Ltz

qrrr{ ruol?- Buraqjo atrmIF aq1 se paqrr.sap sruo uosdd lrelueJlc lPql aruals

aru{qns 3qt qlt uoqoul q sI Plro^t aql l?ql Pu": lP ar.nol llql.^|oII)l no]{ Bulllal

sl?a Ino.( rq ladslq-{! l?ql sPunos 3I}II aquo euoN sretr ou lslrasul ou rsp{q ou'.puu{ oN aruqrs Sutlnesun 'urlroP draP Y a8[?d puP ulsefl eql selnr 3truels

'.trualrs lnq Suqlou

s.ereql trr aqlaPrslno ders Pu€ ro o flnd I ueqM ]?leN rr Srrtztllq pu? 'snl

q€N uI qqqru paupNpoolq '<El3c Suo)lar{ arl} uI saSe ^ S I3PIotus 'o,6loJ

Jo gurgltroq-arg erfl 'n?ue)4g te sppoua8 Flrrsnpur 5a I{ o8uoS aql dn qo!

snoraprnur :r4dure jo sulSr?tu stll le -pllo.,!| )I]"Iq,, eq1-..Plro.'\{ lltren,, leqlou!

Jo papsmler Er.I €mtsal pu? Sqprlads Fr)as]o -plro { lr€Iq,, s,uo8e}u3d eq1

jo trPd cD PuelJo \rsued\a PuP srrnrrnrr\ urpprq rsrql rqll)crP slsrlPurnor

lrrlrrrur uaq41 palqrqruue Suraq;o :sod:nd alos eqt ro] lllnq sanrc pauooPpuE s3Su Bulqruoq'ulp Pauosrod Pu€ s.I3leD naltrnu'saseq lelras pue suo

dee,* pr:aslo arra8eueur or auoq sr xalduro3 a8u?d srlleN aql rapjoq ,sr[aNpuo,{rq sall }eq,l'{ le ]ulq $Ieed ulelunoul asaql ]oP l€tlt sr?p?r PUP sEuualue eql

',rrq^lou Jo rlPPr !u rll | . P)u tu.l rlr l \lrrl ll l<)^\ rq I ul curelunouj rq I

spr?^\o1p€al sppor trlp i1auo1 l:p,r.l1snp e3o applur aqt ul payed urq:m ras

I?lelu tuef ? a)iII 3Euuelue qllrvt SuJllsuq roll€rl ? pue ulllunoru lu?]sJp E Jo do1

Jr0 uo aruoP rPp?J e s.eraql :.{ll^prt ueurnq]o s}ulq Pal?lo$ 3u[?a ar'e3u€u

pue urseg aql;o ss:ulrdtua aqr or lolS lzeq 'lurd ? Suuqasuuns1o s8uruulSaq

eql :I3tel smoq ^\eJ e 9z€ ,&^\q8rH uo l{}nos Surulnl Fproq eql BuoF Nee PP3q I

'pllo ! u.relsal aql q at?]se le3r Peutss?ltrJo arrld

tsag.rel aql q sIIloN 'et€dsrlt Jo selgr eren6s 000'zI pu€ sme uolllttu I € 3m

-ssedrsorra -x3lduro] aiueg sr1p51aq1;o rap:oq ulequou aq] uo sali qedouol'euor a .I ,{q { uosear aql ol $I?ads uBrs aulotrp-{t s.ua,r.o1 eqr uo aueld 1*1qorlr PUP )r)q o^r rrE u|s n oq l Ln fi luno) Prlelosr l\oul eql Jo rtuoJ qSnorql\rnoq ur^r\ ur\up r^,t ..llq8rl qtlpls )qt Jo rtuoH. epe^rN 'qPdouoJ-

:uBrs darrp u 1€ Buuets pu? PIot asap aq1 q SuFs lqs 'uoBsls se8 atoluat

ego slqftl agpq 1e1au eql r3pun Surpu?ls uI.I pu? 'Sururotu aql q rnoJ s.tl

Luaped r

araqMoN ,o uor]f,npI€uadul aq] pue a)€l Luoo

238 Trevor Paglen

God."'? And it reigns over the military machinations taking place in these sunken

valleys. In a restri€ted basin somewhere to the west, the Pentagor has built a

place without a name, a place that does not appear on any oflicial maps' and as

far as the govemment is concerned, doesnt even propedy exist lt's a Place thal

siymies speech, hidden behind denials and oficial silence by oider of the presi-

dent. Bul \omehow lhe awe'ome si len(e o[ lhe Basin and Range teem. lo +oul

its aphasiac presence.a Some People call it "Groom Lake." I'm almost tbere.

The Nellis Range Complex is home to some ofthe most highly-classified projects in

the United States, and to the infrastructutes that house them There's ihe Nevada Test

Site, where mushroom clouds lilled the skies until they went underground in 1962i'

the Tonopah Test Range, where a squadron of stealth fighters trained for almost a

decade before their existence was revealed to the publicj and Creech Air Force Bas€'

which was recently expanded to house the Air Force's squadrons of unmanned Preila-

tor drones. And lheret the cabalistic place that Francis Ga.y Powen knew as _Water-

town Strip" while he trained for his ill-fated re.onnaissance flights over the Soviet

Union. It is a secret base nea. Groom lake, more popuiarly known as 'Area 51 "

Of all the places in the Nellis Range, Groom Lake is probably the most famous

but in a paradoxical kind of way: in populal culture' 'Area 51" is famous for the fad

that ii does not'oficially" exist. Publicly available satellite images and photographett

rrith telephoto lenses speak io its presence, but the Air Force refused to acknowledgr

the base foi many years. More recently, they have begrudgingly conflrmed the pres-

ence ofan "operating location near Gioom Lake"'but nothing more

F.-

Croom Lal

In popular culture, Areathe setting for sto.ies about (polt tanks, secret technologifor everyihing from dystopi.the home ofalien spacecraftpicious government experiEthat enshrouds it, Area 5l Ihas, in fact, become a c1ich6.

