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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...

The Pentagon has announced that it is spending approximately $700million to refurbish the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and make it less vulnerable to a massive electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. This comes just weeks after it was announce announced that the complex, former home of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), will once again be home to the most advanced tracking and communications equipment in the U.S. military. An EMP attack consists of a deliberate burst of energy that could disrupt the electrical grid across the United States and block NORAD from defending the nation, events which the organization is looking for...

The US military command that scans North America's skies for enemy missiles and aircraft plans to move its communications gear to a Cold War-era mountain bunker, officers said. The shift to the Cheyenne Mountain base in Colorado is designed to safeguard the command's sensitive sensors and servers from a potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, military officers said. The Pentagon last week announced a $700 million contract with Raytheon Corporation to oversee the work for North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command. Admiral William Gortney, head of NORAD and Northern Command, said that "because of the very nature of...

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, Colo. (Reuters) - The U.S. military will move its secure command center from deep inside Cheyenne Mountain even as Russia revives military maneuvers that led America to burrow under the rock almost 50 years ago.

Anyone over the age of twenty has scratched their heads regarding some actions taken by the United States government during their lifetime. A recent report published in the Denver Post, ["Military to put Cheyenne Mountain on standby" dated 07.27.06 http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4103478] is another one of those times. The U.S. military has decided, for lack of better words, to decommission NORAD's (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Cheyenne Mountain facility. The site was part of a global wide early warning system which had the potential to track inbound nuclear threats to the North American continent during the Cold War. Construction of the Cheyenne...

NORAD to turn out lights on Cold War headquarters By PETER ROPER THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN Perhaps it was inevitable, once the Berlin Wall was torn down, that Pentagon officials would start thinking about closing the big blast doors at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station one last time and hanging out the “Closed until further notice” sign. In a startling announcement, that process got under way Friday when Navy Adm. Tim Keating, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, announced that NORAD would be moving out of the legendary headquarters that is burrowed deeply inside Cheyenne Mountain - a granite...

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...

An Air Force installation in Colorado Springs and one near Denver are operating with heightened security. The Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, which houses NORAD, is now at "Bravo-Plus". There are five levels of alert: normal, Alpha (low), Bravo (medium), Charlie (high) and Delta (critical). “Bravo-Plus” is slightly higher than a medium threat level. Space Command would not comment on the reason for the security increase. The order also affects Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Patrick air force base in Florida.

The Denver Post reports that the U.S. Defense Department is studying whether to close the real-world facility where Stargate SG-1 is set, because N.O.R.A.D.'s Cheyenne Mountain command post may duplicate the efforts of the newer centers. The war on terror is reshaping the military's response and the facilities necessary. N.O.R.A.D. (North American Aerospace Defense Command), the U.S.-Canadian partnership that runs it, has a diminished role because of the new facility in downtown Colorado Springs called the U.S. Northern Command, set up in 2002. Creating even more duplication of effort is Canada's own Canada Command. While the two groups work together,...

NORAD Tracks Santa for 50th Christmas Eve COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Radars, satellites, cameras and jet fighters that are normally dedicated to detecting any threats against the United States and Canada instead were tracking the Christmas Eve travels of Santa Claus. In the 50th anniversary of the tradition, soldiers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said by about 10 a.m. EST, Santa had been spotted near Fiji, Japan, traveling about 100 times faster than the 185-mph Bullet Train. By 11 a.m., NORAD said Santa was in the Himalayas. Link: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRACKING_SANTA?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

When Christmas Eve comes, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), will track Santa Claus during his annual flight. NORAD is responsible for handling the air defense of the North America continent. But it has also been tracking Santa's movements on Christmas Eve for the past 50 years.

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Dec. 22, 2005 - The North American Aerospace Defense Command is observing its 50th anniversary of tracking Santa Claus on his annual rounds, NORAD officials said here. The tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955, when a local Sears, Roebuck and Co. store ran a newspaper ad urging children to make a phone call on Christmas Eve and talk to Santa Claus. As fate would have it, the phone number was misprinted and, instead of reaching Santa, youngsters found themselves talking with Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command at Cheyenne...

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Dec. 22, 2005 – The North American Aerospace Defense Command is observing its 50th anniversary of tracking Santa Claus on his annual rounds, NORAD officials said here. The tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955, when a local Sears, Roebuck and Co. store ran a newspaper ad urging children to make a phone call on Christmas Eve and talk to Santa Claus. As fate would have it, the phone number was misprinted and, instead of reaching Santa, youngsters found themselves talking with Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command at Cheyenne...