NORAD celebrates its 60th — a look inside "America's Fortress"

Colorado Springs Independent ^ | 10 May, 2018 | Matthew Schniper

[MtnClimber]

NORAD celebrates its 60th this year, and all military parties involved at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station allowed the media "behind the blast doors" for a rare, limited tour on Thursday, May 10.

When I say all parties involved, I mean it quickly gets confusing to say who's toiling inside the mountain, between the U.S. forces on site, Canadian allies, and other unnamed groups (for security reasons). The 721st Mission Support Group is technically who hosted us at the alternate strategic command center; remember that in 2008 Peterson Air Force Base took on the primary command center, as it offers much more space for some 1,200 or so daily workers.

Still, the legacy and lore of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex is what continues to captivate people, many of whom are fond of the facility's role in the 1983 film WarGames.

NORAD and USNORTHCOM stand as the sole binational command center in the world (NORAD being composed of both U.S. and Canadian staff; USNORTHCOM being just U.S. military).

"It's the most secure facility in the world, we like to say," says Steve Rose, 721st Mission Support Group Deputy Director, our tour guide.

[minnesota_bound]

FTA: the buildings are encased in navy-grade steel — “the gold standard for EMP (electromagnetic pulse) criteria.”

So how is the cell phone coverage there?.....

[Alas Babylon!]

I left in October, 1979 and sadly, have never been back.

So, no cell phones then.

I DID have a kickass CB radio with a nice 200 watt amp.

I would sit in the parking lot at the NCMC and easily talk to people as far East as Kansas. When the skip was in, hundreds of miles more. One night, we wound up talking to some Lot Lizards in Ohio (Cincinnati?).

[minnesota_bound]

#22 So you were a spy in the midst of NORAD? : )

[Future Snake Eater]

My boss used to work at NORAD. He said one day he noticed a room marked “Alien Autopsy Room”—it was a janitor’s closet.

[MtnClimber]

That is a good one!