A restricted military area or military out-of-bounds area is an area under military jurisdiction where special security measures are used to prevent unauthorized entry."restricted area". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
Legal restrictions Restricted military areas are associated with strict legal restrictions. In Australia, military bases cannot be sketched, drawn, photographed and people who do so are subject to 6 months imprisonment. Even approaching a base with equipment capable of doing those things is forbidden. In the United States, trespass of a military base without permission is punishable by six months imprisonment.
Restricted military areas have been relied upon as a legal justification for the eviction of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
In popular culture Restrictions against access to military bases has been a source of pop-culture myths, as in the case of Area 51 in the United States. Classified activities on such bases and the secrecy surrounding those activities have captured public imagination. One such example is the Roswell incident, where debris from a classified military balloon became a UFO myth.: Olmsted writes "When one of these balloons smashed into the sands of the New Mexico ranch, the military decided to hide the project's real purpose." In 1994 and 1997, official government reports (Weaver & McAndrew 1995) concluded (p. 9) "... the material recovered near Roswell was consistent with a balloon device and most likely from one of the MOGUL balloons that had not been previously recovered.": "Flight 4 was launched June 4, 1947, from Alamogordo Army Air Field and tracked flying northeast toward Corona. It was within of the Brazel ranch when contact was lost."
Works of fiction have been written about prominent military bases. The Australian TV series Pine Gap is one such series; with a narrative centring on joint defence operations at the international intelligence facility Pine Gap, south-west of Alice Springs, Australia.
List of notable restricted military areas
The following is a list of notable restricted military areas: +NameCountryRestricted sinceNoteImageArea 51United States1955Acquired initially in 1955 by the USAF and CIA for the purpose of flight testing Lockheed U-2 aircraftBrdyCzech Republic1925Range of hills, mostly covered by forestPenhale SandsUnited Kingdom1939The restricted military area, Penhale Camp, is found on the northern part of the dunesPine GapAustralia1970Partly run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), US National Security Agency (NSA), and US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and is a key contributor to the NSA's global interception/surveillance effort, which included the ECHELON program Central Australia was chosen because it was too remote for spy ships passing in international waters to intercept its signalsWoomera Prohibited AreaAustralia1947Initially used as the site of Britain's rocket testing program. Nuclear tests were carried out for Britain also seven times between 1956 and 1963. Aboriginal Australians were forcibly relocated from the site In modern times it is used by the UK, USA, and Australia for testing
See also
Military exclusion zone
References
Further reading