Area 51 UFO 'secrets' to be revealed by Las Vegas Smithsonian Institute

Closeted UFO believers may have a reason to come out this month, at least for one night.



Delving into the extra-terrestrial mysteries of Area 51, a Smithsonian Institution affiliated museum in Las Vegas has announced plans for a one-night event featuring speakers from both the U.S. military and U.K.



The National Atomic Testing Museum announced the event, scheduled for September 22, to reveal the men's personal stories that propelled them to write books and lead their own investigations outside, as well as inside, the military.

Revealed! Area 51 and some its secrets are expected to be revealed at a panel discussion this month at a Smithsonian-affiliated museum in Nevada

Landing site: The National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, pictured, has invited five speakers, some of whom investigated UFO activity for the FBI's Project Blue Book

'What you're getting from this panel are people who have worked with the military, all of whom certainly agree that UFOs are real, and I think most of them would say it ought to be researched,' Col. John Alexander, one of the scheduled speakers told the Huffington Post.

'Here, you're getting a small number [of participants], but high credibility people,' he said.

Joining Col Alexander in the planned discussion is Col Bill Coleman of the U.S. Air Force who previously held a role with Project Blue Book, the former-F.B.I. investigation of UFO reports between 1947 and 1969.



Col Alexander served as chief spokesperson.

Open discussion: Scheduled for September 22, the one night event has a tease of speakers with credible insight into the mysteries surrounding the sky

Speakers: Col. John Alexander, left, is a UFO author and investigator while Col. Bill Coleman, right, served as the FBI's Project Blue Book chief spokesperson while serving in the U.S. Air Force



Also scheduled to join the discussion is Col Robert Friend who served as director of Project Blue Book that all together reported 701 unidentified sightings out of 12,618 throughout the years of 1947-1969, according to the now publically archived records.

Connecting the phenomenon internationally are scheduled guest speakers Nick Pope, who served as a UFO investigator with the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence, and Col. Charles Halt who was Deputy Base Commander at Bentwaters, the U.K.'s former Royal Air Force station.



Mr Pope is expected to share how both governments of the U.S. and U.K. held similar study groups over sightings and why both eventually closed their books on the issue.



Insight: Col. Charles Halt, left, who served as Deputy Base Commander at Bentwaters Royal Air Force station in the U.K. will speak along with Col. Robert Friend, right, who served as director of the FBI's Project Blue Book



International perspective: Nick Pope, a UFO investigator of U.K.'s Ministry of Defense is also a scheduled speaker on both governments' handling of the reports

In an email to the Huffington Post he touched on both governments’ reasoning, briefly explaining that UFO discussions were dropped to turn off the public’s prying eyes.



'In both instances, the bottom line was that we wanted Joe Sixpack off our backs. Strip out all the mistaken sightings of weather balloons and dump all the crazies, and we might just have something worth looking at,' he wrote.

According to U.S.' Project Blue Book, the project was terminated in December of 1969 after finding no valuable conclusion from their work.



Audience: Having long piqued interest in conspiracy theorists and those just curious, a parking sign for flying saucers is pictured at a gas station near Area 51

Investigation: The FBI's Project Blue Book investigated UFO reports between 1947 and 1969, not all penned to the infamous Area 51 site, pictured

They cited zero threats to the U.S.' security in connection to the reported UFOs as well as none of them showing technological developments beyond present day knowledge, and none of them found to be extra-terrestrial.

'The trick is to highlight all the crazy stuff in the media, so the subject becomes a joke, pull the plug, then run the whole thing covertly,' Mr Pope wrote.



'Now I'm not saying this is exactly what happened, but if an Air Force pilot sees something unusual and it's tracked on military radar, does anyone seriously think we wouldn't be interested?'

