FWD from Wilfred at Cryogen.com: NSA abandons wondrous stuff

James B. DiGriz jbdigriz at dragonsweb.org
Fri Jan 5 20:03:28 PST 2001


On Fri, 5 Jan 2001 mailbot at sunspot.net wrote:

> Wilfred forwarded this story to you from www.sunspot.net,
> Maryland's Online Community.
> 
>  To view this story on the web go to
> http://www.sunspot.net/content/cover/story?section=cover&pagename=story&storyid=1150520223288
> 
> It was sent with the following comments:
>      "-- I'd love to have this place
>      as a playpen :)
>      
>      -Wilfred
>      Wilfred at Cryogen.com"
>      
> 


No shit. Glad it was rescued from the bulldozers and put to good use
again. 

This has to be the old satellite uplink site and tracking center in
Rosman. It was the major, if not the only, such site on the East Coast for
some time, if I recall. There were intelligence functions even
then, too. We were told the same thing about the dome; among other
things, it was to prevent prying eyes from discerning what the antenna was 
looking at. 

I'm at a loss, though, to figure the need for a level of secrecy
that would preclude acknowledgement that there was an antenna inside, when
everybody knew it anyway. Especially any spies. What, everybody just
forgot all of a sudden? I'm sure the NSA was a lot more restrictive
than NASA, but this is ridiculous. This sounds to me like journalistic
hyperbole, or maybe just a gool 'ol boy having fun at the expense of a 
reporter.     

I took one of those school tours in '69 or '70. I remember them showing
us live network video feeds from Europe and such. No doubt the NSA added
some stuff, but contrary to the breathless implications in the article, at
least from what I remember, almost all that stuff was there back then. The 
tunnels, guardhouses, dishes, the dome, the redundant diesel generator sets, 
fuel bunkers, etc. I can't remember if the carpet was welded down back then,
but that was the level of detail this place was built too.  

It was designed from the start to be self-sufficient and remain
operational in pretty much any emergency short of a direct nuclear
strike. At the time, it was a vulnerable linchpin in the global telecom 
infrastructure, and given the times, no expense was spared or contingency 
unplanned for. 

I highly recommend anyone go see it if they get the chance. I also welcome any 
corrections or additions to 30-year old schoolboy memories. 

jbdigriz 





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