Cheyenne Mountain Complex#Improvements

The complex was built under 2,000 feet (610 metres) of granite on five acres (2 hectares).{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Lea |date=July 30, 2012 |title=721st MSG activates squadron, appoints leadership |url=http://www.peterson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/326637/721st-msg-activates-squadron-appoints-leadership |publisher=Air Force Space Command |access-date=July 3, 2016}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Fifteen three-story buildings are protected from movement, e.g., earthquake or explosion, by a system of giant springs that the buildings sit on and flexible pipe connectors to limit the operational effect of movement.{{r|Terdiman}} A total of more than 1,000 springs are designed to prevent any of the 15 buildings from shifting more than one inch.{{r|Terdiman}} The complex is the only underground Department of Defense facility certified to be able to sustain a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP).{{r|Terdiman}} There are a large quantity of cots for most of the personnel, including suites for high-ranking officers within the bunker. Amenities include a medical facility, store, cafeteria,{{r|Terdiman}} and fitness centers inside and outside the mountain.{{r|PAFBSS}}

File:NORADBlast-Doors.jpg is the main entrance to another blast door (background) beyond which the side tunnel branches into access tunnels to the main chambers.]]

The bunker is built to deflect a 30 megaton nuclear explosion as close as 1.2 miles (1.9 km).{{cite web|title=The Underground City Inside of Colorado's 9,570-foot Cheyenne Mountain|first=Spencer |last=McKee |date=April 12, 2019|url=https://www.outtherecolorado.com/features/the-underground-city-inside-of-colorado-s-9-570-foot-cheyenne-mountain/article_ce093a04-5892-50c5-8570-d4a079cb8ebf.html|website=outtherecolorado.com|access-date=February 11, 2023}} Within a mountain tunnel are sets of 25-ton blast doors and another for the civil engineering department. The doors were built so that they can always be opened when needed. Should a nuclear blast hit the building, they are designed to withstand a blast wave. A network of blast valves have unique filters that can capture airborne chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear contaminants.{{r|Terdiman}}

File:NORADNorth-Portal.jpg

Outside of the military complex are the parking lots, a fire station,{{Cite gnis |2667293|Cheyenne Mountain NORAD Air Force Station Fire Department |access-date=July 25, 2012}}{{efn|The fire station is located at {{Coord|38|44|26|N|104|50|23|W}}.{{r|GNISfire}}}} and outdoor recreational facilities. The recreational amenities include Mountain Man Park, picnic areas, a racquetball facility, softball field, sand volleyball court, basketball court, a putting green, and horseshoe area.{{cite web |url=http://www.21fss.com/about/fitness-center/cmafs/ |title=Peterson Air Force Support Squadron: CMAFS |publisher=Peterson Air Force Base |access-date=February 20, 2015}}

The complex has its own power plant, heating and cooling system, and water supply.{{r|721 CES}} The 21st Mission Support Group{{Cite web|url=http://www.peterson.af.mil/News/Article/1806992/721st-msg-inactivates-realigns-with-21st-msg/|title=721st MSG inactivates, realigns with 21st MSG|website=Peterson Air Force Base}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} ensures there is a 99.999% degree of reliability of its electricity, water, air conditioning, power, and other support systems.{{r|Terdiman}} The threats, in descending order of likelihood, that the complex may face are "medical emergencies, natural disasters, civil disorder, a conventional attack, an electromagnetic pulse attack, a cyber or information attack, chemical or biological or radiological attack, an improvised nuclear attack, a limited nuclear attack, [and] a general nuclear attack." The least likely events are the most hazardous.{{r|Terdiman}}

There is more water produced by mountain springs than the base requires, and a 1,500,000-gallon (5,700,000-litre) reservoir ensures that even in event of fire, there is enough water to meet the facility's needs. A reservoir of 4,500,000 gallons (17,000,000 litres) of water is used as a heat sink.{{r|Terdiman}} There is a "massive" reservoir for diesel fuel and a "huge" battery bank with redundant power generators.{{r|Terdiman}}

{{main|Construction of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex}}

The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) was established and activated at the Ent Air Force Base on September 12, 1957. The Command is a binational organization of Canadian (1 Canadian Air Division) and United States air defense command units, in accordance with NORAD Agreements first made on May 12, 1958.{{r|NORAD History}}{{rp|5,16}} In the late 1950s, a plan was developed to construct a command and control center in a hardened facility as a Cold War defensive strategy against long-range Soviet bombers,{{r|NORAD CMC FS}} ballistic missiles, and a nuclear attack.{{cite book |author=Hunter Keeter |title=The U.S. Homeland Security Forces |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZzsF-IrjLkC&pg=PA37 |date=July 1, 2004 |publisher=World Almanac Library |isbn=978-0-8368-5682-8 |page=37}}{{efn|The Gaither Report, for instance, called for development of ballistic missile programs, early warning systems, and other defensive strategies.{{cite book |author=Lori Lyn Bogle |title=The Cold War: National security policy planning from Truman to Reagan and from Stalin to Gorbachev |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GUgPScmtgdgC&pg=PA87 |year=2001 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-8153-3239-8 |pages=86–87}}}}

