The UnXplained

Covert operations

hidden in plain sight...

classified experiments on unwitting test subjects...

and elaborate conspiracies

to conceal the truth.

It's common knowledge that nations around the world

pursue top secret projects

in an attempt to protect their citizens,

outmaneuver rival powers,

or develop new technology.

And throughout history, we've learned

about some of these black budget programs

through declassified documents and whistleblowers

who have bravely come forward from the shadows.

But how much do we really know?

What secret operations are still hidden from us?

And what can we learn from missions of the past

that were once deemed too dangerous for the world to see?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

Since World War II,

the United States has carried out

countless classified programs,

ranging from intelligence gathering

to clandestine operations

to advanced weapons development.

Each designed

to create some type of strategic edge over our foes...

and our friends... on the world stage.

What is required to deem a project

top secret?

The government classification process

is very simple. There are three levels.

There's confidential,

secret, and top secret.

Basically, "confidential" are things

that could cause problems if they were made public.

"Secret" could cause big problems.

And "top secret" usually refers to something

that, if publicly exposed,

could cause grave harm

to the American national security.

If something's top secret, typically,

not only can you not share the information in those systems,

you can't even confirm or deny that there is such a system

or a project or information.

Because by merely confirming that it exists,

you're providing a useful clue to any adversary

that might want to take advantage of that fact.

So, for example,

if you were to create a weapons system

that would create an enormous advantage

versus any peer competitor on Earth,

you would want to keep that weapon system secret

until the time came to actually utilize it.

Partially, this is so you can achieve surprise

with the weapon system.

And, partially, it's so that your adversaries don't build

their own versions of that same idea.

Ultimately, "top secret" means

the public don't know what is the truth.

That is how government wants it,

and that's why it was designed that way.

If you're operating in secrecy,

in theory, that means you may not be held responsible

for any of the actions,

so you've got room to maneuver there.

In the United States,

it's estimated that more than one million individuals

have the security clearance to view top secret information.

Most of those people work for one of the 18 different agencies

that comprise the U.S. intelligence community.

And of those,

perhaps the most infamous

is the Central Intelligence Agency.

The CIA is unique as an intelligence agency

in that it is not part of any other department.

The National Security Agency

is actually part of the Defense Department.

The Defense Intelligence Agency

is part of the Defense Department.

Department of Treasury has its own small intelligence agency.

CIA is independent on its own

and has the authority to conduct covert operations.

And these are operations

that offer the U.S. government plausible deniability.

But there's a downside,

which is that there's a relationship between

too much secrecy

and too little trust from the American people.

When we think of government secrecy,

sometimes we'll knee-jerk

and say, "Well, it's sinister. It's evil.

They're trying to keep important things from us."

Yes, I think sometimes that is definitely true.

But any government that has the responsibility

of protecting its nation,

it's not impossible to see that there would be secrecy on things

that, at least in their mind,

would be for the protection of the public.

Since its inception,

the CIA has been accused of everything

from orchestrating coups in foreign countries

to assassinating world leaders.

No one truly knows the full extent

of the agency's activities.

But most experts believe the CIA's biggest secret

is located somewhere inside the mysterious facility

known as Area 51.

Area 51 is in Southern Nevada.

It's the most famous secret base in the world.

For many, many years, it was completely secret

and no one knew about it.

It was created in the very early 1950s under CIA control.

And it was designed...

and still, I think, functions today...

as a secret base for the Air Force.

What is known is that a lot of secret testing

of advanced aircraft went on there.

You've got this massive, dry, desert lake bed

that's ideal, for aircraft

that need long runways, for example.

And, more importantly,

it's just very remote.

It's not an easy place for any person to get to.

So if you're gonna have a secret base,

that is a good location to have it.

Area 51 was established as a direct consequence

of World War II and the Cold War,

because we are continuing in the development of a technology

that will become the U-2 spy plane.

The introduction of this technology

is a massive escalation of the tensions of the Cold War.

And during the Cold War,

there are Soviet spies throughout the United States.

And we continue to test other aircraft at Area 51.

Because of this, the secrecy must exist.

There are signs at the border that say "Warning.

Use of lethal force authorized."

If you cross the line, you will be arrested.

You might be shot.

The CIA kept the existence of Area 51 secret for decades.

I mean, this was not publicly acknowledged

until quite recently.

And, certainly, it's true

that some of America's most iconic aircraft

were developed and test-flown there.

So there are many, many people who believe

that within this kind of top secret program

of cutting-edge aerospace,

that there's an even bigger secret at Area 51.

The crazy thing about Area 51

is that we learned about it in the world

through the subject of UFOs.

And that's through the testimony of Bob Lazar,

who, back in 1989, claimed to work at S4,

which is part of the Area 51 complex,

on a series of flying saucers.

That was the context in which we learned about it.

Now, Area 51 would make a very, very excellent location

to do some studies of flying saucer-type technologies,

because it's remote.

But I think it's a reasonable supposition

that UFOs have been studied there

or technology related to UFOs have been studied at Area 51,

and probably a few other places as well.

The U.S. government would want to reverse engineer

any kind of alien technology that it got its hands on.

Of course it would. And so...

it's possible.

But it's-it's absolutely not...

known or confirmed by anyone.

Could the United States military

actually be studying alien technology at Area 51?

While only a handful of individuals

with the highest top secret clearance know the truth,

some experts speculate the rumors about aliens and UFOs

are precisely what the government wants us to believe.

We do know that there's

a cover story wrapped in a cover story

and that the U.S. government absolutely adores the fact

that we are so distracted with the-the narrative

of alien technology and reverse engineering

at Area 51, because it means we're not paying attention

to the things that are actually happening there.

And so maybe the best way to handle super secrecy

is to hide it in plain sight.

If you have a place like Area 51,

you can say they're doing anything,

and the government's not gonna say, "We're not doing that."

The government's gonna refuse to comment on it.

So it becomes this kind of suck hole

for conspiracy theories,

and maybe we'll never know.

Office of Naval Intelligence analysts

monitoring the Pacific Ocean

for signs of Soviet submarine activity

notice something quite alarming.

They identify a massive surge of Soviet ships and aircraft

about 1,500 miles northwest of Hawaii...

a clear indicator of a search and rescue emergency.