The Pentagon secretly planted Area 51 UFO conspiracy theory to hide classified weapons program

Some of the most prevalent UFO conspiracy theories — including about aliens being housed a Area 51 in Nevada — were fueled by the Pentagon in an attempt to provide cover for secret weapons programs, according to a bombshell report.A review by the Department of Defense found that in the 1980s, an Air Force colonel visited a Nevada bar near Area 51 and gave the owner fabricated photos of flying saucers near the secret government base, according to a review of the 2024 report by the Wall Street Journal.The incident renewed local fervor over UFOs, with the now-retired colonel confessing to Pentagon investigators that he was on an official mission to spread disinformation and hide the true purpose of the site, where the government was testing the first-ever stealth warplane, the F-117 Nighthawk.The military reasoned that the best way to keep its new technology hidden from the Soviet Union’s prying eye during the Cold War was to bury it amid the trove of conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51, investigators found.The incident is just one of several where government agencies allegedly played up America’s UFO mythology for the purpose of protecting its military assets, according to the 2024 report.Other military attempts to obscure secret projects with conspiracy theories were not made public.Sean Kirkpatrick, the first director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), was the man tasked by the government to dissect countless UFO theories in 2022.

As his office probed decades of documents, memos and messages across the Defense Department, he found several conspiracy theories that circled back to the Pentagon itself.In one instance, Kirkpatrick’s team found that the Air Force hazed members with briefings introducing them to a fake “Yankee Blue” unit that purported investigated alien aircraft.The briefings came with a direct order never to mention the details to anyone, with many of the targets of the prank never learning it was all a ruse, accordin...