Located 60 miles west of Washington, DC, the hidden underground facility has been upgraded. However, details remain secret.
A secret underground FEMA base where Congressional leaders are hidden after the 9/11 attacks has been upgraded.
But what exactly do workers do in the mount weather? Well, it’s categorized – and the contractors doing the work have top-secret security clearances.
Buried in Blue Ridge Mountain 64 miles west of Washington, DC, Mount Weather is part of a network of US-spread underground facilities designed to protect federal leaders during the crisis. It takes less than 30 minutes by helicopter to reach Mount Weather from Capitol Hill.
“The breadth and depth of capabilities provided by mountain weather makes it a unique facility,” FEMA said in a rare 2009 fact sheet about the site. “The (facilities) support a variety of disaster responses and continuity missions, mostly categorized.”
The “Government Continuity” site also includes Colorado’s Cheyenne Mountain Bunker, a building made of battleship steel sitting on a massive spring to exacerbate nuclear attacks. Although it is generally not possible to visit the underground facilities of Mount Weather, USA Today Reporter was allowed to tour Cheyenne Mountain in 2015. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/news/2015/06/12/norad-cheyenne-mountain-bunker/28689013/
Mount Weather, also known as the High Point Special, has both ground and underground facilities as part of its 564-acre site, and Homeland Security Christinome visited the complex in early April to take photos outside along with the complex’s full-time fire station and armed FEMA security guard.
“This DHS command center is essential for emergency relief and federal coordination in the face of disaster,” Norm said in a social media post that she had shown with President Donald Trump to visit (unreadable) information signs displaying historic plaques and (unreadable) information signs.
What NOEM did not do, however, was to reveal details about the classified parts of the bunker system. However, details and historical announcements of the federal contract from FEMA provide fascinating tips on the facility that began life as a weather and mining research site in the early 1900s.
Inside the facility is an underground cafeteria with seating for 300 people, providing a sense of how many people can accommodate there. The facility also includes office space, dormitories, private sleep space for VIPs, and training rooms.
Even the price tag for the new mountain weather work is confidential, but the details of the contract suggest that workers must be skilled in both underground construction and HVAC equipment, including air handlers.
FEMA did not respond to requests for comment.