Report faults U.S. move of Cheyenne command center

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Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military began moving its Cold War command center from deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, without fully analyzing potential security threats posed by the relocation, a report said on Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, said in the report that a legally mandated Defense Department report to lawmakers failed to include key threats involved in the move and understated other security issues. The threats in question were contained in a classified version of the GAO report.

The military announced in 2007 that the command center responsible for detecting attacks against North America would be moved 12 miles to Peterson Air Force Base from the famous mountain installation built beneath 2,000 feet (600 meters) of granite to withstand a nuclear war.

Military officials said the relocation, which began earlier this year, would better consolidate defense operations and allow commanders to respond more swiftly to crises or attacks. While the move is still under way, GAO said operations began at the new combined command center on May 29.

The center is jointly operated by North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and U.S. Northern Command, which share responsibility for the defense of North America.
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The Pentagon initially told the GAO in comments dated June 3 that it did not concur with a report recommendation calling for a full-spectrum reevaluation of security vulnerabilities associated with the relocation.

But the Defense Department reversed itself less than a month later and said the security review was being undertaken, according to GAO. Continued...

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1850222020080918

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I didn't know they were moving this thing... that's a major installation.

[Hestia]

1. so, what? they can't take us down economically, they do it defensively?

I thought they had changed their minds about this, wasn't this a Rumsfeld decision? you know, you really can't make this crap up, can you? Not that I am for spending every last dime defensively, but jeez, dismantle what does? I don't buy this co-command crap.

[clixtox]

2. Move the planned nuclear waste depository to there from Yucca Mt. Nevada!

Cheyenne Mt. has been vetted as being secure, dry and seismically safe. Just the opposite of Yucca Mountain which was only picked because of Nevada's political weakness twenty years ago. Geologically Yucca Mountain would be a disaster waiting to happen during the thousands of years of proposed use.

[PsN2Wind]

3. Getting the place ready for Cheney

to move in next year.

[Ian David]

4. They needed to make more room for Stargate Command. n/t