Editing SPOILER: Hopewell Facility (section)

== The Government's position on Area 51 ==
[[Image:Wfm x51 area51 warningsign.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Area 51 border and warning sign.  "Cammo dudes" in their [[Jeep Cherokee]] watch from the ridgeline.]] 
The U.S. Government does not explicitly acknowledge the existence of the Groom Lake facility, nor does it deny it.  Unlike much of the Nellis range, the area surrounding the lake is permanently off-limits both to civilian and normal military air traffic.  The area is protected by radar stations, buried movement sensors, and uninvited guests are met by helicopters and armed guards. Should they accidentally stray into the exclusionary "box" surrounding Groom's airspace, even military pilots training in the NAFR are reportedly grilled extensively by military intelligence agents.

Perimeter security is provided by uniformed private security guards working for EG&G, who patrol in desert camouflage [[Jeep Cherokee]] and [[High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle|Hum-Vee]] vehicles.  Although the guards are armed with [[M16 (rifle)|M16s]], no violent encounters with Area 51 observers have been reported; instead the "cammo dudes" generally follow visitors near the perimeter and radio for the  Lincoln County sheriff.  Modest fines (of around $600) seem to be the norm, although some visitors and journalists report receiving follow-up visits from [[FBI]] agents.  Some observers have been detained on public land for pointing camera equipment at the base.  Surveilance is also conducted using buried motion sensors and by [[HH-60 Pave Hawk]] helicopters.

The base does not appear on public U.S. government maps; the USGS topological map for the area only shows the long-disused Groom Mine, and the civil aviation chart for Nevada shows a large restricted area, but defines it as part of the Nellis restricted airspace.  Similarly the National Atlas page showing [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/fedlands/nv.pdf federal lands in Nevada] does not distinguish between the Groom block and other parts of the Nellis range.  Although officially declassified, the original film taken by U.S. [[Corona (satellite)|Corona]] [[Reconnaissance satellite|spy satellite]] in the [[1960s]] has been altered prior to declassification; in answer to freedom of information queries, the government responds that these exposures (which map to Groom and the entire NAFR) appear to have been destroyed ([http://www.fas.org/irp/overhead/groom_corona_200567.jpg Corona image]). [[Terra (satellite)|Terra]] satellite images (which were publicly available) were removed from webservers (including [[Microsoft]]'s "Terraserver") in 2004 ([http://terraserver.microsoft.com/GetImageArea.ashx?t=1&s=17&lon=-115.81666666666666&lat=37.233333333333334&w=600&h=400&f=Tahoma,Verdana,Sans-serif&fs=10&fc=ffffffff&logo=1 Terraserver image]), and from the monochrome 1 m resolution USGS datadump made publicly available.  NASA [[Landsat 7]] images are  still available (these are used in the [[NASA World Wind]] program and are displayed by [[Google Maps]]).  Non-U.S. images, including high-resolution photographs from Russian satellites and the commercial [[IKONOS]] system, are also easily available (and abound on the Internet).

In response to environmental and employee lawsuits (including a [[class-action lawsuit]] brought by employees of the base for [[toxic waste]] exposure), a [[President_of_the_United_States|Presidential]] Determination is issued annually, exempting ''the Air Force's Operating Location Near Groom Lake, Nevada'' from environmental disclosure laws 
([http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2001_cfr_3v1&docid=3CFRSep19 2000 determination], [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020918-9.html 2002 determination], [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030916-4.html 2003 determination]). This (albeit tacitly) constitutes the only formal recognition the U.S. Government has ever given that Groom Lake is more than simply another part of the Nellis complex.

[[Image:Wfm x51 extraterrestrial highway.jpg|thumb|right|300px|''Extraterrestrial Highway'' sign]]
Nevada's state government, recognizing the folklore surrounding the base might afford the otherwise neglected area some tourism potential, officially renamed the section of [[Nevada State Route 375]] near Rachel "The Extraterrestrial Highway", and posted fancifully illustrated signs along its length.

Although federal property within the base is exempt from state and local taxes, facilities owned by private contractors are not.  One researcher has reported that the base only declares a taxable value of $2 million to the Lincoln County tax assessor, who is unable to enter the area to perform an assessment.  Some Lincoln County residents have complained that the base is an unfair burden on the county, providing few local jobs (as most employees appear to live in or near Las Vegas) and imposing an iniquitous burden of land sequestration and law enforcement costs.