In 1957, the Strategic Air Command began construction in New England inside Bare Mountain for a hardened bunker to contain the command post for the 8th Air Force, which was located at nearby Westover Air Force Base, Chicopee, Massachusetts. This underground facility was nicknamed "The Notch" (or formally as the 8th AF "Post-Attack Command and Control System Facility, Hadley") and was hardened to protect it from the effects of a nearby nuclear blast and designed so that the senior military staff could facilitate further military operations.{{Cite web |url=http://www.westoveryesterday.com/TheNotch.html |title=WestoverYesterday.com: "The Notch and Grayson: Eighth Air Force's alternative command posts" |access-date=2017-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115201511/http://www.westoveryesterday.com/TheNotch.html |archive-date=2017-11-15 |url-status=usurped}} Four years later, construction at Cheyenne Mountain was started to create a similar protection for the NORAD command post. Cheyenne Mountain was excavated under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of the NORAD Combat Operations Center{{r|NORAD CMC FS}} beginning on May 18, 1961,{{r|NORAD History}}{{rp|18}} by Utah Construction & Mining Company.{{cite book |author=Merwin H. Howes |title=Methods and costs of constructing the underground facility of North American Air Defense Command at Cheyenne Mountain, El Paso County, Colo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qsRx9CoTOtcC |year=1966 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Mines |pages=iii, 5, 68}}

The Space Defense Center and the Combat Operations Center achieved full operational capability on February 6, 1967. The total cost was $142.4 million.{{r|NORAD History}}{{rp|20}}{{cite web |url=http://www.norad.mil/AboutNORAD/CheyenneMountainAirForceStation.aspx |title=Cheyenne Mountain Complex |publisher=NORAD |access-date=February 19, 2015}} Its systems included a command-and-control system developed by Burroughs Corporation. The electronics and communications system centralized and automated the instantaneous (one-millionth of a second) evaluation of aerospace surveillance data.{{cite news |url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/256158.pdf |title=Burroughs Corporation of Detroit to supply NORAD control system |newspaper=The Gazette |location=Colorado Springs, Colorado |date=July 28, 1961 |page=1:4 |via=Pikes Peak Public Library |access-date=February 18, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219075332/http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/256158.pdf |archive-date=February 19, 2015}} The Space Defense Center moved from Ent AFB to the complex in 1965.{{r|NORAD History}}{{rp|20}} The NORAD Combat Operations Center was fully operational April 20, 1966{{r|DelPapa}}{{rp|15}} and The Space Defense Command's 1st Aerospace Control Squadron moved to Cheyenne Mountain that month.{{Cite report |url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=13437 |title=1 Space Operations Squadron (AFSPC) |publisher=Air Force Historical Research Agency |date=September 6, 2012 |access-date=February 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913140051/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=13437 |archive-date=September 13, 2011}} The following systems or commands became operational between May and October, 1966: The NORAD Attack Warning System,{{r|NORAD History}}{{rp|20}} Combat Operations Command,{{r|DelPapa}}{{rp|19}} and Delta I computer system, which recorded and monitored every detected space system.{{r|DelPapa}}{{rp|19}} By January 4, 1967, the National Civil Defense Warning Center was in the bunker.{{r|Lewiston1967}}

System Development Corporation updated Air Defense Command satellite information processing systems for $15,850,542 on January 19, 1973.{{r|DelPapa}}{{cite news |date=January 22, 1973 |title=Hanscom group awards NORAD contract |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun/1973-01-22/page-9/ |format=NewspaperArchive scan |newspaper=The Sun (Lowell) |access-date=February 22, 2015}} The improvements were primarily to the Space Computational Center's displays and application software, which was updated to provide real-time positioning of orbiting space systems for the NORAD Combat Operation Center. The first phase, which established a system integrator and modernized the communications to a major data processing system, was completed in October 1972.{{r|Lowell}}

The Ballistic Missile Defense Center (BMDC) BW 1.2 release was installed in February 1974 in the Combat Operations Center, under the command of CONAD. The Safeguard command and control system, operated by the commander, communicated warnings, observation data, and attack assessment to the Combat Operations Center. It was also designed to release nuclear weapons.{{Cite book |chapter=Chapter 12. Ballistic Missile Defense Center |chapter-url=http://srmsc.org/pdf/004434p0.pdf |title=ABM R & D at Bell Laboratories: Project History, Part II |url=http://srmsc.org/ref1020.html#p2ch12 |access-date=August 6, 2012 |pages=1, 3}}

By 1978, five operating centers and a command post resided within the NORAD Combat Operations Center. The Space Computational Center catalogued and tracked space objects. The Intelligence Center analyzed intelligence data. Data was consolidated and displayed in the Command Post by the System Center. The Weather Support Unit monitored local and global weather patterns. The NORAD Commander's wartime staff reported to the Battle Staff Support Center.{{r|GAO1978}}{{rp|5}}

The Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC), established on October 1, 1979, consolidated United States Air Force satellite survivability, space surveillance, and US ASAT operations into one wartime space activities hub at the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex.{{cite book |author1=Maj. Michael Muolo |author2=Maj. Richard A. Hand |title=Space Handbook: A War Fighter's Guide to Space |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaZmwJUBeIsC&pg=PA39 |date=October 1, 1994 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-0-7881-1297-3 |page=39}} Space surveillance and missile warning functions were performed by the Core Processing Segment (CPS) using Worldwide Military Command and Control System's Honeywell H6080 computers at the SPADOC Computational Center (SCC) and NORAD Computer System (NCS). A third computer was operational backup for SCC or NCS. By 1981, the H6080 failed to meet the requirements for timely computations.{{cite report |date=January 19, 1981 |title=Modernization of the WWMCCS Information System (WIS) |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a095409.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224101313/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a095409.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |format=ADA095409 |publisher=United States House Committee on Armed Services |access-date=August 29, 2012}}{{rp|54}} SPADATS was deactivated about 1980, although some of its logic continued on in SPADOC systems.{{cite web |url=http://swfound.org/media/15742/computer%20systems%20and%20algorithms%20for%20space%20situational%20awareness%20-%20history%20and%20future%20development.pdf |title=Computer Systems and Algorithms for Space Situational Awareness: History and Future Development |author1=Brian C. Weeden |author2=Paul J. Cefola |work=ISCOPS 12th International Conference of Pacific-Basin Societies |publisher=Advances in the Astronautical Sciences |via=Secure World Foundation |date=December 1, 2010 |volume=138 |pages=3–4 |access-date=February 23, 2015}}

NORAD had a series of warning and assessment systems that were not fully automated in the Cheyenne Mountain complex into the 1970s. In 1979, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex Improvements Program 427M system became fully operational.{{r|CMU}}{{r|DelPapa}}{{rp|27,93}} It was a consolidated Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade program for command center, space, ballistic missile, and space functions, developed using new software technology and designed for computers with large processing capacity.{{r|CMU}}{{r|GAO1978}}{{rp|39}} There were three major segments of the 427M system: the Communication System Segment (CSS), NORAD Computer System (NCS), and Space Computational Center (SCC).{{r|Comptroller}}{{rp|Chapter 1:2}} The 425L Command and Control System, Display Information Processor, Command Center Processing System, and other hardware were replaced by the NORAD Computer System (NCS). The new system was designed to centralize several databases, improve on-line display capabilities, and consolidate mission warning information processing and transmission. It was intended to have greater reliability and quicker early warning capability.{{r|GAO1978}}{{rp|9}} The Command Center Processing System's original UNIVAC 1106, re-purposed for Mission Essential Back-up Capability (MEBU),{{r|GAO1978}}{{rp|9}} was upgraded to the more robust UNIVAC 1100/42.{{r|WWMCCS}}{{rp|55}} The 427M system, intended to modernize systems and improve performance, was initially "wholly ineffective" and resulted in several failures of the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) system.{{cite book |title=The World Wide Military Command and Control System evolution and effectiveness |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIBRdaeLeXMC&pg=PA244 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-1-4289-9086-9 |pages=244–246|year = 2000}}

In 1979 and 1980, there were a few instances when false missile warnings were generated by the Cheyenne Mountain complex systems. For instance, a computer chip "went haywire" and issued false missile warnings, which raised the possibility that a nuclear war could be started accidentally, based upon incorrect data. Staff analyzed the data and found that the warnings were erroneous, and the systems were updated to identify false alarms. Gen. James V. Hartinger of the Air Force stated that "his primary responsibility is to provide Washington with what he calls 'timely, unambiguous, reliable warning' that a raid on North America has begun." He explained that there are about 6,700 messages generated on average each hour in 1979 and 1980 and all had been processed without error.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/29/us/nuclear-missiles-warning-system-and-the-question-of-when-to-fire.html?pagewanted=1 |author=Richard Halloran |title=Nuclear Missiles: Warning System and the Question of When to Fire |date=May 29, 1983 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 22, 2015}} An off-site testing facility was established in Colorado Springs by NORAD in late 1979 or early 1980 so that system changes could be tested off-line before they were moved into production. Following another failure in 1980, a bad computer chip was updated, and staff and commander processes were improved to better respond to warnings.{{cite book |title=The World Wide Military Command and Control System evolution and effectiveness |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIBRdaeLeXMC&pg=PA244 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |isbn=978-1-4289-9086-9 |pages=249–253 |year=2000}}

The Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade (CMU) of November 1988, designed to consolidate five improvement programs, was not installed because it was not compatible with other systems at Cheyenne Mountain and it did not meet the defined specifications according to deficiencies identified during testing.{{Cite report |date=April 1991 |title=Costs to Modernize NORAD's Computer System Significantly Understated |url=http://gao.justia.com/department-of-defense/1991/4/attack-warning-imtec-91-23/IMTEC-91-23-full-report.pdf |format=Report to the Chairman,[House] Subcommittee on Defense [Appropriations] |publisher=General Accounting Office |access-date=February 22, 2015}} (also available at www.gao.gov/assets/220/211682.pdf){{rp|15}} The five improvement programs were the CCPDS Replacement (CCPDS-R), CSS Replacement (CSS-R), Granite Sentry upgrade, SCIS, and SPADOC 4.{{r|Weeden}} SPADOC 4 was for upgrading the SCC with primary and backup 3090-200J mainframes),{{r|Weeden}} and SPADOC 4 block A achieved initial operating capability (IOC) in April 1989.{{r|GAO1989}} The CSS-R "first element" achieved IOC on April 12, 1991;{{cite journal |date=June 1991 |title=New communications system operating |journal=Space Trace |publisher=Air Force Space Command |page=5}} (also on p. 5: "Air Force" Space Command's headquarters building ... received the prestigious Secretary of Defense Blue Seal Award...May 13 [designed by] Peckham, Guyton, Albers and Viets, Inc. ... ground breaking ceremony on August 28, 1985 [occupied] in November 1987. [The last such award] was the Air Force Academy Visitor Center in 1988.") and the 427M system was replaced {{circa|lk=no|1992}}. The CSSR, SCIS, Granite Sentry, CCPDS-R, and their interfaces were tested in 1997. Testing of Granite Sentry nuclear detonation (NUDET) data processing system found it to be inadequate.{{cite report |title=FY97 DOT&E Annual Report |url=http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/dote97/index.html |chapter=Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade (CMU) |chapter-url=http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/program/dote97/97cmu.html |format=webpage transcription |access-date=2012-09-09}}

