Four star US General David Goldfein, who serves as the Air Force Chief of Staff, has commented on the viral "Storm Area 51" event while speaking at the Air Force Association's Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Habor, Maryland. He discouraged UFO hunters from storming the base and warning that some US "secrets" had to be protected.

"We're taking it very seriously", General Goldfein said while appearing alongside Acting Air Force Secretary Matt Donovan. "Our nation has secrets, and those secrets deserve to be protected".

The chief of staff for the US Air Force also warned that the US military was preparing for the inflow of unauthorised visitors to the area in the upcoming days and that barricades were being erected to protect the Nevada base from potential intruders.

"People deserve to have our nation's secrets protected", Goldfein added, without specifying what kind of "secrets" were hidden at the highly classified facility.