NORAD's Combat Operations Center was built in the 1960s. The center's 15 steel buildings are mounted on 1,319 massive springs to absorb the shock from a nuclear blast. When built, the center was originally designed to provide a 70 percent survival rate if a five megaton nuclear weapon exploded three miles away, but the facility was ultimately hardened to withstand a thermonuclear blast as close as 1.5 nautical miles.

The Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper reported Monday that the Cheyenne Mountain facilities would be maintained on "warm standby," ready for use on short notice. Over the next two years, 230 NORAD personnel, including 30 Canadians, will be moving out of the mountain and to an above-ground building at the at nearby Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

Maj. Jason Proulx, a Canadian Forces officer working with NORAD's public-affairs office at Peterson Air Force Base, said, "We're evolving with the times. We're not faced so much with the threat of aerial bombardment from the Soviet Union. We're faced with the threat of terrorists."

NORAD commander, Adm. Timothy Keating, said during a recent interview, "A missile attack from Russia or China is very unlikely." He told reporters, "Moving the missions from a hardened facility to Peterson AFB does not change the level of security. An assessment is underway to ensure that the security level is commensurate with the threats."

One of the issues involved in the transfer is that Peterson AFB houses the U.S. Northern Command, created after Sept. 11, 2001, to monitor terrorist threats to North America. Keating also commands Northern Command. Keating commented, "I can't be in two places at one time."

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