Area 51 is classifying all information about Area 51 in order to protect themselves from a lawsuit." Citing the State Secrets Privilege, the government petitioned trial judge U.S. District Judge Philip Pro (of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada in Las Vegas) to disallow disclosure of classified documents or examination of secret witnesses, alleging this would expose classified information and threaten national security. When Judge Pro rejected the government's argument, President Bill Clinton issued a Presidential Determination, exempting what it called, "The Air Force's Operating Location Near Groom Lake, Nevada" from environmental disclosure laws. Consequently, Pro dismissed the
Area 51 aerospace magazine "The Space Review" titled "Astronauts and Area 51: the Skylab Incident". The article was based on a memo written in 1974 to CIA director William Colby by an unknown CIA official. The memo reported that astronauts on board Skylab 4 had, as part of a larger program, inadvertently photographed a location of which the memo said: Although the name of the location was obscured, the context led Day to believe that the subject was Groom Lake. As Day noted: The memo details debate between federal agencies regarding whether the images should be classified, with Department of Defense agencies