The Joint Surveillance System (JSS), developed under an agreement with the Canadian government, became fully operational in seven Region Operations Control Centers (ROCCs) on December 23, 1983.{{r|DelPapa}}{{rp|49,57}} The Joint Surveillance System was implemented to replace Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE).{{r|Chronology}}

In 1986, Congress approved development of the Survivable Communications Integration System (SCIS) to communicate missile warning messages simultaneously over many forms of media, but it was subject to delays and cost overruns. By 1992, the project was estimated to be delayed to 1995 and cost projected to increase from $142 million to $234 million.{{cite report |date=July 1992 |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA298099 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413065059/http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA298099 |url-status=live |archive-date=April 13, 2015 |series=Attack Warning |title=Status of the Survivable Communications Integration System |publisher=Defense Technical Information Center |access-date=2012-11-27}}{{rp|2,9–10}}

By 1992, the U.S. Space Command Space Surveillance Center (SSC) was the data analysis and tracking center for Baker-Nunn camera images{{cite book |author=Office of Public Affairs |year=1992 |chapter=Space Control: Space Surveillance |title=Space Command |type=booklet |publisher=HQ Air Force Space Command |page=12}} and Cheyenne Mountain was connected to the AN/URC-117 Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN){{r|ADA298099}}{{Rp|16}} communication site in Pueblo, Colorado. By 1995, the AN/FPS-129 HAVE STARE (Globus II) radar in California had been upgraded to "relay data to Cheyenne Mountain",{{r|MarOct}} and by October 1995 the 1st Command and Control Squadron (1CACS) in the bunker{{where|in which facility-Space Surveillance Center?|date=January 2012}} was providing space collision avoidance data to the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center's space control center.{{cite news |last=Price |first=SSgt Elton |date=October 1995 |title=Space insurance |newspaper=Guardian |publisher=Air Force Space Command}}

In June 1993, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex Operations Center had the USSPACE and NORAD Command Center, NORAD Air Defense Operations Center (ADOC), NORAD/USSPACECOM Combined Intelligence Watch Center (CIWC), USSPACECOM Space Defense Operations Center (SPADOC), USSPACECOM Space Surveillance Center (SSC), AFSPACECOM Weather Operations Center, and the AFSPACECOM Systems Center within its facility.{{cite book |last1=Bontrager |first1=Capt. Mark D |date=August 1, 1993 |edition=Third |chapter=Chapter14: Cheyenne Mountain Complex Operations Center Overview |title=Space Operations Orientation Course Handbook |location=Peterson AFB |publisher=21st Crew Training Squadron |page=1}}

Plans to house the USSPACECOM and NORAD command centers in the same location began by July 1994.{{cite news |last=Orban |first=SSgt. Brian |date=July 1994 |title=Outstanding! |newspaper=Guardian}} A $450 million upgrade was made to the missile warning center beginning in February 1995. The effort was part of a $1.7 billion renovation program for Cheyenne Mountain.{{cite news |last=Orban |first=SSgt. Brian |date=February 1995 |title=The trip wire |newspaper=Guardian |publisher=Air Force Space Command |page=6}}

'Granite Sentry' was an improvement program for the complex.{{Cite news |date=May 4, 1993 |title=title tbd |url=http://business.highbeam.com/408155/article-1G1-13712576/cta-inc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129030442/http://business.highbeam.com/408155/article-1G1-13712576/cta-inc |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |journal=Defense Daily |accessdate=2012-09-18 |quote=CTA, Inc., Rockville, Md., $19 million (Estimated) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for a maximum of 416,000 direct labor hours in support of the Granite Sentry Program, which will provide various software, hardware, and facility improvements to the NORAD Command Center, Air Defense Operations Center, the Battle Staff Support Center, and other agencies located at Cheyenne Mountain AFB, Colo.}} It aimed "to provide a Message Processing Subsystem and a Video Distribution Subsystem, and [to upgrade] the NORAD Computer System display capability and four major centers: (1) the Air Defense Operations Center, (2) the NORAD Command Center, (3) the Battle Staff Support Center, and (4) the Weather Support Unit."{{r|CMU}} It was also to process and display "nuclear detection data provided from the Integrated Correlation and Display System."{{r|CMU}} For $230 million the program was also to "replace display screens of the Attack Warning and Attack Assessment System." It was delayed from 1993 to 1996.

