Project Nutmeg

Secret US Military Intelligence Projects

I just finished reading a new book on the history of Area 51 – the super secret American military base located in Nevada. The book is titled “Area 51 – An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base” by Annie Jacobsen. Ms. Jacobsen manages to uncover never before released facts about the little understood secret goings on at Area 51. There are enough secret projects talked about in the book to do five or six lists. It’s amazing what scientists, engineers, the military and intelligence agencies will do when they have unlimited budgets, little to no accountability and everything they do is kept top secret. And remember, these are the projects we know of (or think we know of). Imagine what goes on at Area 51 that we do not know, and probably never will know.

Project Nutmeg

Project Nutmeg has historical significance because it was the top-secret project that gave birth to the Nevada Test and Training Range. Prior to testing atomic devices on US soil, nuclear bombs were tested in the Pacific Ocean at what was called the Pacific Proving Grounds. While this afforded the US a remote (and huge) area to test secret atomic devices, the cost involved in sending men, materials and equipment half way around the world, was staggering. America felt it had to find someplace secure, yet within its borders that was reasonably close to where most atomic scientists were working at that time (such as Los Alamos, New Mexico). Project Nutmeg was authorized by the President to locate such an area. An ideal location was a region of desolate desert that had been a wildlife reservation. This area also had the benefit of already having a landing strip nearby, left over from military training exercises during WWII. The selected site in Nevada became 687 square miles of government-controlled land, and what we know today as the Nevada Test Site (of which Area 51 is the most well know, and most secret, parcel of land).

Дата добавления: 2015-10-02