Headilg south, I pass Ra(ch6s under a delicate layerlittle ALe'Inn (est. 1990)ing'Americat Most Sec(ofa chain on the back ofrlings Welcome." A smilinradiation meter at the edthe locals are enposed to r

tn defense-industry and aviatwo "worlds," one called the'white" world, according toment and sPending. It s out I..ll the work that is being dottatories, and secret bureaucrIllions of dollars in Pentag

curreni estimates put thlconsists of mas

sworn to Jifelong sacollectors, and truck d

rtmentalization. Andbehind remote desen

the ledger

February of 1944, Senakwere d'sappearingiDting war-profiteerir

a bureaucratic nupon itsell always l€

of War Heffy StiEgoing torqards the deve

the pioiect keptworld ofthr

iD the military budgejstealthily pFigure 12.1. Groom Lake Road

atrd hidden ftom tl

aro{ p,rseru s?.4, '?qr su,rpuspun a^,.se", € ;jt;:i:ii i:;iJ:xi:J"Hil'"Tfi:l -Iprdxg,, pu? ,,,{ulrv :arr^ras raaur8ug,, eIn sas"rrld .p8pnq rfte}qrur aqt q sruall.ml Surpunos-l?upq puqaq ueppiq lr3lord u€ltequ?hl rlltJo plror4 eutqluu,qq aqlpere orsrp pEq aal}Iwruo. s u?urn{ /,, }eDas do} }sou,, }deI lcarold aqt paDpro p?qJlasrrlq lF asood l?q] pu? ..uodee^,\ lalres,, EJo ]uaurdola ap .qt sprB r.ol SuroS ele {spunj aqt t€ql tutrl plot uostrl4s 's8ulpug stq ]noq? uosru4s Iju3H re \Jo fuelJrtrasPaluo{uo) lF}? ud u€Ilrn{ uarl { eregaou ot Bulpeal sle.{tF Jlaslr uodn pu? urpeploJ llpet?eder l€ril /Solodo] trIuouore u€ .drrls sNqour crl€rrn€arnq e p:ieluno.uauerllnrJ 'deuo(u ar0 )Itre4 ol Surl{ paBEr}no s€^{ eq .Suua4gord r?,{ SuqrBnsa,ruraal1rtrruror ? Jo uprrrn€qr aqt sy s]tre[ord snouals,{.u o}ur 3uu€edd?srp e$^{ sftIlopJo <uorllrLU ro sp)rpLnq rpqr pDl,ou ueLunrl fireH rolpurs tt6l 10 {rzn:qe1 u1

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<srolrellor 33?qr€3 'srara^Ipp

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'PagKs?Itr 'esnor Jo

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<Ir?Iq,, aql uado rqt rno s,ll Supuads pue luac-.toF ap'rpr?asar peglssElrun sa^lo ut ,,ftrouox?l srqt ol Surprotrre ,plroM

..otrarll plro ^..{r?Iq,, aql peler reqlou€ pur .plro {

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oqd pue sa8eun a1aql roJ snqul?J sr <Is e'lr

lsour aq1 llqeqo:d s

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"rroc rrv grsarc PUE 5

roJ peurer] sretq8gor punorSlapun lua.,{ I

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:oeld E s.tl .$lrr lFado'sdeur

Frtrluo due uosPq uoSrlued erll !$

ureq qtl dn Ie or pu?,balrrs tururura^o8 sag_ru8rs I9 €arv .ernlFr

6€a araqMoN Jo uorFnpord teuadut aq] pue a)Et uoor!

asaql ur areld SuDJel

244 Trevor Paglen

The Manhattan Prcject created a hidden world, a world of"secret ciiies" completewith thousands of workers who were either swoln to secrecy, or unaware of their$'orkt true purpose. Outside but alongside the more conventional workings ofthestate, the bomb project created its own airplanes, its own factories, its own infrastructures, and its own territories.'g

The secrecy surrounding the Manhatian Project wasn't new. Govetnments havealways maintained secrets from their peoples and eremies alike. What wds newabout the Manhattan Project was its scale along with its organizing and fundingstructures it was the frrst highly classified, multi-billion dollar U.S. effort. Tobuild the bomb in secret, the state had to develop ways to undertake such a projectwithout congressionai or public oversight. The bomb called for innovative ways tomanage a new kind ofbureaucracy-one organized around compartmentalizationand "need-to-know" access to information. The oiganizingforms oftheManhattanProjecthad to manage the thousands ofpeople working onthe weapon at any givennroment, while restdcting knowledge ofthe projectt true purpose io a very smallnumber ofDeoDle.

When Roosevelt autho zed the development of the atomic bomb, he perhapsnradvertently established a tradition ofsecrecy with regards to nuclear weapons thatwould take on a iife ofiis own. The initial j ustification foi secrecywas to keep Hitl6from acquiring the bomb, but by the end of 1944 it \,r'as clear that Nazis were nowhecnear the weapon.lo Even through its initial rationale had become moot by late 194{.the tradition ofsecrecy persisted. It had become in the words of Mcceorge Bundt(National Security Advisor to Kennedy and Iohnson) "a state of mindwith a life aDimeaning of its own," a tradition that was so ingrained that it was not qsestioned.r'