Granite Sentry and other Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade interfaces were tested in 1997, and Granite Sentry's processing regarding "simulated [nuclear] detonation messages…injected into the Defense Support Program Data Distribution Center [was] not adequate...".

The Combatant Commander's Integrated Command and Control System (CCIC2S) program began in 2000 with a Lockheed Martin{{cite web |url=http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Space_Command01.html |title=Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC) |format=TheLivingMoon.com mirror webpage of former "Official Site" |access-date=2012-08-09}} contract "to upgrade all of the mission systems within Cheyenne Mountain, which included the space surveillance systems" for delivery in 2006.{{r|Weeden}}{{Rp|11}} The portion of CCIC2S modernizing "attack warning systems within Cheyenne Mountain [was to] cost more than $700 million from fiscal years 2000 to 2006",{{cite report |title=Defense Acquisitions: Further Management and Oversight Changes Needed for Efforts to Modernize Cheyenne Mountain Attack Warning Systems (GAO-06-666) |publisher=GAO |date=July 6, 2006}} [cited by [http://www.gao.gov/assets/100/94893.pdf GAO-07-803R p. 1, ref 4] af and the delayed CCIC2S upgrades for space surveillance were superseded{{when|date=January 2013}} by systems for the Joint Space Operations Center's Space C2 program and Integrated Space Situational Awareness program.{{r|Weeden}}{{Rp|11}}

By 2003, consoles for the Ground-Based Mid-Course Defense (GMD) had been contracted for Cheyenne Mountain,{{cite web |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a416646.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224110049/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a416646.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |title=Near Term Command and Control of Homeland Air and Missile Defense |publisher=Dtic.mil |access-date=2012-11-27}} and the planned 18 month Cheyenne Mountain Realignment to move Command Center operations to Peterson AFB{{cite report |date=January 28, 2008 |title=Homeland Security: Roles and Missions for United States Northern Command |url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl34342.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010150433/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl34342.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 10, 2011 |format=CRS Report for Congress: Order Code RL34342 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |access-date=2012-07-22}} was complete by May 13, 2008.{{cite magazine |last=Harrell |first=Eben |date=June 27, 2008 |title=Still Training for the End of the World |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1826276,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080729100659/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1826276,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 29, 2008 |magazine=Time |access-date=2012-07-28}} On August 3, 2011, a ribbon cutting was held for the January 2010 – June 30, 2011, Missile Warning Center renovation funded by USSTRATCOM.{{cite web |url=http://csmng.com/2011/08/17/cheyenne-mountain-unveils-renovated-missile-warning-center/ |title=Cheyenne Mountain unveils renovated Missile Warning Center |publisher=Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group (CSMNG) |access-date=2012-10-02 |date=2011-08-17 |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224100027/http://csmng.com/2011/08/17/cheyenne-mountain-unveils-renovated-missile-warning-center/ |url-status=dead }}

Over the years, the installation came to house elements of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Air Force Space Command and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). Under what became known as the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center (CMOC), several centers supported the NORAD missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control and provided warning of ballistic missile or air attacks against North America.{{r|NORAD CMC FS}}

On July 28, 2006, the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate{{efn|The Cheyenne Mountain Directorate was previously called the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center.{{r|GAO}}}} was re-designated as the Cheyenne Mountain Division, with the mission to assist in establishing an integrated NORAD and USNORTHCOM Command Center within the headquarters building at Peterson Air Force Base.{{r|NORAD CMC FS}} The Unified Space Vault and the Space Control Center were moved from Cheyenne Mountain to the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base about October 2007.{{r|GAO2007}}{{Rp|8}}

In 2006, NORAD relocated to a basement{{cite web |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/05/a-dangerous-move/?page=all |title=Dangerous move for NORAD? |work=The Washington Times |access-date=December 9, 2014}} in the Peterson No. 2 building at the nearby Peterson AFB. Northern Command and Space Command and Canadian military defense partners relocated at Peterson.{{cite web |url=http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4103478 |title=Military to put Cheyenne Mountain on standby |publisher=Denverpost.com |access-date=December 9, 2014|date=2006-07-27}} The Cheyenne Mountain complex is maintained by a skeleton crew and no longer operates on a 24/7 basis. The complex is on "warm standby", meaning it is only staffed when required.{{cite web |url=http://science.howstuffworks.com/norad2.htm |title=Cheyenne Mountain – HowStuffWorks |work=HowStuffWorks |access-date=December 9, 2014 |date=2007-08-28}}

On the fiftieth anniversary of the NORAD agreement—May 12, 2008—the Command Center located within Cheyenne Mountain Complex was officially re-designated as the NORAD and USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center. The Cheyenne Mountain Division of NORAD and USNORTHCOM was re-designated as the J36 branch within the NORAD and USNORTHCOM's Operations Directorates.{{r|NORAD CMC FS}}

Since 2002, the complex has been classed as Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and has been used in crew qualification training, while the former command function has been redesignated as the "NORAD and USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center" since 2008 after all the original functions of the complex were removed to Peterson Air Force Base.{{cite web |url=http://www.norad.mil/AboutNORAD/CheyenneMountainAirForceStation.aspx |title=North American Aerospace Defense Command |publisher=Norad.mil |access-date=December 9, 2014}} The complex is maintained by the 21st Mission Support Group which provides support and maintenance for the 'NORAD/USNORTHCOM's training, exercise and alternate command center functions, U.S. Strategic Command's Missile Warning Center, Detachment 2 of the 17th Test Squadron, Air Force Technical Applications Center's research laboratory, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Western Continental United States Regional Service Center'.{{cite web |url=http://www.mybaseguide.com/air_force/66-200/peterson_afb_21st_space_wing |title=PETERSON AFB |publisher=Mybaseguide.com |access-date=December 9, 2014}}

Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station is owned and operated by Air Force Space Command. NORAD and USNORTHCOM now use just under 30% of the floor space within the complex and comprise approximately 5% of the daily population at Cheyenne Mountain.{{r|NORAD CMC FS}} The Cheyenne Mountain Complex serves as NORAD and USNORTHCOM's Alternate Command Center and as a training site for crew qualification. Day-to-day crew operations for NORAD and USNORTHCOM typically take place at Peterson Air Force Base.{{r|NORAD CMC FS}}

In early 2015, Admiral William E. Gortney, commander of NORAD and NORTHCOM, announced a $700 million contract with Raytheon to move systems into the complex to shield it from electromagnetic pulse attack, with additional work to be done at Vandenberg and Offutt. According to Gortney, "because of the very nature of the way that Cheyenne Mountain's built, it's EMP-hardened. And so, there's a lot of movement to put capability into Cheyenne Mountain and to be able to communicate in there".{{cite news |author= |agency=AFP |date=April 7, 2015 |title=US aerospace command moving comms gear back to Cold War bunker |url=https://news.yahoo.com/us-aerospace-command-moving-comms-gear-back-cold-015320113.html |newspaper=Yahoo News |access-date=April 9, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/americas/2015/04/08/norad-moving-comms-gear-back-to-mountain-bunker/25470435/ |title=NORAD Moving Comms Gear Back To Mountain Bunker |publisher=Sightline Media Group |date=April 8, 2015 |access-date=January 8, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/04/pentagon-moves-more-communications-gear-cheyenne-mountain/109549/ |title=NORAD Moving Comms Gear Back To Mountain Bunker |publisher=National Journal Group, Inc |date=April 7, 2015 |access-date=January 8, 2016 |author=Weisgerber, Marcus}}

Electronic Systems Division Detachment 10 at Ent AFB became the Cheyenne Mountain Complex Management Office (CMCMO) in 1963,{{r|DelPapa}} the year the Chidlaw Combined Operations Center began operations; and on February 15, 1980, ESD Detachment 2 was established{{r|DelPapa}} at the "Cheyenne Mountain Complex" (Det 2 became the AFSC focal point during the Cheyenne Mountain Upgrade.){{r|GAO1989}} Aerospace Defense Command organizations in the bunker became a specified command when the major command ended in 1980; e.g., the J31 unit of HQ NORAD/ADCOM subsequently staffed the Space Surveillance Center in the same room as the Missile Warning Center (separated by partitions).{{r|Chronology}} The "HQ Cheyenne Mountain Support Group ... was activated at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex" in October 1981{{r|Chronology}} to support the Aerospace Defense Center's operation of the NORAD combat operations center".{{cite report |last=Lepingwell |first=John W. R. |date=June 1986 |title=Soviet Assessments of North American Air Defense |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a223378.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224095058/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a223378.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |format=Research Report No. 86-2 p |location=MIT Center for International Studies |publisher=Soviet Security Studies Working Group |access-date=2012-07-31}} In 1983 the Foreign Technology Division had an operating location at the bunker{{cite report |last=Fennessy |first=D |date=January 12, 1983 |title=Analysis of Cosmos 1220 and Cosmos 1306 Fragments (Secret) – Report AH-23 |publisher=FTD/OLAI |location=Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado}} and in 1992, an airman of the "1010th Civil Engineering Squadron at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base" developed a 3-D AutoCAD model of the bunker "to zoom in on a specific room".{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=SSgt Jesse |date=April 1991 |title=Mapping the mountain |newspaper=Space Trace: The Air Force Space Command Magazine ... funded Air Force newspaper |page=12 |quote=at Cheyenne Mountain AFB...Amn. Steven H. Leser ... is currently working a "pet project" that offers engineers a three-dimensional drawing of Cheyenne Mountain's interior.}}
{{cite journal |date=March 1992 |title=CES airmen is first termer of year |journal=Space Trace |page=13}} (additional article in March 1992 p. 13 identifies the "47th Communications Group, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base")

