot dead |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |last=Shoro |first=Mike |date=January 28, 2019 |access-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129212815/https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/shootings/chase-at-nevada-national-security-site-ends-with-man-shot-dead-1584482/ |archive-date=29 January 2019}}</ref>