The United States Northern Command has sent teams of crucial personnel underground to protect them from Covid-19 pandemic.
The Air Force General Terrence O 'Shaughnessy directs the US Northern Command, as well as the US Aerospace Defense Command, in a joint US-Canadian operation that monitors the skies over North America for missiles and airborne threats. Earlier this week, O'Shaughnessy he told reporters that some of his teams would be moved from their usual command center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado to a number of armored underground bunkers.
One such structure is the Cheyenne Mountain bunker complex, a labyrinth of tunnels buried under 6.000 meters of granite and sealed behind explosive doors designed to withstand a 30-megaton nuclear explosion.
"Our dedicated NORAD and NORTHCOM command and control operations professionals have left their homes, said goodbye to their families, and are isolated from all to ensure they can uphold the commitment to defend our homeland every day."O'Shaughnessy said. He also said that personnel sent underground will share the bunker with other members of the army, but "they are not allowed to say which ones".
Another team has been sent to a secret location, O'sSughnessy added.
Underground bunkers like Cheyenne Mountain are an integral part of the US government's plan to survive a doomsday scenario.
In the event of an existential threat, a nuclear attack, for example, the president and his officials, as well as a contingent of political, military, and civilian leaders would take refuge in four secure facilities to run the country even from underground depths.
These facilities are Cheyenne Mountain, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center under the White House, the Raven Rock Mountain Complex in Pennsylvania, and the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Pennsylvania.
The current Covid-19 crisis hasn't triggered a mass exodus from Washington, but perhaps it has done worse. He pushed military leaders to take steps to ensure they remain combat ready. After admitting that U.S. military readiness could be impacted by the pandemic, Defense Secretary on Thursday Mark Esper stated that the Pentagon would stop publishing accurate details on Covid-19 cases in its ranks. The purpose? Avoid revealing weaknesses to American opponents.
While some of O'sSughnessy's forces head into the mountains to await the pandemic in airtight isolation, millions more on the surface won't have the same luxury. Army engineers are already deployed to New York to explore the locations of field hospitals. . A scenario that represents over a third of the nearly 200.000 cases of the disease in the country.
As the crisis deepens, the US military appears to be taking a total approach. Although the US military is prohibited from carrying out police duties on American soil, President Trump signed an executive order last week. The measure authorizes the convocation of one million reserves and concerns the personnel of the army, navy, air force and coast guard.
