US government used UFO myths to conceal secret military programmes: report

The long-standing conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51 and UFOs may have been part of a deliberate strategy by the U.S. government to hide top-secret military projects, according to a new report.

A recent investigation, reported by The Wall Street Journal, reveals that the U.S. Justice Department and Department of Defense promoted alien-related myths during the Cold War to obscure classified activities—especially those tied to weapons testing and aircraft development.

Area 51, the infamous classified Air Force base located in the Nevada desert, has for decades been the focus of speculation about alien encounters, crashed spacecraft, and hidden extraterrestrial technology. However, newly uncovered details suggest that this folklore was carefully cultivated by the government to divert public and foreign interest away from real military operations.

In the 1980s, an Air Force colonel was reportedly deployed on a mission to stoke public fascination with UFOs. According to the investigation, he visited a bar near Area 51 and handed the owner doctored photos of flying saucers. These images reignited local alien rumours, which further obscured the actual function of the base: testing the then-classified F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter.

The colonel later admitted to Pentagon investigators that the goal of the operation was to use UFO speculation as a smokescreen. Officials believed embedding secret aviation programs within alien lore was an effective strategy to prevent Soviet detection during the Cold War.

Sean Kirkpatrick, the first director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) appointed in 2022, led a review of decades’ worth of military records relating to unidentified aerial phenomena. His findings revealed multiple instances in which U.S. defense officials appeared to deliberately propagate UFO stories to cover classified activities.

One notable example was an internal Air Force ruse dubbed “Yankee Blue.” In this prank, new recruits were introduced to a fictional unit tasked with investigating alien aircraft and were sworn to secrecy. Many participants never realised it was fabricated. This practice reportedly continued until a formal directive ended it in 2023.

Kirkpatrick’s team also re-examined a widely discussed 1967 incident in which former Air Force captain Robert Salas claimed a UFO disabled ten nuclear missiles at a base in Montana. Salas said he was instructed not to speak of the encounter. However, AARO’s review suggests that the event may have been linked to an unannounced electromagnetic pulse (EMP) test designed to gauge the base’s nuclear resilience—information not shared with Salas or his colleagues.