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The
following article was originally printed by The Wichita Eagle on
April 17, 1997
I have included a portion
of this article to Terrorist Watch due to the fact that this
security alarm at NORAD was initiated 6 days after the arrival of
the submarine at New Era.In the Intelligence business, there is no
such thing as 'coincidence'.
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN AIR STATION,
Colo.- The manmade cavern that houses the nerve center for the US
and Canadian air defenses was under tightened security because of an
unspecified security threat.
Senior military officials
later said they may have overestimated the credibility of the
threat, but that the stiffened security would remain for the time
being.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeff
Grime, commander of the Cheyenne Mountain space-tracking complex,
said there was no threat to nearby Colorado Springs or several other
major Air Force and Army installations in the area.
"It's totally focused
on us here," said Grime, interviewed in his command center deep
inside Cheyenne Mountain.
In a later interview at
nearby Fort Peterson Air force Base, Vice Admiral Lyle Bien said
officials had determined that the credibility of the information was
in doubt. He added that extra security precautions would be kept
just in case.
Bien said the information,
while still not completely discounted, had come third-hand. It had
indicated a "potential for some kind of attack" on
Cheyenne Mountain, one of the most security facilities in America,
he said.
"It doesn't look like
the source was terribly credible," he said after consulting
with Grime at U.S. Space Command headquarters, where Bien is vice
commander.
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