Space-defense systems secure in glass house

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By Bill Gertz

COLORADO SPRINGS | The transfer of strategic North American aerospace defense systems from inside the hardened complex of Colorado's Cheyenne Mountain to the basement of a glass office building has not reduced the security of the system, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command says.

Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., head of Northcom, said he is confident that the system can be protected from disruptions caused by natural disaster, mistake or attack.

Much of the Cheyenne Mountain complex, located about 10 miles away from the new operations center on Peterson Air Force Base, is being closed down, and many of its functions, including missile launch warning and space tracking, moved to other locations.

The decision to move out of the Cold War mountain complex, which was built beneath solid rock to harden it against a nuclear blast, was initially a cost-saving measure begun in the mid-2000s.

Critics, including some members of Congress and defense officials, said the move of key functions to the Northcom basement on Peterson Air Force Base endangers U.S. national security because the key strategic missile and aircraft monitoring could be more easily disrupted, for example, by an attack from a hijacked commercial aircraft from nearby Colorado Springs Airport.

Gen. Renuart defended the move out of the mountain, although he noted that the plans and decision were made before he assumed command of Northcom, as well as the U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in March 2007.

"The ability for us to provide very high-quality, high-fidelity command and control of all the pieces of homeland defense, homeland security and civil support, fit together best in one place," Gen. Renuart said.

"The physics problem in the mountain is you can't put them all there."

The decision, made by former Northcom chief Adm. Timothy Keating, to consolidate the Northcom functions at Peterson "was the right one," Gen. Renuart said.

The general said that the value of the hardened facility at Cheyenne Mountain is still significant and that it serves as a backup command center for the Northcom facility at Peterson.