When Truman reorganized the miljtary and intelligence community with th\r l ionr l \ecu r i r y Acr of lq4-. he errrbl i .hed the Aif I or.e ds an rndepender Iof the military, and created the Centml Intelligence Agency." Larg+ immunecongressional oversight, the CIA was charged with collecting and dissemi

qure 12.2. sachel, Neyr

After Levier had expkCIA overseer Richan

irted on a dry lakebec(AEC) Nevada TesWorld War but w

it attractive. Groorwould cut ofi

nuclear explosions iaway. After beingto accept the CJATest Site.r'

efort to build theall ofthe classic cloalb CIA handlerc cre

wh r.h appear almo.t a. dn df ierrhoug\r ro lhe ni . . ion of rhe CIA. would becom€

intelligence, and "lperforming] such other tunctions and duties... as the NatjSecu ty Council may from time to time direct-"I These "other functions and

basis for a long series ofcovert opentions under the direct control ofthe presiBy 1958, CIA director Allen Dulles plainly stated that sirce 1947 the intellicommunity in the United States had a "more influential position in ourthan htelligence enjoys in any other part of the world."r5 Ard much of the

ju.t been chnsen to be r he lert pi lo l for rhe nelv Lr 2 r j rpldne. d commir. ion

for this new military-intelligence apparatus came funneled through innocuousitems in military approprialions budgets-the secret funding techniquesfor the Manhattan Projecthad tumedinto the Pentagonk "black budget."'6

In April of 1955, a tesl pilot named Tony Levier disguised himself as a hunt6headed east from Burbanl, California in an unrnarked Beechcraft airplane, Ilc

lakebeds and find "somewhere where we can test this thins in secret."r'LeVbunder orders from his boss, Lockheedt Kelly lohnson, to conduct a surver d

to work at the Nevlsome of the workC & J outft. We I

and Lockheed'shired Reynolds El

rating."2 Le\tests, and by hisCIA. Kno$'n internallyas "the angel" for the fact that it could flymany miles

than anything before it, the plane was designed to overfly the Soviet Unioatected u ' ing po!1er l 'J l ,dmerd. I 'or Cl A 'e ,onndi . .dnce.

ble had been con@Eol towet and

'sqluour Jo ran€tu ! u! prllElsul uasq Peq 4Flsr]€ pu€ ireMol lorluolsawoq

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1no qc1e,u,, o1,{nrduror eqt prur?^.! srapplq aqt Jo auo 'lno {ro,\{ aql Jo aluos pa}trul

uotrqns olggu usq,^'\ r. as?q aql pn4srotr o] 'ells lsel Pp" 3N eql l? Iror,! 01p3r€3ll

llaeq ptq oq,{t'(olgfld) rul'oC SrurrulSu[ pue p:r:pa1g sploulag pe.r1q Buvaeu'r8ug I8 C

'rljnl ul oz treford aqt uo pel?adde raNU strr€u qpaarPpo-l pu? 'asrq aql

plnq o1 ..3ur:eaur8ug | )8 1,, pell?. ,{uedtrrotr tuo{ ! Pa1e:r: srrlpurq YII srtl Putuosuqol uorprado vlc leles l]o slualrlrls FBSep pue-1eo1::tssep aqlJo ll€ p?q.uosuqol lllel -(q ..qru?U aslP"r€d,, peqqnp .{ll"r]ruI 'as€q aql Htnq ol oJa aql

6r'alrs lsel ?Pe aN

aql otuo eWT uroorD prxauue ps? sroqrlSpu ^\au sll st YIJ aql ldetrrt ol P336euorssrruruo] ,{8raug r[uoly eql ltsodo:daql.1o palrlroJur guraqIaUY {e^\€ snoFn]

aqr da)I plnon{ alts tsel epe,u51 aq1 1e le,r.re sa1ll,tr a.r.a; e rsn(suolsoldxa Fepnu ]ul]lsroil aruer€ap rolrd lnoqt!'{ 3uo,(1l? -'(q sils 3ql ol ssetrtrE Jo lnr PFo r suolrrllsor

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'"pP^eN leqreu '7'71 ern39

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".saqnp pu! suo4run] laql

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turlEuruessrp pue Bullrquor; aunuur l1a3:e1 .,/:pu€rq lu3prr3depul ue sE:.ql qtl.^4 ,{llunuruotr e)uE

n pauo$sanb lou sp..!l lI IFE 4IlP qlta Pu!!u 10 rrelftong :3ro:9.1,1 1o gpro,r'l'f6l alBI lq looru ruroreq

al. { srzPN rql Jedaarl o1 se,r lcarcas ;

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ar|r ter{l\ .rIllE selut:

pun

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-sallp lsDas>Jo pl:

On August 4, 1955 the Iirst U-2, a Plane without any markings, took flight over the

clandesti ne base at Groom lake.za In only a few months this cIA "angel" was secretlybreaking altitude records while hydrogen bombs at the Nevada Test Site lit tbe skiesbelow. "Pandise Ranch" had become, in the words of Gary Powers, "one ofthose 'you

cant get there from here'places."zsIn the early days, everything about the site was meant to be temPorary U 2-em

pilots lived in mobile homes-there were no clubs, commissades, or comforts at 'Par_

adise Ranch."'z6 But Groom Lake become permanent when the CIA commissionedLockheed to build yet another spy-plane, this time with a degree of 'security . - even

tighter than on the U-2."" Ironically code named OXCART, this rew plane wouldfly higher than the U-2 and faster than a speeding bu11et.'3 OXCART provided theresearch and know how for the planes which would become known as the "black-

bird family": the ClAs A-12, its Air Force counterPart, the SR-71, and seveml vada-

tions on the two. Compared to the U 2, these suPersodc spy pianes required massive

inftastructures and support-crews. 'Paradise Ranch" had been built to accommo-

date about 150 people, blrt the OXCART piogram would require more than l'500

at the testing site. The CIA and Lockheed had looked into the possibility of run

ning the program out of a decommissiored Air Force Base, but none existed that

could provide the degree of secrecy that the CIA demanded. In SePtembe{ of 1960'

major construction at Groom Lake began again. The lunway was extended and new

hangars, new housing units, and additional warehouse space were installed. Despite

contractors working double-shifts, the new rcund ofconslruction tooL almost fouryears to con,)pleie." Bythe time OXCART was ready for iis initial tests, Groom Lake

had become a state-of-the art llisht facilitY.r'

242

Over the years, the desolate base at Groom Lake became more and more useful as

a place where the militaryand CIA could do things in secret.In the late 1960s, mo€

hangars were added to the base, providing a home to the Air Force's secret squadroa

ofpurloined Soviet Mics.r' When Lockheedbegan to build the "stealih frghter" in rL

late 1970s (one ofthe most highly-classified weapons since the Man hattan Project)r: I

was a matter ofcourse that Groom lake would host the testing and develoPment.