By 1995 a "missile operations section" supported the missile warning center,{{r|Orban1995}} and in 2001 the 1989 1CACS at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station was renamed the 1st Space Control Squadron.{{cite web |title=1 Space Control Squadron (AFSPC) |url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=9711&page=1 |format=USAF Fact Sheet |publisher=AFHRA.af.mil |access-date=2012-09-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219162618/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=9711&page=1 |archive-date=2014-12-19}} On June 24, 1994, when the "Joint Task Force – Cheyenne Mountain Operations organization was brought online to take responsibility for the installation", Brig. Gen. Donald Peterson was the commander of the JTF,{{cite news |date=July 1994 |title=Joint Task Force activates |newspaper=Guardian |page=12}} which was renamed the "U.S. Space Command Cheyenne Mountain operations center" by March 1995. {{cite news |author=Rick W. Sturdevant|title=From Satellite Tracking to Space Situational Awareness: The USAF and Space Surveillance, 1957-2007|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26275054.pdf|journal=Air Power History |volume=55 |number=4|date=Winter 2008|pages=4–23|jstor=26275054}}{{cite news |date=June 1996 |title=Recognizing its best |newspaper=Guardian}} On July 28, 2006, the Cheyenne Mountain Realignment{{r|GAO2007}} redesignated the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate to the Cheyenne Mountain Division.{{r|NORADmil}} Circa 2004 the bunker included the 17th Test Squadron's Detachment 2 and AFTAC's research laboratory,{{cite web |title=AFSPC Cheyenne Mountain AFS |url=https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=join_change_the_world.showPledgeDriverDetails&cpd_id=18707 |access-date=2013-01-24 |publisher=Energystar.gov}} (mirror website of {{circa|2004|lk=no}} webpage at www.cheyennemountain.af.mil)[https://archive.today/20130216190150/http://www.sg1archive.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6463&st=120] in 2008 Detachment 1 of the 392d Training Squadron operated the Cheyenne Mountain Training System (CMTS),{{cite web |url=http://www.schriever.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080129-134.pdf |title=Schriever Air Force Base Brochure |publisher=Schriever.af.mil |access-date=December 9, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611162614/http://www.schriever.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080129-134.pdf |archive-date=June 11, 2014}} and in 2011 the installation's 721st SFS was expanded.{{cite web|url=http://www.afa.org/edop/2010/AFforcestructureAnnounc_051110.pdf|title=United States Air Force – Fiscal Year 2011 Force Structure Announcement|format=AFA.org webpage|publisher=Public Affairs|access-date=2012-11-27|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916071447/http://www.afa.org/edop/2010/AFforcestructureAnnounc_051110.pdf|archive-date=2012-09-16}}

• WarGames (1983) is set partly at the command center, where it was codenamed "Crystal Palace".{{r|Lowe}}
• Interstellar (2014) has NASA's main command center within the bunker at Cheyenne Mountain. {{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/12/cheyenne-mountain-norad-pop-culture/71074868/|title=From 'War Games' to 'Interstellar': NORAD's bunker is a film favorite|website=USA Today}}

• In Stargate SG-1 and its spin-offs, Cheyenne Mountain houses "Stargate Command", a top-secret unit of the United States Air Force that uses the titular Stargate to explore exoplanets.{{r|Kneis}} In recognition of the series' close relationship with the real-life Air Force, there is now a broom closet in the real Cheyenne Mountain Complex called "Stargate Command".{{Cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cheyenne-mountain-nuclear-bunker|title=Cheyenne Mountain Nuclear Bunker|website=Atlas Obscura}}
• The bunker is also a setting in the series Jeremiah.{{r|Wright}}
• The base appears in Episode 7 of the series Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. Here, the bunker is depicted as an Earth Federation base and used as firing control for the Gryps 2 colony laser.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

• In Horizon: Zero Dawn, Cheyenne Mountain is known as All-Mother Mountain, and the Complex has been retrofitted as a Cradle facility prior to the apocalypse. The protagonist, Aloy, was found inside the facility.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
• The Terminator: Dawn of Fate included the facility as having been repurposed as Skynet's primary base of operations, something which was alluded to in the films. By the end of the game, the base is heavily damaged when the Resistance use the Time Displacement chamber to send Kyle Reese back to 1984 to save Sarah Connor.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 included the facility in a cutscene after a nuclear attack on Washington DC
• In Wasteland 3: Cult of the Holy Detonation, Cheyenne Mountain houses a power production facility that harvests energy from time-dilated nuclear explosion.{{cite web|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-08-25-wasteland-3-cult-of-the-holy-detonation-is-the-last-dlc-for-the-game|title=Wasteland 3: Cult of the Holy Detonation is the last DLC for the game|first=Wesley|last=Yin-Poole|work=Eurogamer|date=August 25, 2021|access-date=August 27, 2021}}

• Kosvinsky Kamen – a potential Soviet/Russian counterpart
• Mount Yamantau – a potential Soviet/Russian counterpart

{{Portal|Canada|Colorado}}

• North American Aerospace Defense Command
• Raven Rock Mountain Complex
• Aerospace Defense Command
• United States Space Command
• Related Colorado Springs military installations
• Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station
• Peterson Air Force Base
• Ent Air Force Base
• Chidlaw Building

{{notelist|30em}}

{{Reflist|30em |refs=

{{cite book |author=Joseph Angelo |title=Dictionary of Space Technology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSzfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |date=October 31, 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-94402-5 |page=70}}

{{cite web |title=NORAD Chronology |url=http://www.norad.mil/Portals/29/Documents/History/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20NORAD.pdf |publisher=NORAD.mil |access-date=2012-09-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420161330/http://www.norad.mil/Portals/29/Documents/History/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20NORAD.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-20}}

{{cite report |url=http://archive.gao.gov/f0102/115265.pdf |title=NORAD's Missile Warning System: What Went Wrong? |format=MASAD-81-30 |date=May 15, 1981 |publisher=U.S. Government Accountability Office |access-date=2012-08-06}}

