TRUMP has opened the doors to his underground nuclear war bunker, revealing an underground city built to protect him and government officials.
Buried deep beneath the Colorado Rockies, the top secret fortress has been designed to protect America’s military and political leaders in the event of a nuclear war.
AP:Associated PressThe opening to Trump’s top secret fortress[/caption]
EPABehind the thick steel doors lies the functioning underground city[/caption]
EPAStaff still rotate through the facility, ready to shut out the world at any moment[/caption]
For just the second time in recent history, the bunker’s doors were opened to Newsnation for a tour inside the Armageddon stronghold.
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a sprawling underground city, molded within nearly 70,000 tonnes of granite.
Designed to withstand direct nuclear strikes, the mega-bunker has been waiting to house US defenses.
Locked behind three-foot-thick steel doors and multiple checkpoints, the fortress is said to be able to withstand a nuclear explosion “one thousand times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima”, even from close range.
The functioning underground city has its own power plants, underground lakes for drinking water and stockpiles of food to sustain crews for “a very long time”.
The complex even has its own functioning Subway store, which is referred to as “the most secure Subway” in the world.
General Gregory Guillot, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), said the facility remained as vital today as it was when it was first opened in 1966.
“It was truly worth whatever they paid for it back in the early 60s,” he said.
“We are using it today just as they did decades before.”
Guillot said he was not concerned about modern threats, including Russian jets probing US airspace, Chinese surveillance balloons or cyber attacks.
“I don’t worry, we got the greatest military members working it,” he said.
“We are ready.”
Spanning across 5.1 acres, 15 buildings have been suspended on massive springs to absorb the shock of a nuclear blast.
Known as the “battle deck”, the complex would function as the command headquarters for the US and Canadian forces if disaster struck.
Finished in 1966 with a build cost of $142 million, the fortress would cost more than $1 billion if it was built today.
Labelled “the most secure place on Earth” at the height of the Cold War, the labyrinth of tunnels and blast chambers was designed to protect against Soviet missiles.
Trump previously opened the doors to media in 2018, where Steve Rose, the base’s deputy director, said it was “the most secure facility in the world”.
GettyThe US military would run from the bunker in case of an emergency[/caption]
EPAThe bunker is protected by 70,000 tonnes of granite[/caption]
ReutersThe doors can be sealed within 45 seconds, or by hand in an emergency[/caption]
AFP – GettyThe road map for America to get out of a nuclear war has already been planned out[/caption]
The fortress is shielded by granite and steel from electronics from electromagnetic pulses from nuclear explosions
The blast doors can be sealed with hydraulic machinery, protecting the inside within just 45 seconds, or in an emergency, can be sealed by hand.
The doors were sealed shut on 9/11, the only time the bunker has been closed off from the world since the Cold War.
Previously the NORAD headquarters, the facility shifted to an alternate command role in 2008.
Staff are still rotating through the complex, however, ensuring its readiness, should the time come.
Officials have insisted the mountain fortress is not a relic of the past.
“Couldn’t be further from the truth,” Rose said in 2018.
The bunker has become a pop culture icon, even featuring in 1983 film WarGames and the Stargate TV series.
America’s roadmap out of a nuclear war has already been planned out, basing itself in the fortress.
The President would be rushed directly into the White House underground shelter, before boarding one of the Air Force’s ‘Doomsday’ jets.
A tight circle of officials would travel with the President, while the Defense Secretary, cabinet officials and congressional leaders would be moved to hardened continuity site, including Mount Weather in Virginia or Raven Rock in Pennsylvania.