Croom

nently temporary" They (perceived emergency, as swhich became permanent

Groom Lake doesnt aInternet told me how tmiles south of Rachel.take a sharp right turningly endless st.eich thupstream towards an u

I've been warned that tlarray of ground sensorhiding among the hillsas I approach the perinbasin makes you feel vlowed by the Joshua tr.a sudden and unforgivisomething is moving in

I turn around a curve alance camen stares dovbeadng down on a squarsit watching me from a d

ples of aircraft have emerged out from under Groom Laket restricted cloak s

the fact that fe\,r' operational aircraft have come out from the secrecy ofcroom

Since the public unveiling of the stealth fighter in 1988, only a few singular

does not mean that the facility is inactive. On the contnry, comPalisons ot

acquired commercial satellite photos to declassiEed Russian satellite images

that the base has exDanded considerablv since the 1980s, and that it, in fact' conti

to expand.raThe origin and expansion of Gtoom Lake follows a theme that can be

much ofthe Nellis Range Complex itseli It is a space where the temporary has

permanent, where an exception to the rule became the rule itself. The

Project, conducted secrecy 'ith its war time "b1ackbudget," enacted temporal'

sures that achieved permanence in the context ofthe open ended cold war. The:

Range Complex recapitulates the same theme it was meant to be a short-telm pl

bombing range for the Second World War, but was reactivaled in 194215 Much

Nellis Complex and the means by yrhich it is funded and organized exist in a ki

srrspended animation-a staie in which temPorary measures have become 12.3. GroomLakeB(

rapro{ qeluoorc € zl n8!l

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214 Trevor Pag e.

has me in its crosshai.s, and I m terrified. I'm too afraid to open the door of mycar, or even zoom my camera onto the faces watching me, Directly in front ofme arethree signsi signs that rip through the desert silence like a stealth fighterscreaning acrcss an empty sky,

The signs siake out invisible borders cutting through this dirt road. One phrasemarks the limif ofpublic space: "No Trespassing."Anoiher marks a limit ofvisibility:"Photography Prohibited." And the third announces that the rawest expression ofsovereiglty governs the 11o mans land only a few feet away.

USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED

This is a place where the "normal" rules ofsociety don't apply. Itt a place wherearmed and camouflaged men tu unmarked trucks have the right to kill youto prevent you from ente.ing. These men are not soldiers, they wear no insig-nias, and are presumably not subject to the same rules of engagement as theiienlisted counterparts.r' All of the justifications for secrecy, all ofthe line-iiemsobscured in "blackbudgets" and ali of the conspiracy theories and alien storiesaside, in this moment, Groom Lake seems to come down to a simple andbrutalfact: "Ifyou try to come it,I here, or if you even tiy to take a pictwe ofwhat\ inhere, wete going to kill you." Anyone who has ventured towards ro the borderhas felt tLe same thing. Jim Goodall, stealth watchei and aviation nuthot says"the ihing that bothers me aboui Area 5l [is] that a camouflage dude in a whiie

leep Cherokee can come up to you, shoot you in cold blood, drag your butt aquarter of a mile inside the perimeter ofthe base, and lhrow it out where thebuzzards can get to you, and there isnl a government agency or law-enforce-ment agency in this courtry that has the authority to go in theie and get yourbody. Even ifthey could, there'.s no one who can be held accountable, becausethe place doesn't oficially exist. You might as well be on Mars."r3

Croor

andwbites became comrsigr1ed in 1863. Declarir!Shoshone, the treaty grarclaims throughout the l:The Westem Shoshone,redations upon the emigzens of the United Staterpromised to compensatethe Indians in consequerroutes t.avelled [sic] by ns€tdements.a, But from tof safety to the WesterD :Yowell, the Western ShosRuby Valley itselfthe foL

nrey had lthe Indidsi tirrith their.ifles... Ihey f.they had the Indians rusome white people or soEmoming when tiey werc tdwn and took hio a}!y,relatives wanied the body,a meat that rhey couldDt rShoshone that they had h!

lh€ violence of ?eaceMiners were Doiso

ing down trees for 6Irelied on for food. L(

Western Shoshornative peoplesaptly titled ler

! Expansion, a U.S.'black world." It wrwithout consequrofsetders and nr

Mr. Kurtz in the.

he 1920s, the Navtrd modern weapo

Sogobia. To claimwhich authoriiirrigatioq an(

Sa DepartneotOn October 2N

Iqrs Bonbing atr

wo.ld," of this silent and foreboding place, is as old as the United States iiself- Ir

You may as well be on Mars, indeedj you may as well be somewhere that isalier; you may as well be nodrere. Groom Lake is famous for the fact that itnot properly exisi, that it is quite literally /ro rele. And the history of thisis older than the U-2, or even the Manhattan Project. The nowhere of the

nineteenth century, it was the nowhere at the margins ofempire, the "b1ack

Amedcan expansion, of indigenous "savages," and ofwhoiesale anddeath. It was a swath of uncharted land, a blank space or the map, a space iacrosshairs ofmanifest destinv. a sDace thai stunk ofdeath.

