This has been going on for quite some time. One thing the author misses is that the upgrades to the infastructure of Cheynene Mountain would have been staggering. The NORTHCOM project is not only an upgrade, but merges several agencies into one HQ. It is really quite Kewl and is working out great (so far).
Colorado Springs - The military is relegating its newly renovated airspace and missile defense complex in Cheyenne Mountain to standby status - clouding the future of a Cold War nerve center touted as the most secure spot in America.
The green-jumpsuited sentries who electronically scan the skies from deep inside this granite cocoon southwest of Colorado Springs - built in the 1960s to withstand Soviet nuclear blasts - now are to blend into broader homeland defense operations under prairie skies at nearby Peterson Air Force Base.
"I can't be in two places at one time," said Adm. Tim Keating, commander of both U.S. Northern Command, set up in 2002 to fight terrorism, and North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. Both NORAD and Northcom have their headquarters at Peterson.
U.S. strategists created the mountain complex to prevent nuclear missile and bomber attacks. But today the government's best intelligence "leads us to believe a missile attack from China or Russia is very unlikely," Keating said in an interview this week. The emergence of varied terrorist threats such as suicide bombers "is what recommends to us that we don't need to maintain Cheyenne Mountain in a 24/7 status. We can put it on 'warm standby,"' Keating said.
|