Carter Roy

The roughly 39,000 acres in Southern Nevada fit the bill.

Large enough for takeoff lanes, good weather all year long, and most importantly, remote.

No one would see what they were up to.

And today, Area 51 remains a military aircraft training site.

officially what actually happens inside area 51 has fueled decades of sci-fi stories and past episodes of this podcast we do know that they've tested surveillance planes nuclear weapons and even reverse engineered captured soviet planes all to keep america one step ahead of its enemies

To achieve that step, secrecy is necessary.

So Area 51 is a no-fly zone.

Anyone who did fly over might see what the military was working on and spill the beans.

Now, Steve Fawcett's plane was found about 100 miles from Area 51.

What if Fawcett accidentally got too close and saw too much?

Would Area 51 officials have taken action against him?

Well, terrifyingly, Area 51 may have the legal right to do so.

By 2007, the time of Fawcett's disappearance, two presidential decrees seem to give Area 51 carte blanche.

President Bill Clinton exempted Area 51, quote, from any federal, state, interstate, or local provision respecting control and abatement of solid waste or hazardous waste disposal that would require the disclosure of classified information.

In September 2003, a memorandum from President George Bush Jr.

stated that Area 51 is free from the subject of litigation from any applicable requirement for the disclosure to unauthorized persons of classified information concerning that operating location.

That was a mouthful.

Basically, the men at Area 51 don't have to answer to law enforcement if they do something illegal to keep their secrets.

Now, on its surface, this all seems to be relating to disposing hazardous waste and chemicals from military experiments.

However, if you're conspiracy-minded, you may wonder how far that law can be stretched.