With the exception of an 1820s campaign to trap all the beaver in the arq,native peoples of the present-day Nellis Complex, the Western Shoshone andern Paiute, were left alone by whites until the mid nineteenth centuryreAs emiminers, and prospectors arrived to the area, violence beiween the Native Io do this, be I.

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246 Trcvor Pas en

the Army Appropriations Act of tuly 9, I918-an almost forgotten authority thatallowed the piesident to claim unappropriated public domain lands to create aviaiionfields for testing and experimental work.lr

After World War Two, iheweapons kept coming to Nevada.In January of 1951, theAtomic Energy Commission went public with iis plan to carve the Nevada Test Siteoutofthe Las Vegas Bombing and GunneryRangeand its intentions to begin exploding nuclear weapons at the site.5'? The decision had been made in sectet. The site hadbeen chosen from among several locations under scrutiny by the members ofProjectNutmeg, the effort to locate a continental site to explode nuclear weapons.s3 Only abrief intervai of time separated the announcement establishing the Nevada Test Sitefrom the firstnuclear explosion: on January 2Z an Air Force B-50D bombet droppedan atomicbomb on a place the rvhite government called Frenchman Flat.Il based onthe Treaty ofRuby Valley, the Western Shoshonei Newe Sogobia was still a sovereignnation, then, in this insiant, the Indian Wars had gone nuclear.

Part ofthejustification for turning much ofNevada, or Newe Sogobia, into a mas-sive bombing range was that, at least to the rvhite population, the areawas a'waste-land"-it wasn't "good" for anything. And so it didnl matter what was done to it. Inhindsight the.e's a strange irony to all ofthis. The sense that the land was "valueless"is perhaps the reason that the Treaty of Ruby Valley ultimately ceded sovereigntyover the land to the Westerr Shoshone-the whites didn't bothei to take "lesal" soverei8nlv from lhe nal ive people. be(du\e lhey corr ldn l \ee any rearoi lo appmpr'-ate these desert "badlands."5l The continuins attitude that this land "didnt matter"pro\ ided lhe iu. l i6cdl ion lor turning i r in lo a md-., i \ e bombing rd nge. The A f lny AirCorps explained that the.eason for creating the Las Vegas rangewhere they did wasthat the land "wasnt much good for anything but B\rnnery practlce you .ould bombit into oblirion and e1'er notice the diference" litalics added].5r Or to put it anotherway, you could bomb it into oblivion because it d lreadl h,as iD obllvi,on.It aheady was

Throughout the history of white occupation, the places we call Groom Lake andthe Nellis Range Complex have inhabited an ir between space; a space in the seem-ingly-paradoxical position of being both insi.le and outside the state at the sametine.rT A space ofindistinction. During the frontier era, the'blackwor1d" known tosome people as Newe Sogobia was "o[tside" the U.S. state. tsut as the United Statestook and transformed this land, it largelyp/eser,/ed the qualities that had made thisland an "outside"-laws didn't apply, things could be done in secret and without con-sequence, the land could be bombed irdiscriminately, ard so fofih. When the UnitedStates established much ofNevada as an exclusively military tandscape, it was as ifthe "black world" ofthe frontier made a smooth and almost effortless (from the U.S-point of view) transition into the "black-world" of military weapons, testing, and

Groom Lake is clearly irside the state: it was and is produced by the state, andpaid for wiih taxpayer's money. The state (through a pdvatized paramilitary forcc)reserves the right to kill aryone attempting to breach its border. Groom Lake beionpto the state: it's used to develop secretweapons, ai.planes, and othe. clandestine teclFnologies. Now operated by the Air Force, itis synonymous with the state itself But athe same time, Grcom Lake is o,tside tbe state: the installation is exempt from mart

Groom

laws; it has no "oficial" rgovernment maps. It is asecret. lt is exempt fromat least-provide the basiinside/outside topology oldocument demonstratingsove.eignty over the land.

The space encompassinthat has been produced arthe twenty-firct, as oblivicnext-generation war machstolen fmm other nationsspace-its neither/nor nesto blur the line between ting at Nellis will be reenaNevada, the United States

The words "test" and "scientific endeavor that tamaterials to see if they dotheir homewo.k. fhe woRlis Rangq the Nevada TestGroom Lake which is rhethat goes on at these plac(that they'll work when themeans flying them or droFreal" somewhere else.

Something stmnge hapthese conditions. ln the 't

ments begin to look like ,marked for export. The Neused for trai ning Special F(simulate foreign countri€spelgangers. And there are :\evada Test Site includes it€rminal, and a seaport.6,

But a more abstract kinleep a secret, and tests the I.trort goes into keeping a falhousands of people eitherrolrding the facilitla Ifthe{e"]th lighter the iechnolal:ke would be in themselv

;hce to test weapons and 1Lod through the testing a:drnologies that confound

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duelu urorJ ldurax3 sr uorle tn{ Jlastr etels a10 q]Ir-qtrat euqsepuqr Fqlo PsBuopq e{t.l rlloorc .Iep(3croJ ,{retrllruPled pazllpue 'a1e1s aq1 ,{q p:rnpc

pue '8upsel .suodra { ,{]'sn eqt uro4) sssltJoJa I;r se surrl 1r .edospuel lrpeltun aqt ueqj\ .qlIoJ o-uor lnoqll,!! Pue larles osrql apeul plq l?r{l seqlFselqs patrun eql s? nf, .01 u^lolr)l ..PFo,\r l.?Jq, .aur?s rrll le alets eqt aPl-ursas rql q erpds ? :aretpu? Dle'I rlloorS er e1\^

sE { ,{peerle lI .uol^arqo uJraqtou€ r lnd ol .ro

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.IPap

$ra,ros e prs se,u elqdjope6Eq JI .reIC ueurlpue

leqr.roq c09 B aftsal epe,ra111 aql Surqs

.. suodee { I?al)nsgo s:aqruau agl lq

TF aql !er)3s u! rPe!t43aq 01 suonualt!

