NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL PREMIERE SCREENING AREA 51 DECLASSIFIED

18 May 2011

The International Spy Museum

Washington, D.C.

premiere

On Wednesday, 18 May 2011, the National Geologic Channel invited T.D. Barnes, Ken Collins, Richard Mingus, and Ed Lovick to Washington, D.C. to participate in the premiere screening of its documentary, Area 51 Declassified being hosted at the International Spy Museum. The evening included a cocktail reception in the Zola Restaurant – Dreyfus Room and then the screening before an audience of CIA representatives, the Air & Space Smithsonian, DIA, National Geographic officials, the staff of the International Spy Museum, and the public. Following the screening, author Annie Jacobsen and the participants in the documentary joined to sign Annie’s book, “Area 51 an uncensored history of America’s Top Secret military base” for those purchasing a copy.

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Ed Lovick, T.D. Barnes, Richard Mingus, Ken Collins, Annie Jacobsen, Gene Poteat
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Paul Bernhardt, Annie Jacobsen, Stacey Slater-Bernhardt. Stacey is the daughter of Colonel Hugh “Slip” Slater depicted in the documentary. Colonel Slater was commander of the CIA’s Taiwanese Black Cat U-2 detachment and following that, the commander at Area 51 during the CIA Project Oxcart.
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Book signing: Annie Jacobsen (hidden), Ed Lovick, Richard Minus, T.D. Barnes, Ken Collins. Lovick was a Lockheed engineer pioneering stealth technoloty, Minus was an security officer at Area 51, Barnes was a radar and missile ECCM, and an X-15 hypersonic flight support specialist recruited to Special Projects at Area 51 for Oxcart, stealth, and where he also participated in the exploitation of Soviet MiGs and radar systems at the Area., Colonel Collins was a CIA A-12 project pilot at Area 51, flying operational missions over North Vietnam during Operation Blackshield.
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Ken Collins, Stacey Bernhardt, Annie Jacobsen, TD Barnes, Paul Bernhardt
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Ken Collins, Erin Griffin (National Geographic), TD Barnes, Nicole Dewey (Annie’s publicist at Little Brown Publishing)
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Ken Collins, Malvina Martin (National Geographic Channel), T.D. Barnes

annies book

REVIEW of the National Geographic Channel documentary: The participants in the documentary feel Nat Geo Channel did an excellent job of telling the story in the course of only an hour. The staff was extremely professional.

REVIEW OF ANNIE JACOBSEN’S BOOK: Author Annie Jacobsen worked tirelessly to research the programs and participation of the characters in her book. She masterfully wove in the many facets that merged to become the genesis of the secret operations as they converged into the black world of Area 51. Kudos to Annie for her patience and understanding as she skillfully retrieved former Top Secret stories half a century old from aviation icons worrying about boarding their final flight while trying to retrieve from memory their recently declassified stories of long ago. Fortunately, they managing to not divulge secrets to which the author lacked the need to know. The secrets of Area 51 remain intact.

DISCLAIMER: Most of us who worked at the Ranch give no credit to the stories about UFOs, aliens, and such. We consider and accept such as folklore. While irritated at first about the final chapter, I accept that even if the masses are buying the book for the final chapter, it means that they are also reading the accounts of the veterans who worked there.

In all fairness to Annie Jacobsen and Little Brown, the following is their synopsis of Annie’s book. “AREA 51 by Annie Jacobsen – This is the first book based on interviews with eye witnesses to Area 51 history, which makes it the seminal work on the subject. Filled with formerly classified information that has never been accurately decoded for the public, AREA 51 weaves the mysterious activities of the top-secret base into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.”

While I disclaim affiliation to all reference to the Roswell crash, or human experiments at Area 51, I support this book as it addresses the true legacies of the participants, projects, and the facility at Groom Lake.

Check this National Geographic news release for more information of what the documentary is about. 

Customers can pre-order Area 51 on DVD on shopNGvideos.com now and will be able to pre-order on shopNG.com and amazon.com next week. The product won’t be ready to ship for another 2 weeks.

Links to more about Annie Jacobsen’s book