--- title: "Air Force Colonel Gave Out Photos of Flying Saucers Near Area 51" description: "The Pentagon's UFO office has learned that military officials have repeatedly spread disinformation about phony \"alien technology.\"" date: "2025-06-08" modified: "2025-06-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/air-force-flying-saucer-area-51" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "aaro" - "Pentagon" - "uaps" - "ufos" --- # Air Force Colonel Gave Out Photos of Flying Saucers Near Area 51 ![The Pentagon's UFO office has learned that military officials have repeatedly spread disinformation about phony "alien technology."]() *Rachel, Nevada, USA - July 10, 2013: Welcome sign to Little A'Le'Inn, motel located near Area 51 on on the Extraterrestrial Highway. \Image: magnez2 / Getty Images\* The Pentagon's real-life "X-Files" office has uncovered an inconvenient truth about military officials spreading UFO disinformation to unsuspecting Americans and coworkers alike. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports,]() the Defense Department's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) uncovered an anecdote from an Air Force colonel who trolled people near Area 51 with doctored photos of flying saucers. Back in 2023, the colonel in question admitted to AARO investigators that he had, some 43 years prior, given the photos to a bartender at a local pub near the classified military base. The photos went up and the incident was added to the lengthy lore surrounding the base, but as the ranking officer revealed, the whole gambit was meant to distract from a secret weapons program being developed at the [massively-classified Air Force base](). In interviews with dozens of former and current officials, as well as contractors and scientists who have worked with the AARO, the *WSJ* learned that the Pentagon repeatedly played into conspiracy theories surrounding what the government refers to as unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs — and those campaigns weren't limited to the unsuspecting public. Perhaps the most jarring of the AARO discoveries shared with the newspaper is the suggestion that higher-ups in the Air Force would haze new commanders by telling them that they were being inducted into a secretive program called "Yankee Blue." The phony project, according to since-retired AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick, involved the reverse-engineering of alien crafts — a key tenet of some of the [more outlandish claims]() from [UFO whistleblowers]() in recent years. After being told about their "induction," the officers were warned to never speak of the program again, lest they be jailed or even executed. Multiple officers told Kirkpatrick they had never revealed what they'd been told, even to their spouses, out of fear of the retribution with which they'd been threatened. Others still didn't learn that they'd been subjected to a cruel joke until 2023, when the the DOD — which acknowledged the program's existence to the *WSJ —* banned the hazing ritual that had apparently been going on for decades. Unfortunately, these shocking revelations aren't all that surprising. As much as we want to believe the truth is out there, it's far more believable that military officials would lie to the public — and to their subordinates — about alien tech than it would be for the Pentagon to actually have such artifacts in its possession. **More on UAPs:** [*A Military Whistleblower Showed a Photo of an Allegedly Huge "Disc-Shaped" Object, But There's an Incredibly Obvious Explanation*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()