# Who runs Area 51? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922 "2013-05-09T19:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/1 "2013-05-09T19:40:07Z")
I have heard that not even the President of the USA can get into Area 51 and doesn’t know what’s going on out there. If he can’t go there someone had to have told him A51 was off limits even to him. Who or what has the power to tell the Prez, “No, you can’t go out there and look around”? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/2 "2013-05-09T19:45:14Z")
I believe you have heard wrong. “Dreamland” is Air Force, and the President is the person who determines who has “Need To Know.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/3 "2013-05-09T19:51:57Z")
Aliens ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/4 "2013-05-09T19:52:41Z")
Let me guess. Is your source the Weekly World News? [http://www.google.com/url?q=http://weeklyworldnews.com/aliens/4300/obama-denied-area-51/&sa=U&ei=Qf6LUerMEqbmyQHlz4CICA&ved=0CBsQFjAB&sig2=H9SbmZfiG\_B4ycUhprGC9A&usg=AFQjCNELve3QXWEcfGx11fWBA8drAt-17A](http://www.google.com/url?q=http://weeklyworldnews.com/aliens/4300/obama-denied-area-51/&sa=U&ei=Qf6LUerMEqbmyQHlz4CICA&ved=0CBsQFjAB&sig2=H9SbmZfiG_B4ycUhprGC9A&usg=AFQjCNELve3QXWEcfGx11fWBA8drAt-17A) In that case, it’s Bat-Boy that’s keeping the President at bay. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/5 "2013-05-09T19:57:10Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > I have heard that not even the President of the USA can get into Area 51 and doesn’t know what’s going on out there. You heard wrong. The President is defined by the Constitution as the Commander and Chief of the armed forces. He is entitled to whatever information about Area 51 that he wants. That doesn’t mean that they’ll be in any hurry to tell him if he doesn’t ask, but he can do so at any time. Further, the Congress has sole power to make and approve the budgets of all executive departments, even the “black budgets” for secret programs. Thus, all the members of the Congressional committees who oversee defense spending are aware, at least at a minimum, of what they’re spending money on out there. > [@](#): > > If he can’t go there someone had to have told him A51 was off limits even to him. But he can, so nobody did. > [@](#): > > Who or what has the power to tell the Prez, “No, you can’t go out there and look around”? Nobody. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/6 "2013-05-09T20:01:53Z")
As the commander in chief, he can go anywhere he wants when it comes to military matters, and the President asking someone for information related to X demonstrates his need to know…he’s responsible for the entire military…if wants to know it, then, well, that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/7 "2013-05-09T20:50:14Z")
As I recall from some less woo infested cable show(might even have been an episode of Nova), it was President Clinton who finally acknowledged the existence of Area 51 at the Groom Lake military base. He was signing into law that the US didn’t have to acknowledge what was happening there, under security regulations. So at least, President Clinton was allowed to know about it, if he was the one who locked the rest of us out. Not that I needed to know that, it just helps function as a citation for the O.P. – at least one president knew about Area 51. That special also mentioned, although til then, the US government maintained that there was no ‘Area 51’, the Groom Lake facility was allowed to be viewed by the USSR (then) under arms treaties. So they were better informed than the US citizens were. I suppose that’s a cute irony for the saucer crowd, but really doesn’t mean much. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/8 "2013-05-09T22:25:44Z")
Used to be Air Force and CIA back in the Cold War when they were testing the X-15 and detonating underground nukes. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/9 "2013-05-09T22:33:41Z")
What happens if the President wants to know the real name of a long-term highly-placed intelligence asset in a hostile foreign government? Does he automatically have a “need to know” there? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/10 "2013-05-09T22:57:53Z")
Yes he does. He would most likely ask the Secretary of State, who works for him. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/11 "2013-05-09T23:29:56Z")
> [@jakesteele](#): > > I have heard that not even the President of the USA can get into Area 51 and doesn’t know what’s going on out there. If he can’t go there someone had to have told him A51 was off limits even to him. > > Who or what has the power to tell the Prez, “No, you can’t go out there and look around”? A couple of previous threads that touch on this: [Are there any government activities so secret that even the president doesn’t know about them?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=608961) [Does the President still operate on Need To Know?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=621214) There have probably been others. Basically, no one in the U.S. government can _legally_ tell the President of the United States that something is off limits to the POTUS on the grounds that he (the President of the United States) doesn’t have “need to know” for that information or is not authorized to know something on grounds of “national security”. There are things that are, by statute, confidential, not on national security grounds but on grounds of individual privacy rights. Thus, [by law](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103), even the President of the United States cannot go rummaging through everyone’s income tax returns. The sheer volume of information in the bowels of the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus means that there’s all sorts of specific information that the President doesn’t know about because he’s never asked about it and never been told about it except in very broad details or as part of some high-level summary of lots of different stuff. And of course people can lie to their bosses, even if it means breaking the law by doing so. They can also stonewall, obstruct, and hem-and-haw as much as possible within the bounds of the law, and threaten to resign or actually resign if they are asked to provide some specific tidbit (“Say, what’s the name of that guy in Tehran who’s providing us with all that intel on Iranian nuclear programs? Malia wants to know for a school report she’s doing”). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/12 "2013-05-10T05:24:40Z")
According to [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/962/does-the-u-s-government-keep-alien-spaceships-at-area-51), there is no Area 51. Nope, not at all. It’s all just a figment of ufologists’ imaginations. Of course, he would say that, since that’s the location of Straight Dope Double Secret World HQ as well as Cecil’s Fortress of Solitude. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/13 "2013-05-10T17:10:32Z")
The president would have to know what he doesn’t know to ask about it. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/14 "2013-05-11T00:30:49Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Yes he does. He would most likely ask the Secretary of State, who works for him. And he might be advised of the reasons why he shouldn’t access said information, but of course the advise isn’t binding and he’ll get whatever info he wants in the end. Same deal with a President who wants detailed updates from the Secret Service on his teenager or college student’s every move. Of course they’ll do it, but the Director will explain to him why it’s a horrible idea (if the First Offspring finds out they’ll be even more likely to try & ditch their detail). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/15 "2013-05-11T06:22:24Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Yes he does. He would most likely ask the Secretary of State, who works for him. Wouldnt he rather ask the Secretary of Defense? ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/16 "2013-05-11T06:41:17Z")
Someone could probably tell him. But they would have shoot him after they did! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/17 "2013-05-11T09:42:26Z")
Presumably the people who work there don’t call it Area 51. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/18 "2013-05-11T17:18:12Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Wouldnt he rather ask the Secretary of Defense? Spies in foriegn coutries usually have diplomatic immunity, even the deep cover ones. That is the realm of the state department unless we are in an actual hot war. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/19 "2013-05-11T17:37:29Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Presumably the people who work there don’t call it Area 51. Usually Groom Lake or just Groom according to some who have been there. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-runs-area-51/657922/20 "2013-05-11T22:59:14Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Spies in foriegn coutries usually have diplomatic immunity, **even the deep cover ones**. That is the realm of the state department unless we are in an actual hot war. Emphasis mine. I am no expert, but it’s my understanding that deep cover, or Non-Official Cover, means that the agent doesn’t have a diplomatic passport and is typically involved in a deniable operation.