16 June 2002. Thank to E:
http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2000-12-13/triangles.html
[Revised 16 June 2002]
Big Hole, Deep Secret
Beneath the Chatham County countryside lies AT&T's covert military site,
the most intriguing local landmark you're not allowed to visit
By Jon Elliston
Ask Pittsboro Mayor Chuck Devinney what he did when he worked for AT&T,
and he offers evasions straight out of an X-Files script. "I wiped it all
out of my head," he says. "When I went out the door, I never looked back."
Coming from a public utility employee turned small-town public official,
that might sound pretty melodramatic. Unless, that is, the door walked out
of was the secured gateway to Chatham County's underground enigma, the Big
Hole. That's where Devinney and dozens of other AT&T employees holed
up for much of the Cold War, soldiers in a hidden battle to safeguard a U.S.
command and control system in the event of nuclear war.
Photos By Alex Maness
At the government's "Big Hole" communication center in Chatham County, it's
what can't be seen that matters most. The system, called the Automatic Voice
Network (AUTOVON), was put in service in 1964 by the Defense Communications
Agency; the Chatham facility came on-line in 1966. About 60 AUTOVON relay
and switching centers were built across the country. Of those, 20 sites,
including Big Hole, were underground, hardened facilities, engineered to
withstand anything but a direct hit by an enemy missile. AT&T won the
classified contract to operate domestic AUTOVON centers, while the U.S. military
manned those established in other countries. AT&T will not say if another
part of the Defense Department or any other government agency is secretly
using Big Hole today, but the company still owns the property, the grounds
are maintained and the security barriers remain. [More on Continuity of
Government facilities at the
URL.]
