The US Air Force has warned people against participating in an internet joke suggesting a large crowd of people "storm Area 51," the top-secret Cold War test site in the Nevada desert. The site is part of the vast Nevada Test and Training Range and has become the centre of UFO conspiracy theories. READ MORE:* Half a million people have RSVP'd to a joke event to Storm Area 51* UFO sightings: why the Government keeps data, and what it does with it* Wanted: Pilot for world's most secretive airline* US government admits it studies UFOs. So about those Area 51 conspiracy theories....Nellis Air Force Base said in a statement that the Air Force is aware of the Facebook posting and says "any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged". After decades of government officials refusing to acknowledge Area 51, the CIA released declassified documents in 2013 referring to the 20,700-square kilometre installation by name and locating it on a map near the dry Groom Lake bed.

Source: Stuff July 18, 2019 03:45 UTC