Why Is NORAD Closing Colorado Mountain Facility???

[orleans]

i'm reading the times online article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2293700,00.html

snip

"The staff of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) will emerge, blinking in the sunlight, to head for a more prosaic home in an ordinary hanger at Peterson Air Force Base. "

snip

“A missile attack from China or Russia is very unlikely,” Admiral Timothy Keating, the commander of Norad, said. “The threat has changed.”

snip

"Over two years Norad’s 230 staff will move to Peterson, where the Northern Command, set up in 2002 to monitor terrorist threats, is based. "

but i don't get it. why are they closing this base, just because we face terrorist threats rather than nuclear threats -- ???? (and in the long run, what's the diff?) why not just stay there anyway? i thought we're worried about nukes in north korea & iran and etc etc. so why are we moving norad aboveground?

[HereSince1628]

1. So, why aren't they worried about North Korean missle tests?

I would have sworn they were based on all the noise that was made last month. Is Cheyenne Mtn not up to detecting, tracking, and guiding defense against Korean missles? Or is it that they aren't worried about N.K. nukes so they can do that work from anywhere?

[Subdivisions]

2. What kind of...

...homeland security bullshit is this!

Is the misadministration now sacrificing our security even more than before...to what end?

I wonder.

[unpossibles]

3. it's almost like the Bullsh administration doesn't care about America

oh right - they don't

[Benhurst]

9. Or they know the big threat from North Korea is bullshit.

[SteppingRazor]

4. For one thing, I imagine it'll be WAY cheaper to put NORAD above ground

n/t

[mhatrw]

20. How much of the expense has already been outlayed?

I'd say 98%+.

[woodsprite]

5. Hmmmm. How many terrorists can be held in Cheyenne Mountain? n/t

[Rex]

6. Because NORAD is the topic on many tongues right now.

Evidently the '911 cover story' is falling apart and Dick Cheney needs NORAD cleared out so they can fill the mountain full of cement. Don't need people snooping around for answers in generations to come. I would say they are messing with a possible crime scene, but no one cares. They got away with it at ground zero and I don't see anyone stopping them now.

Only 2 or 3 people control America, one of them ordered our Armed Forces to 'stand down' on 911. Just can't imagine why. :eyes:

[Robb]

7. It's an old joke, but it works here:

If you want to look like an innovator, every five years centralize everything that's been de-centralized, and de-centralize everything that's centralized. :)

I think we're looking at just that, only it might actually be a good idea. Spread the load around, add targets, increase survivability, etc. Not that weird if you think about it that way... plus underground bases are expensive to run.

[xultar]

8. They have to blow the top off to remove the Stargate?

[Selatius]

10. LOL n/t

[sweetheart]

11. Peer to peer communications

With older systems of command, if you behead the army, the army stops... but with
the new computer communications technologies-in-command, it is possible to switch
commanders half way around the world in an instant, or to have several command
HQ's spread out all over the place, all able to replace each other at any instant
by electronic switchover, and surely a mobile set of stations as such is more able
to outwit the threat.

[Karmakaze]

12. I would bet it is a very basic reason...

I am willing to bet the reason is that NORAD's equipment is totally outdated and someone did the numbers, found that replacing all the equipment that was built into underground bunkers would cost a whole lot more than just putting the same modern equipment in a hanger, looked at the budget shortfall because of Iraq and said screw it, if the Russians DO attack, we're fucked anyway so let's save money.

[ReadTomPaine]

13. NORTHCOM is packed with nutjobs, and Keating is freak number one.

I doubt they are closing it down, they are likely changing to mission to something they cannot allow the country to discover.

[Rex]

14. New HQ for the NSA.

I wonder if they will leave the WHOPPER?

[meisje]

15. Would you like to play a game?

[ReadTomPaine]

16. Or a replacement Greenbrier for the select GOP few... etc, etc..

The mind reels with the possibilities here. We won't find out for years if ever, I'm sure.

[Blue_Tires]

22. they might sell it for cheap surplus

i'd set that thing up in my garage and be the super KING of ALL internets!

[Jara sang]

17. There is indeed a shift in priorities.

Remember when Bush went to NORTHCOM to "monitor" Hurricane Rita after the Katrina debacle? Bush wanted to have the appearances that he was on top of things, so he went to NORTCOM and monitored the hurricane on a huge tele-screen that had no NEXRAD coverage of the storm, it merely showed a "hurricane symbol" tracking across a map of the US. Now wouldn't it have been more prudent to observe the hurricane from someplace with meteorologists, weather experts, disaster relief experts, etc.? Say tghe National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida? But no Bush being the fascist that he is chose a military posture against a hurricane. There he was among all his generals. They moved NORAD because their next perceived threat isn't an outside missile attack(NORAD's traditional mission) It's a domestic threat, civil uprising, looting(NORTHCOM and the military response to Katrina).

[Jara sang]

18. Strange Bush response at NORTHCOM

"President Bush will travel to U.S. Northern Command headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., to observe activities there. He said he would make sure not to get in the way of operations. "Rest assured, I understand that we must not and will not interfere with the important work that will be going forward," he said. NORTHCOM is responsible for the military's roles in homeland defense and civil support."

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2005/20050923_2830.html

[mhatrw]

19. My wild ass guess is that it's not closing.

They are just kicking out NORAD and giving it to some classified DOD intelligence agency.

[Rosco T.]

21. Stargate Command needed the extra room? n/m