Editing Project on Government Oversight (section)

=== Area 51 hazardous waste investigation ===
POGO reported that in 1995 it was contacted by a woman who claimed her husband had died as the result of being exposed to toxic waste while working at [[Area 51]]. At the time, the U.S. government denied the existence of the Area 51, but POGO turned to [[George Washington University]] law professor [[Jonathan Turley]] to sue the government on behalf of the woman and six former Area 51 workers for illnesses and death as a result of toxic waste exposure at Area 51.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pogo.org/blog/2013/08/government-confirms-area-51-but-answers-still-secret.html|title=Government Confirms Area 51, But Answers Still Secret|last=Amey|first=Scott|date=2013-08-19|website=Project on Government Oversight|language=en|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pogoarchives.org/m/gp/a/Brian%20Declaration.pdf|title=Declaration of Danielle Brian in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment and Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss|date=2004-09-03|publisher=United States District Court for the District of Columbia|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref> POGO executive director Danielle Brian said that, during the litigation, the organization obtained an unclassified Area 51 security manual, which POGO gave to Turley and the plaintiffs so they could prove Area 51 existed. The [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] then retroactively classified the manual, "threatened to prosecute anyone who had it in their possession, and demanded access to all of POGO's files to determine what other 'classified' information POGO possessed," Brian wrote in a signed legal declaration.<ref name=":3" /> The court ruled that the plaintiffs' case could not be proved because it could not confirm the existence of Area 51, however Area 51 was thereafter required to comply with environmental laws.<ref name=":2" /> In 2013, the government confirmed that Area 51 exists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://wtop.com/news/2013/08/us-releases-records-confirming-existence-of-area-51/|title=U.S. releases records confirming existence of Area 51|date=2013-08-15|work=WTOP|access-date=2017-09-09|language=en-US}}</ref>