The Stargate Program is a fictional special access program that plays a key role in the Stargate franchise: it surrounds the operations of the Stargate on Earth. The core of the Stargate Program is Stargate Command (SGC), based at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station near Colorado Springs, Colorado. During the run of Stargate SG-1, the NID is most critical of the Stargate Program, while the program is extended through the establishment of the Office of Homeworld Security/Homeworld Command and the International Oversight Advisory (IOA). The Atlantis Project as seen in Stargate Atlantis is part of the Stargate Program but works independently during season 1 of the show.
Despite alien attacks such as in "Lost City" and "Ex Deus Machina", all attempts are made throughout the series to keep the existence of the Stargate Program secret, assuming there would be mass panic if the public found out. Several alternate-universe episodes address the public reaction to the revelation of the Stargate Program. Nevertheless, some conspiracy theorists in the series assume extraterrestrial activity at the highest levels of the military. A very few select civilians such as Pete Shanahan and Jeannie Miller are also aware of the existence of the Program.
Following a backstory spanning millions of years, the modern history of Earth's Stargate Program begins when the Stargate is unearthed in Egypt in 1928. The device is eventually brought to the United States in 1939 to keep it out of Nazi hands and eventually installed in a facility in Creek Mountain, Colorado (Cheyenne Mountain in Stargate SG-1). In the events of the Stargate film, Dr. Daniel Jackson deciphers the workings of the Stargate as part of Project Giza run by Catherine Langford and under the oversight of General West, USAF. A team is sent through to the planet on the other side, where they encounter and defeat the malevolent Ra, freeing his slaves. Under the belief that there was only one possible destination through the Stargate, no further missions are planned through the Stargate and the program shut down.