Secrets of Area 51 revealed?

I'm sure all of you will have noted the recent event "Area 51: Myth or Reality" that took place at the National Atomic Testing Museum, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. The publicity running up to it rather misleadingly claimed that the 'secrets' of 'Area 51' were to be revealed.

Obviously such publicity promised much and delivered virtually nothing, so whilst there wasn't any earth-shattering news to come out of this event, it was a milestone for having the Smithsonian - a respected U.S. establishment - host an event of this type.

Publicity image from the National Atomic Testing Museum

It was also notable for having five respected speakers with military backgrounds and/or impressive credentials who willingly and candidly spoke about their take on the UFO phenomenon - and this being outside of any pro-ufologist forum such as that of the Disclosure Project. The speakers were retired US Air Force Col. Robert Friend; retired US Air Force Col. William Coleman; retired US Air Force Col. Charles Halt; former UK Ministry of Defense UFO investigator Nick Pope; and retired US Army Col. John Alexander.

Several online articles, including one posted by the Las Vegas Sun give a good rundown of the speakers and their comments so I won't repeat them here.

Concerning Area 51

Area 51 itself is in the news yet again because of a BBC film crew that recently tried - and failed - to enter the base, according to various articles, the most comprehensive of which is the Daily Mail's.

At the BUFORA 50th anniversary conference, a member of the audience asked one of the speakers whether they had any insider knowledge about the old chestnut that is the alleged reversed engineering of alien spacecraft at Area 51. I have to say I groaned inwardly when I heard this person ask the question (a question that was frankly naive). The speaker rightly answered that they had no knowledge on this. Why would they anyway? It is highly unlikely that a representative of a volunteer UFO investigation body in Britain would have come into possession of genuine, privileged information about Area 51, let alone whether this information contained the 'smoking gun' about E.T.

As it is, if you believe the hype about what goes in in Area 51 then this place is perhaps - bizarrely - one of the worst kept military secrets in the world. Look at it another way however (I'm sure I'm not the first to say this) and we may be observing a great smoke and mirrors operation in effect. In my view,  Area 51 very usefully serves to divert attention away from genuine ongoing USAPs or black projects elsewhere in the U.S. (or perhaps in other friendly countries) which - if they are being carried out in the interests of national security - should of course remain heavily protected from unfriendly powers.

Given the continuous satellite surveillance by all superpowers - and other interests over the globe, not to mention an increasing army of 'Google-earthers' out there,  any such activity would have to be based either underground or in very ordinary looking facilities at an unremarkable location so as not to attract unwanted attention. Such a location, or locations could be housed in existing military - or even civil - facilities but known to only a select few with the highest compartmentalised security clearance. And given the Americans have had nearly 70 years - since the Second World War - to perfect how to hide their greatest military secrets, I'm sure they're now very good at it.

As for strange lights/activities observed by those over the years who claim to have skirted - or even penetrated - the perimeter of Area 51 (a rather foolhardy thing to do in my opinion considering the threat of deadly force to interlopers - the BBC film crew were let off lightly in my view), this could all be part of the 'show'.

Of course I claim no privileged knowledge on this subject. It just seems to me to be a simple and logical conclusion to reach about this now world-famous area.