by Rigorous Intuition » Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:40 pm
In the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>before</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> time, I would have taken this as a positive sign. Now, it just puts another knot in my stomach.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Report: Military Closing Mountain Complex</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>The Associated Press<br>Friday, July 28, 2006; 4:49 AM<br><br>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The military is virtually closing the secretive defense complex carved into Cheyenne Mountain that for decades has monitored North American skies for threats, a newspaper reported.<br><br>The Denver Post reported late Thursday that the North American Aerospace Defense Command operations center will be moved to nearby Peterson Air Force Base, which is home to the U.S. Northern Command created after the Sept. 11 attacks.<br><br>NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian command, was set up in the 1960s to monitor the skies for threats like missiles, aircraft and space objects.<br><br>Adm. Tim Keating, who commands both NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command, said the government's best intelligence "leads us to believe a missile attack from China or Russia is very unlikely."<br><br>That, along with 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 told the newspaper.<br><br>Keating was scheduled to make the announcement Friday. He said 230 surveillance crew members and an undetermined number of the support staff will make the move within two years.<br><br>About 1,100 people work in the mountain, long a symbol of the Cold War. Buildings inside it are mounted on springs to absorb the shock from a nuclear blast, while the entrance is guarded by a vault-like door several feet thick.<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072800127.html">www.washingtonpost.com</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>