The U.S. government under Bush administration has renewed an exemption allowing the Air Force to keep silent about top-secret operations of Area 51 in Southern Nevada.

In a report by Associated Press dated September 19 2003, Bush’s memorandum said it was of “paramount interest” to exempt the Groom Lake base about 90 miles north of Las Vegas from disclosing classified information.

Area 51, is known to be the place where the U. S. government is developing highly advance weapon system and aircrafts more advance than any other man-made flying vehicles.

This is the place where a scientist named Bob Lazar was hired to study the propulsion system of flying saucers parked in an underground section known as S-3.

Area 51 is a very mysterious base sits on a dry-lake bed known as Groom lake and is heavily patrolled. The area is in a no-fly zone.

The secrecy has fueled speculation about UFOs, aliens and other strange occurrences around Area 51. Residents of the nearby town of Rachel say the UFO talk began years ago when a Nevada Test Site worker claimed he saw alien ships there.

President Clinton first issued the base’s exemption in 1995 in response to two lawsuits filed by injured workers seeking information about the military’s environmental practices at the site. It has been renewed yearly.

In renewing the order Tuesday (Sept 16, 2003), Bush cited the suits brought by injured workers and the widows of two workers who alleged in 1994 that their husbands were exposed to hazardous and toxic materials at Groom Lake.

Attorney Jonathan Turley, who represents the families, said the presidential directive keeps secret documents and testimony that he believes would link Area 51 to the men’s deaths.

“It is baffling to see the government continue to cover up what went on at Area 51,” said Turley, a George Washington University law professor. Bush’s memo exempts the Air Force from following federal, state or local solid waste and hazardous waste laws if classified information would be disclosed.

The government has acknowledged the existence of the installation but has not disclosed what it does there, further fueling the UFO lore.

The state got in the act in 1996, officially naming a 98-mile stretch of state Route 375, which runs through Rachel, the Extraterrestrial Highway and erecting green highway signs with images of spaceships.