After Four Decades, A Cold War Symbol Stands Down

(From The New York Times -- By Kirk Johnson)

Few symbols of the cold war carry the clanging, into-the-bunker resonance of Cheyenne Mountain, home of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, better known as NORAD.

The mountain, about 80 miles south of here on the Front Range, was carved out in the 1960's to house the early warning system for nuclear war, and its accouterments and image became the stuff of a whole generation's anxieties.

But those anxieties shifted after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's and even more after September 11th, and on
Friday military officials in Colorado announced that Norad's day-to-day operations would be consolidated, for purposes of efficiency, in an ordinary building at PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE in nearby Colorado Springs.

The mountain will be kept only as a backup, though fully operational and staffed with support personnel -- a place of secure retreat should the need again arise, a military spokesman said.

After Four Decades, A Cold War Symbol Stands Down

Tom Blais, thanks for the post.