Annie Jacobsen

In 1957, with the arms race in full swing, the Department of Defense had decided it was just a matter of time before an airplane transporting an atomic bomb would crash on American soil, unleashing a radioactive disaster the likes of which the world had never seen. ”

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. ”

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? ”

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

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

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

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. ”