http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%%3A21804

Printed from the Colorado Springs Independent website: www.csindy.com
POSTED ON OCTOBER 25, 2007:
'Sensitive' documents indicate Cheyenne Mountain's better for NORAD
By Michael de Yoanna

According to a Defense Department study, the Cold War-era Cheyenne
Mountain bunker remains a more secure option for surveillance
operations than Peterson Air Force Base.

The Independent has obtained documents that raise new doubts
concerning U.S. Northern Command's assurance of a rapid return to
Cheyenne Mountain - planned for "warm standby" status - during an
emergency.

The documents, which appear to have come from the Defense Department
Program Analysis and Evaluation Office, paint a dire picture of what
could happen in a sneak attack on Peterson Air Force Base. That's
where personnel in the future would perform the round-the-clock air,
missile and space surveillance conducted for years inside Cheyenne
Mountain.

http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%%3A21706

OCTOBER 18, 2007
NORAD: From mountain to volcano?
Sources say a risky situation is only growing more so
BY MICHAEL DE YOANNA

As Sen. Wayne Allard this week declared support for Cheyenne
Mountain's transition to "warm standby," sources familiar with the
surveillance bunker allege U.S. Northern Command is rushing the job,
breaking contracting rules and risking homeland security.

"They broke the law with the way they are contracting this," said one
source. "And nobody cares?"

NorthCom has been adamant that bringing North American Aerospace
Defense Command, or NORAD, capabilities to the basement of a building
on Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs will enhance national
security.

Yet sources knowledgeable about the mountain have reached out to
several members of Congress, including Allard and Sen. Ken Salazar in
Colorado, asserting that NorthCom commanders are glossing over
important details to buy time as the transfer continues.

http://www.csindy.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%%3A20629

MAY 3, 2007
Bad move?
As NORAD leaves Cheyenne Mountain, some worry it's a dangerous mistake
BY MICHAEL DE YOANNA

The sun setting on Cheyenne Mountain has been a loaded metaphor since
plans emerged to scatter NORAD operations elsewhere.
Sean Cayton

An executive jet filled with fuel and explosives suddenly veers off
its approach to a runway at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport.

Its terrorist pilot is on a suicide mission.

His target is a glass-front office building on Peterson Air Force
Base.

It's not just any building. It is the new headquarters of North
American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, as well as U.S. Northern
Command.

Operators in the office building, charged with preventing just such an
attack, detect the plane's motives.

But they have, at best, 10 seconds to react - too little time.