pJ epE^aN EtI] r rerJo tuEnuel q .epe

eleaD ol sPuel ulerIlroqyne ualp8ro; p

p3e1 uqep uo 'auoqsoqs uratsa 4 eqr lou pue 'daqt teql 8uilulsuoarcp ]u3r!n)o'

I?3rI p arnpord louu?r tu3trlura oB -S I] 3q1 :a)l?l ruoorS lo dSolodor aplslno/aPlqeqt ot duo4 reqlotr? s! aql lng ,{}qros rllertoulrp roJ sls?q eql apdord-lseel

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uo r?adde lou saop I pu"'uoll€uBlseP alq"gFe ou'elrleu ..Plrlgo,, ou seq 1! :

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hz araqaoN ]o uorttrfpord terradut aql puP qel uoorS

248 Trevor PaeLen

Groom Lake is a testing area, a desert "laboratory of exception," where nowhere isproduced, reproduced, and where its efliciency and emcacy are evaluated. And ifthearchitecture ofthe testing landscapes at Nellis Range seNes as a mirror ofthe placeswhere its weapon tests are exported, then perhaps the nowhereness of croom Lakeworks in a similar way. Ifthe built environments like "Koiean Airfield" in ihe NellisRange are designed to be indistinct from an actual airfield in Korea, then perhapsthe nonhere of the Nellis Range Complex and elserrere ofthe eventual targeis of itstests are designed to be similarly indistinct. The "black world" ofthe testing rangesis designed to blu. into the "black world" of elser?rele. Blurred like ore night in t989when six stealth lighters emerged from their secrei base at Nellis and flew to Panamainstead ofiheirlocal targets. Theydroppedthe {irstbombs ofthe Panama invasion.6rOr blurred on a day in 2004, when the remote crew ofan unmanned Predator droneat Nellis learned iong afier the fact that they had inadvertently participated in ihecapiure of Saddam Hussein. No one had told the remote crew the nature ofthe mis-sion they had piloted from halfway across the world.d' Or perhaps the line betweennowhere and elsewhere is blurred in an even more fundamental and foundationalsense. Perhapsthis line hasbeenbLrrred every day since whites occupied the WesternShoshone land. The black-worlds ofNevada come full-circle and fold into each otherrvhen Raymond Yowell, referdng to the Western Shoshone and Southern Paiutetcontinuing struggles with the United States, describes Newe Sogobia as "the mostbombed nation in the world."65

Theret only one place on public land $om which you can actually see croomLake. To get there, I d.ive towards the town ofAlamo, and then tu.n oli thepavement onto a lonely dirt road. Itt about twenty miles through open lange,stopping to open and dose various dilapidated cattle gates along the way. Eventually, the road slarts to incline and patches of snow appear alongside my carBefore long,lhere's more snowthan dirt and I start to worry about getting stuck.I finally see the cattle spring where I ve been instructed to parlg and I tuck thecar Lrnder a ffee. For the hike, I lill my backpack with two cameras, a militaryscanner, a recorder, some snacks, and some extra clothes. I'm not an ouidoorsyperson, so the two miles up a steep mountainside in several fret of snow is noteasy. Trudging up through snow-covered shale, I hear the sounds of lighter-planes.acing through the skies. Like manythings arcund this landscape, they'regone by the time you hear them. When I reach the summit, it's nighttime.

From the top of this peak Groom Lake is about thirty miles to the West, a fe$miniscule dots oflighi on the horizon. Lights flickering on and oll in variouscombinations during the hours I spend sitiing here. The blinking lighis of.plane approaching and landing at the base are too dim and too far away fame to identify. My scanner chirps and gurgles in a language only intelligible tothe initiated. Even ifl did understand these bits ofdistorted voices, thev wodaprobably not reveal anything more thatr the pin-pricks of light in the farlance: lhe facl lhJr ,omelhing i5 going un. bul nothing more.

A curious thing happenlfor the secret weapons-nuclear bombs-were sitthe money saved by milgone, a significant amouties and procurements clpeace dividend, some salcally, and even psychicalonly superpower," the Uthan ever particular witlHussein running "roguethe United States dismana signifrcant part of its otbut the "biack world" hel

As the "evil empire" bliactured inio pieces, sotsdand what had happened'interceptors"

formed infRange Complex. Often p.t :Aiea 5i," they sought Id.ath-signs ofcroom Laq€d incredibly sophisti(

tt)., iniercepting railio c(Hom of lnformation

ir Force press releases arpopular articles, the)

the cultural map, ifncthe blurry images, bit

the stealth waichers

Fuliar aesihetic. Itt Ithat lasts only as I

the top of a desertan)'thing other thaniDfnite deferral of "tl

contours continwlhas kept the stealt

captured in the steaone s head and

oneselfto the impl

Frimeter of Groootwil lki l lyou."

there is, in facjlh€y look west fror

boring milital)

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FI.os olq }nd rq Plnor tusr-r€lqrul .{q pe^€s -{auot!

rc lrqt parsaSSns auro5 lrpl ur'dlmppns atmo auo3 -tldurrs e:e,[-sqruoqaql 'sraqruoq rllleots uorlq 9 79 :qr ..'sr8pnq lrtlq- aqr suod€e^! ]anas atpsuorl€rgtsn[ aq] IIE

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+

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! xfru ruo qrlp*qI l4rsal rqr Jo -ppo,n

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a4 -PJagrlv uEarc:JO Sseuaiaqao!

