Raven Rock Mountain Complex

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This See the discussion page may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

The Raven Rock Mountain Complex (RRMC) is a United States government facility on Raven Rock, a mountain in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is located about 14 km (8.7 miles) east of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and 10 km (6.2 miles) north-northeast of Camp David, Maryland. It is also called the Raven Rock Military Complex, or simply Site R.

At the RRMC, the Defense Information Systems Agency computer operations staff provides computer services to the National Command Authority, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other United States Department of Defense agencies. The facility functions as the disaster recovery site for the JSSC's GMC and DISA GCC.

Its largest tenant is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.^[1] Site R also houses the emergency operations centers for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The facility runs more than 38 communications systems for its users.

Many of the facility's activities are classified, and distribution of most unclassified information about the facility is discouraged by the government.^[1]

1 History
- 1.1 Army unit
2 Modern use
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Planning for the site began in 1948. After the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon in 1949, a high priority was established for the Joint Command Post to be placed in a protected location near Washington, D.C., for swift relocation of the National Command Authorities and the Joint Communications Service. The site is near Camp David (then known as "Shangri-La"). In 1950, President Harry S Truman approved making Raven Rock part of Camp Albert Ritchie, Maryland. This new site was named the Alternate Joint Communications Center (AJCC) Site R. Construction of the facility began in 1951, and in 1953 it became operational.

In 1977, the Department of Defense created the Special Projects Office (later to become the Protective Design Center) to work on the classified Alternate National Military Command and Control Center Improvement Program, which sought to design a a deep underground, hardened command and control center. The plans envisioned separate structures for command personnel, power, fuel, and water; more than three miles of air entrainment tunnels; and access shafts to the surface. The program was canceled in 1979.

[edit] Army unit

The Army unit that runs communications for the RRMC has been moved around the Army hierarchy several times. Between 1953 and 1971, it reported directed to the Army's Joint Support Command. In 1971, as part of the Strategic Communications Command move to Fort Ritchie, the communications unit was redesignated as the Directorate of Telecommunications, and placed under the Fort Ritchie garrison commander. In 1976, the unit was redesignated the USACC Site R Telecommunications Center, a direct reporting element to the 7th Signal Command. And in 1978, the unit was moved back under the command of the Fort Ritchie garrison, as the Directorate of Telecommunications.

In October 1981, USACC Site R Telecommunications Center was reorganized and redesignated as USACC Site R under Headquarters, 7th Signal Command. In May 1984, USACC Site R was redesignated as USAISC-Site R, remaining as a direct reporting unit to 7th Signal Command. In October 1988, USAISC-Site R was redesignated as the 1111th U.S. Army Signal Battalion and placed under the 1101st U.S. Army Signal Brigade, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., as the Army support battalion responsible for the maintenance, upkeep and communications of the AJCC Site R.

In October 1993, the 1111th U.S. Army Signal Battalion was placed under the 1108th U.S. Army Signal Brigade, Fort Ritchie, Maryland. Most base operations activities were removed from the battalion’s mission, leaving communications as the primary unit mission.

The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission directed the relocation of U.S. Army Signal Command units and some Base Operations support personnel from Fort Ritchie to Fort Detrick, which will become the home of East Coast long-haul communications. These units include the 1108th U.S. Army Signal Brigade, the 1111th U.S. Army Signal Battalion and Information Systems Engineering Command-Continental United States. The 1110th U.S. Army Signal Battalion, already at Fort Detrick, is assigned to the 1108th. More than 1,140 military members and civilian employees will be transferred under the order. Site R and its personnel came under control of the Fort Detrick commander October 1, 1997. The actual movement of units began October 1, 1996, and Fort Ritchie was closed by September 30, 1998, well ahead of schedule.^[2]

[edit] Modern use

The RRMC is the "undisclosed location" to which Vice President Dick Cheney retires in times of crisis.^[3]

On May 25, 2007, the Federal Register published a Defense Department policy declaring that it is unlawful "to make any photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map or graphical representation of the Raven Rock Mountain Complex without first obtaining the necessary permission."^[4]