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by bityard 1307 days ago
> "go read the actual contract or the actual code"

Okay, so I did and it says this:

> Whenever, in the interests of national defense, the President defines certain vital military and naval installations (etc)

Has a President defined Area 51 as a protected installation under this rule? If so, where?

4 comments

If you click the Notes tab it's right there. Executive Order 10104

Ex. Ord. No. 10104. Defining Certain Vital Military and Naval Installations and Equipment as Requiring Protection Against the General Dissemination of Information Relative Thereto

Ex. Ord. No. 10104, Feb. 1, 1950, 15 F.R. 597, provided: WHEREAS section 795 of title 18 of the United States Code provides: [Omitted.] AND WHEREAS section 797 of title 18 of the United States Code provides: [Omitted.] NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the foregoing statutory provisions, and in the interests of national defense, I hereby define the following as vital military and naval installations or equipment requiring protection against the general dissemination of information relative thereto: 1. All military, naval, or air-force installations and equipment which are now classified, designated, or marked under the authority or at the direction of the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, or the Secretary of the Air Force as “top secret”, “secret”, “confidential”, or “restricted”, and all military, naval, or air-force installations and equipment which may hereafter be so classified, designated, or marked with the approval or at the direction of the President, and located within: (a) Any military, naval, or air-force reservation, post, arsenal, proving ground, range, mine field, camp, base, airfield, fort, yard, station, district, or area. (b) Any defensive sea area heretofore established by Executive order and not subsequently discontinued by Executive order, and any defensive sea area hereafter established under authority of section 2152 of title 18 of the United States Code. (c) Any airspace reservation heretofore or hereafter established under authority of section 4 of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 (44 Stat. 570; 49 U.S.C. 174) except the airspace reservation established by Executive Order No. 10092 of December 17, 1949.

If you're proposing flying drones to observe Area 51, I think the onus is on you to answer this question.

If it goes to trial under this statute, the prosecution would presumably provide this evidence (or be challenged by your defense attorney).

Considering that this is pretty standard around all military installations, and that it took me about 10sec. to search "area 51 entry gate photos" and find a huge red "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" sign [0], and even one showing a citation of "18 USC 795" [1] among a brace of oth1er WARNING! signs, I'd characterize your attitude as, at best, damn foolish.

Yes, there is are very large amounts of things that the US Mil does in secret to maintain it's edge in the ability to fight off expansionist autocracies and be the arsenal of democracy. This is a very good thing, as without it, we'd be ruled already by the likes of Putin, Xi, or Un. People with a clue do NOT want access to TS+ info outside their role. But fools rush in ...

[0] https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5f/35/bb/5f35bbf3b13988451ce9... [1] https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/125...

[...] there's dozens of others

Break the law, get charged, then hire a lawyer to answer that question for you. (It won't be fun for you.)