Around-the-clock crews monitor U.S. skies from the command center of the Northern Command located deep within Cheyenne Mountain at the foot of the Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2002

'And so, there's a lot of movement to put capability into Cheyenne Mountain and to be able to communicate in there,' Gortney told reporters.
'My primary concern was... are we going to have the space inside the mountain for everybody who wants to move in there, and I'm not at liberty to discuss who's moving in there,' he said.

The Cheyenne mountain bunker is a half-acre cavern carved into a mountain in the 1960s that was designed to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack. From inside the massive complex, airmen were poised to send warnings that could trigger the launch of nuclear missiles.

But in 2006, officials decided to move the headquarters of NORAD and US Northern Command from Cheyenne to Petersen Air Force base in Colorado Springs. The Cheyenne bunker was designated as an alternative command center if needed.

COLD WAR RELIC? CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN COMPLEX CLOSED IN 2006

Almost 10 years ago, the military closed the secretive defense complex carved into Cheyenne Mountain that for decades monitored American skies for threats.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command operations center was moved to nearby Peterson Air Force Base, which is home to the U.S. Northern Command created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Cheyenne Mountain Complex is 2,000 feet below the granite rocks and made up of 15 three-story buildings protected from nuclear blasts and seismic movement by a system of 1,000 giant springs.

The entire complex is designed to withstand a direct hit by a 30 megaton nuclear explosion and has 25-ton blast doors surrounding the complex.
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.
In 2006, Adm. Tim Keating, who commanded both NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command, said the government's best intelligence 'led them to believe a missile attack from China or Russia was very unlikely.'







Cold War heroes: The Cheyenne mountain bunker is a half-acre cavern carved into a mountain in the 1960s that was designed to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack

That, along with the emergence of varied terrorist threats such as suicide bombers, 'was why we recommended that we don't need to maintain Cheyenne Mountain in a 24/7 status. We can put it on `warm standby,' said Keating.

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.

The complex includes banks of batteries and its own water supply. Excavation on the site began in 1961.
Canadian crews stationed at Cheyenne Mountain will also made the move to Peterson, Keating said.








Hollywood: Sci-fi movie Stargate (1994) was set inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex while 1983's War Games also imagine a nuclear standoff operated from inside the nuclear bunker

That move was touted a more efficient use of resources but had followed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of modernization work at Cheyenne carried out after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Now the Pentagon is looking at shifting communications gear to the Cheyenne bunker, officials said.
'A lot of the back office communications is being moved there,' said one defense official.

Officials said the military's dependence on computer networks and digital communications makes it much more vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse, which can occur naturally or result from a high-altitude nuclear explosion.

Under the 10-year contract, Raytheon is supposed to deliver 'sustainment' services to help the military perform 'accurate, timely and unambiguous warning and attack assessment of air, missile and space threats' at the Cheyenne and Petersen bases.

Raytheon's contract also involves unspecified work at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...abandoned.html