Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require copy-editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. (September 2008) |
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2007) |
| Mount Weather | |
|---|---|
| Route 601, near Bluemont, Virginia | |
 Mount Weather, with the Shenandoah Valley in the background |
|
| Type | FEMA command center, permanent Executive Branch substitute |
| Built | 1959 |
| In use | 1959 – present |
The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a civilian command facility used as the center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also known as the "High Point Special Facility" (HPSF), its preferred designation since 1991 is "SF".[1]
The facility is a major relocation site for the highest level of civilian and military officials in case of national disaster, playing a major role in U.S. continuity of government (per the Continuity of Operations Plan).[2] The Washington Post has stated, "For decades . . . [it has] served as the main relocation site for the White House, the Supreme Court and much of the executive branch."[3]
Mount Weather is the location of a control station for the FEMA National Radio System (FNARS), a high frequency radio system connecting most federal public safety agencies and U.S. military with most of the states.[4] FNARS allows the president to access the Emergency Alert System.[5]
The site was brought into the public eye by The Washington Post, when the government facility was mentioned while reporting on the December 1, 1974 crash into Mount Weather of TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727 jetliner.[6]
Contents |
[edit] Location and Geography
Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains,[2] access to the operations center is available via Virginia Route 601 (also called Blueridge Mountain Road) in Bluemont, Virginia.[7] The facility is located near Berryville, Virginia, 48 air miles from Washington, D.C.[3] The underground facility within Mount Weather, designated "Area B", was completed in 1959. FEMA established training facilities on the mountain's surface ("Area A") in 1979.[8]
The above-ground portion of the FEMA complex (Area A) is at least 434 acres (1.76 km2). This measurement includes a training area of unspecified size.[8] Area B, the underground component, contains 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2).[3]
[edit] Evacuations
- Following the September 11 attacks, most of the congressional leadership was evacuated to Mount Weather by helicopter.[3]
- Between 1979 and 1981, the National Gallery of Art developed a program to transport valuable paintings in its collection to Mount Weather via helicopter. The success of gallery's art relocation depends upon how much warning they have before an attack.[9]
[edit] In the media
- Both Mount Weather and The Greenbrier were featured in the A&E documentary Bunkers. The documentary, first broadcast on October 23, 2001, features extensive interviews with engineers and political and intelligence analysts, providing rare insights into the secret installations. The documentary compared The Greenbrier and Mount Weather to Saddam Hussein's control bunker buried beneath Baghdad, Iraq. The documentary features interior video of The Greenbrier as well as the Baghdad bunker, which survived direct hits from seven Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs during the Battle of Baghdad in 2003.
- The novel Seven Days in May mentions a shadowy facility called Mount Thunder, a reference to Mount Weather.[10]
- A facility similar to Mount Weather is featured in the beginning of the 2002 film The Sum of All Fears, based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name. The fictional U.S. president is taken to the facility located inside Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland during a rehearsal of emergency operation plans following a Russian nuclear attack.
- Author Milton William Cooper described what he considered the authoritarian, secretive, and unconstitutional aspects of Mount Weather in his 1991 book Behold a Pale Horse.
- Author William Poundstone investigated Mount Weather in his 1989 book Bigger Secrets.
- Mount Weather was mentioned as the emergency facility in the case of a Soviet nuclear attack from Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 2000 film Thirteen Days.
- In the final episode of The X-Files, entitled "The Truth", ex-FBI agent Fox Mulder enters the Mount Weather complex, which is controlled by a shadow government.
- In the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu's robot is taken to Mount Weather for analysis.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Gup, Ted (December, 9, 1991), "Civil Defense Doomsday Hideaway", Time: 26–30, http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,974428,00.html
- ^ a b "Fire Departments" (PDF), The Lay of the land: the Center for Land Use Interpretation Newsletter (Culver City, CA: The Center for Land Use Interpretation): 6–7, Spring 2002, http://www.clui.org/clui_4_1/lotl/v23/CLUI_LOTL_spring2002.pdf, retrieved on 2008-04-03
- ^ a b c d Schwartz, Stephen I. (August 9, 2006), "Near Washington, Preparing for the Worst", The Washington Post: A16
- ^ "Opportunities With OES ACS Program". OES Auxiliary Communications Service Homepage. Governor's (California, USA) Office of Emergency Services. http://acs.oes.ca.gov/Pages/acs_opportunities.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
- ^ Merlin, Ross Z. (2004). "Communications Systems for Public Health Contingencies" (pdf). DHS/FEMA Wireless Program Management Team. http://www.cdc.gov/phin/conference/04conference/05-27-04/Session_12D_Ross_Merlin.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
- ^ Mount Weather / High Point Special Facility (SF) / Western Virginia Office
- ^ Bedard, Paul (December 4, 2001), "Things That Go Bump In The Night At Cheney's Cave", White House Weekly: 1
- ^ a b McGrath, Gareth (January 30, 2002), "Training Site Bunker Used After Sept. 11 Terror Attacks", Morning Star (Wilmington, NC): 1B6B
- ^ Gup, Ted (October, 10, 1992), "Grab That Leonardo!", Time, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976197,00.html, retrieved on 2008-04-03
- ^ Vanderbilt, Tom; article appeared in the Comments and Features section of the printed newspaper on page 12 (2006-08-28). "Is This Bush's Secret Bunker?". The Guardian (© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008): pp. 12. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/aug/28/usa.features11. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
[edit] References
- Emerson, Steven, "America's Doomsday Project," US News and World Report, 7 August 1989, pages 26-31.
- Gup, Ted, "Doomsday Hideaway," Time, 9 December 1991, pages 26-29.
- Gup, Ted, "The Doomsday Blueprints," Time, 10 August 1992, pages 32-39.