Jo rourru E sE SenlTanF^e aJe ,{rEaala..uortdafxa

250 Trevor Paglen

technology and Unnanned Aerial Vehicles, while others see a giant Potemkin village: a colossal diverion designed to prevent the stealth watchers from turringtheir attention to othet more important, secret bases. Staring from this mountain-top, some people see a vast conspiiacy, with Groom Lake as ihe staging ground foran impedal New World Order an etrort to exterminate democracy and imposemartial law worldwide. At the most extreme end of conspiracy, some see Groomlake as aD alien base, a place from which reptilian extratelrestrials secretly rule aworld they have already conquered. A place that is so outside the structures that ademocratic government is supposed to take, that its existence can only be explainedbythe factthatthe UnitedStates is indeedalready under the control of a malfeasantexternal po\a'er.

I spend the rest of the night driving home and arrive back in Berkeley to a morninghaze similar to the one l'd found in the desert.

As I walk through campus, the university begins to take on new meanings. Iremember that the Bechtel engineering building a few yards away from my ownolice bears the name ofthe company charged with managing the Nevada Test Site.Iremember that the Lawrence labs in ihe hills above campus were built, in part, to sep-arate U-235 from gaseous uranium hexafluoride-to produce the heart ofan atomicbomb. I remember that the Berkeley campus is named after a man most famous forthe lines: 'westward the cou$e ofempire takes its way." 6'

When I lirst saw the names and uses ofthe places in the Nellis Range Comple\ iiwas obvious to me that lhese places were designed to be indistinct from the targetsthey simulated. "Korean Air6eld" signified and simulated Korea; "Terortowr" didthe same for Tehran. Now, as I entered the Geography Department in McCone Hall,it occuned to me that the place where I stood might be as much a part of the "blackworld" as a secret base guarded by armed nen in unmarked vehicles.

Walking inro thebuildingthat bears his name,I remembered howJohn McConetcareer was inexorablybound to the testjng landscapes ofNevada. John Mccone, theUnder Secretary of the Air Force from 1950 1951, who accused Cal-Tech scientists ofbeing "taken in" by'Soviet propaganda' and attempting to "create fear in the minalsof the uninformed that radioactive fallout from H bomb tests endangers life."to Aman who later became Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commissiorl (1958 196t,responsible for years of atmospheric nuclear explosions al the test site tests thatkilled untold numbers of "downwinders." When he became the director ofthe CIAfrom 196l-1965, Mccone oversaw the expansion ofGroom lake for the A-12 pro-gram. As my own mind instinctively tded to fill the gaps in the dassilied histori6and landscapes of the Nellis Range, I permiited myself the luxury of speculatingon the fragmeris I had seen in the desert. As I stared at a flyer announcing a clasron 'development" or "area studjes" or "geographic information systems"-I realltdon't remember exactly an ironic thought occurred to me. I imagined that anothdMccone Hall might exist: aMccone Hall, named in honor ofaformer CIA dircctq,near a dry lakebed in the middle of nowhere at a base that doesnl exist.T'

Notes

1. I'd like to thank JairAnanya Ro)., and Zhproducing this chapt

2. Freeman Dyson, DtrRebecca Solnit andkthe basin and range.

3. ln 199s, President Bilthecourts,sayingthabe expected todamathe Secret Wotld of Rinirial exemption, pr(Availnble ar ht!p://w

4. this passage borrowand "unspoken" spa(unspeakable consisrslutely atrocious," andand everyday 1ife. Se(University of Minnes

5. IorahisroryoftheNoJ the Newda Test Si0s18),82.

6. Steven Kosiak Cldrsifor Strategic ard Budcsbaonline.org. See aHolt,200a).

; Tim Weinea Bldri C8. Weine\ Bkflk Check,9. See, for example, Ri(

Simon and Schustea llo- Mcceorge Bundy, Datt. Brndy, Daflger and Sl12. Weine\ Bknk Check,13. \Yeinet, Blank Check,H. For a history ofthe Cl

CIA and Pentagon C.(New York Ivan R. D

l5 Quoted in Hannah I1976),xx.

a. ,rietne\ Blank Check,tr B€n Rich with Leo larl. Rrh, Skunk works, :

! Hles, Dalft tagler, :L[, S&trflft lalorki, l:lb. name ofREECo.S.. Gregory W. Pedlcor'ashington D-C.: Gll3 and Peebles, Dark

=

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252 Croon

4s. Solnit, Sa/dge .Drea,46. Solnll, Sdrdgd Drear17. Solnit, S age Drcan

the Bear Rirer MasslRiver is in Soutbern

48. Solnit, Sd/dge Drea,49. The quote is, ofcoul

guin, 1983), 123.s0. D:rvid Loonis, Conl51 . Loomis, Canbat Zol52. Fehner aDd Gosling.s3. Valerie Kuletz, Tie ?s4. See Solnit. Sdrage D55. Loam\s, Cambat Zol56. Kuletz refers to thil

echoes Mbembet p('uiinhabited and mthatis deemed to b(body... the settler arAchille Mbembe, O',183.

sZ As such, they demosovereignty: The orrne sovere,gn ,orrosthe determination oort"rd but anoveAgamben, trans. Da,(Stanfbrd, CA: Stanf

;8. Instead, the governncontradictory argurell, chiefofthe Weslnent is thelawofthe

59. Patton, Dreamland,60. See the Center for L

20036l- Center for Land Us€62. Tlese new facilities

these kinds of locatitunP vallel Titnes,conv2o04/06/1i/neetesting, which makerthat a test for "defenr

63. Tonopah housed th€decade until 1989, wlPanamn invasion. Tlused as back ups. SeHigh-Tech In|asion .

22. Rich, Sft ,ft Worts, t3l.21. Rich, Sftrrft Worfrs, 13,1.2,!. Peebles, Da* nagl.r,28. See also Pedloi{ aDd Walzenbach, The ClA a d the U2

