Who would be this military officer or executive official who could deny the President this information? He outranks all of them.
Similarly, there are very good reasons to limit the number of people who have seen classified documents. If nothing else, it limits the number of people who could have leaked it.
So Presidents don’t go looking at documents they don’t have a really good reason to look at.
And it’s pretty easy to see how “The President hasn’t read it” could get turned into “the President* isn’t allowed *to read it”.
That’s not the way I read it.
That’s what they want you to think. 
Seriously, though, while I agree that there are almost certainly no alien anything at Area 51, and most of what people claim to have seen is easily covered by since-declassified-experimental/secret aircraft, … it wouldn’t be a bad place to hid an alien ship or two if we actually had some.
I mean, you’d want someplace where everybody who works there already has security clearances, and where they routinely can’t talk about anything they’ve seen. Someplace with enough people that the folks who study the alien ships(s) won’t be a noticeable percentage of the traffic in and out.
I’m just saying that it being the place where the Stealth Fighter got built and tested in no way proves it isn’t where we are hiding alien ships, as that is pretty much exactly the kind of place you’d want to hide them in.
If you had some. Which we don’t*.
- Just to be clear, that is a statement of opinion. It is impossible to prove we don’t have captured alien ships, and I might be proven wrong in the future. But I’ll sure be surprised if that happens.
I think it pretty easily inferred when he says: “doesn’t get to know” he means that in the same sense WE don’t get to know (for sure).
I believe the general line is that, if the public knew about the aliens, they would demand the government prepare to defend us against the aliens.
This would be problematic for the government for a few reasons, possible including[ul]
[li]It’s impossible, given how advanced they are[/li][li]It would ruin the economy, given what it would cost[/li][li]It would take time and energy away from defending against Ruskie ICBMs, which are a much more immediate threat[/li][/ul]
Also, if the public figured out the situation was hopeless, … a depressed despondent populace doesn’t make for a robust economy. It makes for record setting suicide rates.
I’m not sold that this is true, but I could see folks believing it, even folks in charge of the government. It wouldn’t be the first time the government kept something from the public because they thought we (or they) were better off if we didn’t know.
I live around a lot of military bases. they are all incredible well marked, with fences marking the exact boundary of the base. There are signs on the fence that say “US GOVT PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING” and stuff.
I have had occasion to be on these bases, and even did a wee bit of exploring, although i kept my eye peeled for any sign marking a “do not go here” area.
I have even ventured past some of those signs under VERY specific circumstances. (Which is how I got to hear a Chief Petty Officer tell and Avionics Technician “You do NOT ask the pizza guy to come into a classified area. You meet him at the door.”
I’ve never had a gun pointed at me.
As for more serious trespassing, we had an incident here a few months back where a truck driver who had a pass to come on base for his work came on and then left the area he was allowed into, walked aboard a ship tied up at the pier, and shot a sailor who moved to protect the guard who had confronted him (who was unarmed). That man did get killed, but I think that shows there are a lot of warnings before a trespasser on a normal base gets shot.
In contrast, I have seen photos off signs around Area 51, with no fence in sight, that simply say that if you pass this point (on a dirt road) you can be shot on sight.
They arrest people who are well outside the boundaries of the base if they have climbed a hill that can see into the base.
The security around Area 51 is kinda special.
Though I doubt it is unique.
And unlike most secured areas where highly classified stuff happens, Area 51 has a whole lot of yahoos trying to sneak in. I mean, if large numbers of folks kept trying to sneak into CIA Headquarters, I imagine they’d start arresting any non-employee who entered their parking lot, and slowly start moving that perimeter further away until just getting off the wrong highway exit could result in arrest.
Hehe. You just reminded me of the first time I FOIAd my own background investigation (needed for resolving a legal dispute with an agency). At least a quarter of it was redacted, usually the parts that started with “GiantRat then stated…” Apparently I’m not allowed to know what I know from doing my job. And amusingly, none of that should have been classified - your average background investigator isn’t exactly read in on many SAPs.