{{cite report |last1=Del Papa |first1=Dr. E. Michael |last2=Warner |first2=Mary P |date=October 1987 |title=A Historical Chronology of the Electronic Systems Division 1947–1986 |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a201708.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224105532/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a201708.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |number=ESD-TR-88-276 (AD-A201 708) |access-date=2012-07-19}}

{{cite news |last=Finley |first=Bruce |date=2006-12-26 |title=Military to put Cheyenne Mountain on standby |url=http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4103478 |newspaper=The Denver Post |access-date=2012-08-01}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/100/94893.pdf |title=Defense Infrastructure: Full Costs and Security Implications of Cheyenne Mountain Realignment Have Not Been Determined GAO-07-803R |date=May 21, 2007 |publisher=Government Accounting Office}}

{{cite web |date=September 21, 1978 |title=NORAD's Information Processing Improvement Program: Will It Enhance Mission Capability? |url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/130/123974.pdf |format=Report to Congress |publisher=Comptroller General |access-date=2013-01-24}}

{{cite report |date=July 7, 1989 |title=Better Management Required to Resolve NORAD Integration Deficiencies |url=http://archive.gao.gov/d25t7/139055.pdf |series=Attack Warning |publisher=U.S. Government Accountability Office (IMTEC-89-26) |access-date=2012-09-19 }} Also available [http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=696976 at hsdl.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604032800/http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=696976 |date=June 4, 2013 }}--the Homeland Security Digital Library

{{cite report |last=D'Agostino |first=Davi M |date=May 21, 2007 |title=Defense Infrastructure: Full Costs and Security Implications of Cheyenne Mountain Realignment Have Not Been Determined |url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/100/94893.pdf |publisher=United States General Accounting Office (GAO—07-803R) |access-date=2012-09-09}}

{{cite map |publisher=Google Maps |title=Cheyenne Mountain |url=https://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.737216,-104.88081&hl=en&ll=38.738084,-104.861283&spn=0.021189,0.052142&sll=38.725095,-104.892998&sspn=0.042387,0.104284&t=m&z=15 |format=Google-designated summit |access-date=2012-07-22}}

{{cite book |author=Philipp Kneis |title=The Emancipation of the Soul: Memes of Destiny in American Mythological Television |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KA83tzzEBkC&pg=PA78 |year=2010 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-631-60817-3 |page=78}}

{{cite news |date=January 4, 1967 |title=America's Defense Tied to City in Mountain |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19670104&id=LmggAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1GYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2610,463764 |format=Google News Archive |location=Lewiston, Maine |newspaper=The Lewiston Daily Sun |access-date=August 29, 2012}}

{{cite book |author1=David Lowe |author2=Tony Joel |title=Remembering the Cold War: Global Contest and National Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ausAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |date=January 21, 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-91259-0 |page=53}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.norad.mil/Portals/29/Documents/History/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20NORAD.pdf |title=A Brief History of NORAD |publisher=Office of History, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) |date=December 31, 2012 |access-date=February 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420161330/http://www.norad.mil/Portals/29/Documents/History/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20NORAD.pdf |archive-date=April 20, 2015}}{{PD-notice}}

{{cite web |title=Cheyenne Mountain Complex |url=http://www.norad.mil/about/CMOC.html |work=North American Aerospace Defense Command |publisher=NORAD.mil |access-date=2012-07-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726070521/http://www.norad.mil/about/CMOC.html |archive-date=2012-07-26}}

{{cite web |date=June 27, 2009 |title=America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain, NORAD live on |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10274268-52.html |website=CNET |access-date=January 29, 2013|url-status= dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421035431/https://www.cnet.com/news/americas-fortress-cheyenne-mountain-norad-live-on/ |archive-date=April 21, 2018}}

{{Cite report |last1=Weeden |first1=Brian C |last2=Cefola |first2=Paul J |title=Computer Systems and Algorithms for Space Situational Awareness: History and Future Development |url=http://swfound.org/media/15742/computer%20systems%20and%20algorithms%20for%20space%20situational%20awareness%20-%20history%20and%20future%20development.pdf |publisher=SWFound.org |access-date=2012-09-02}}

{{cite book |author1=David C. Wright, Jr. |author2=Allan W. Austin |title=Space and Time: Essays on Visions of History in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qY9lc1XSsx4C&pg=PA165 |date=April 6, 2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5634-5 |page=165}}

}}

{{sister project links|Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station|auto=yes}}

{{External media

|float=left

|width=600px

|image1= [https://web.archive.org/web/20131224100824/http://departments.weber.edu/mediarelations/fulltext.asp?id=90 construction scaffolding]

|image2={{circa|lk=no|1972}} [http://ed-thelen.org/72digest_f015-16.gif Space Defense Center]

|image3= [http://srmsc.org/pdf/004434p0.pdf BMDC Operations Room (p. 12-4)]

|image4= [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb371/ Space Computational Center]

|image5= [http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollections/project/ShowThumbnail.aspx?ThumbnailID=10066 landform viewed from Ent AFB site]

|video3= [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l59SEjAMAiA 1970s exterior footage] (minute 6:50)

}}

Category:Installations of the United States Space Force in Colorado

Category:Government buildings completed in 1965

Category:History of Colorado Springs, Colorado

Category:Military history of Colorado

Category:National air defence operations centres

Category:North American Aerospace Defense Command

Category:Nuclear bunkers in the United States

Category:Continuity of government in the United States