25. Francis GaryPowers dnd Curt Gentr,v, Opelaito, Overltgnt New York: Holt, Rine-hart and Winston, 1970), 28-Powerc, O pefttion O|er[ight, 33.Rich, Sftrrft Wo/ks,200.Itich, Sfta,l Worfr s, 201.Peebles, Ddlft tagleJ, 58 s9.Peebles, Darl tdglds. 59.Peebles, Ddlfr tagles, 219 221.Rich. Sftrak Wd/*r, 40.ftese include an aircnft code-named Tacir Blue that was revealed in (1996), aDd

Boeirg'.s "Bird of Prey" protot)'pe. See ihe lederation of American Scientists Web

site on m)-stery aircnft http://www.fas.org/irp/nystery^acnblu htm for 'thcit

B1ue. Interestingly, although the "Bird of Prey" was tested ihroughour the 1990s

dr lhe height of "siealth watching" at Groon Lake, its existence remained largely

unknown until its unveiling in 2002. For Bird of Prey, see http://www.boeing com/

news/releases/2002/q4lnr-02l018m.htnl.see Fedention ofAmerican scieDtists report on satellite inagery obtained in 2000

at http://w itrfas-org/iry/overhead/groon.htm. For more recent imagery. includiflg

the coDst clion of a new taxi$'ay in 2003, see the " i nfo and photos" section of the

Dreamland Resort Web site at http://www.dreanlandresort.com.

26.27.28.29.30.3I32.13.

34.

35- Rebecca Solnit, Sdr4ge D/eans (Berkeley: Universiiy of Californin Press, 1994), s7

36. In this way, they share some commonalities with what Georgio Agamben calls the"camp." SeeGeorgio Agamben, trans. Vincenzo Bin€tii andCesare Casarino,Medts

Without EnX Notes on Polirics (Minneapolis: University of NI in nesota Press,2000),

38. Ifwe describe lhe Nellis Range as a "space ofexception," ihen it is diferent from

Aganbent canp iDsofar as the Nellis area does not seek to manage life (the pdmary

role of Agrmbent canp)- Instead, lhe spaces in the Nellis Range Comple' exist to

perfect ,e.ftadloAits ofvioiencej they function primarily to prepare and refine the

neari oI domination. Bnt in order to test the means of violent do'n ination, a degree

ofviolent domination is necessariryexercised, collapsingthe disiinction to a certain

extent. Tlus, Groon Lake dnd the Nellis Complex dct as a "laboratory oi €'xcep-

tion l poirlt io ihis dialectic in the "testing" section ofthisNork.

3Z According to several authors, the "cammo dudes" work for the EG&G compdnies'

"special Projects" dil,ision, a privately held company that maniges many ot the

opentions at the Nellis Range and Groom Lake. See David Darlington,A/ed 5li Ttd

Drcamlafld Cbonicles /New York Henry Holt, 1997), 18.

38. Quoted in Darlington, Area sl, 142.39. Solnit, Sa'"ge Drudtnr, 163.40. SolDit, Sdrage l)/edns, 163 -164.

4r. "Treaty Wiih fte Western Sboshoni" (1863). RePrint available at http://w$'wwsdp

ors-42. Treaty With Tle Weslern Shoshoni.'43. paul Nellin, Intetview l,tith Ratnond Ya./leLl at http://www-nativeweb.

org/pageVlegal/shoshone.44. Solnit, Sdrdge Dfedms, 169.

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Trevor Paglen

Keith Rogers, "Nellis Crew Helped Nab Saddam," trs y€grs Rerlew-loffinal,Tnes-day, March 2,2004 at http://www.reviewjournal.corn/1vrj home/2004/Mar-02-Tue-20o4/news/23335929.htm1.Kuletz, The Tainted Desert,72.See, for example, Clemens P work Robert F. Black, and Doug Pasternak, "fteHigh Cost of Olive Branches." US. Ne i d WorH -Repori, vol. r0Z no. 2l; p. 12.December ll,1989.See Kosiak. When I say "held its own" I mean that it remained relatively consistentas a percentage of overall Pentagon spending. Classified Pentagon spending is now(FY 2004) aiits post cold war high.When I say "amateur geographers" I dont mean to suggest that these people arenecessadly hacks. On the contrary, I mean to suggest that these "un disciplined"rcsearchers and the techniques they have developed to interFet la scapes have agreat deal to contribute to geographic thought and epistemology. It is a historicalfact that amateurs, precisely because ofthei lack ofacademic discipline, have madeenolmolis contributions to the sciences through their ability to see and interpretthe world without many ofthe presuppositions that a "plofessional" researcher nay

See Grey Brechin, Lnperial San Francisco \Berkeley: Universfty of California Press,1999),3r7.David Wise and ftomas B. I].oss, The Iwisible Gorerflneflf (New York RandomHouse. 1964). I92 I93.

67.

13

Targeting the ll

Matthew Farish

According to its critics, iadministration during itrance of public diploma(Influence (OSI) to "pro\organizations as pat ofers in both friendly and2002 after a public turoDepafment found "sho,Muslim wodd.' fhe Stat,filled, has been occupietand close acquaintanceaMargaret Tutwiler, steplture photos from Abu GYorlceri Seymour Hershby George W. Busht co({here she had never trasion in both her host cor

Surveying opinion orcotrsistent skepticism tot d, in May 2004, that dsrccesses of such outletHurra, actually based irdmilarly U.S.-sponsore(to 2004, the Pew Resealb Global Attitudes ProIth in both Europe aD&ron, a Christian klEerican public diplon

reform and civil so(higbly generic way-a

John Kerry wastest" ph.ase into

69