Tysons Corner Communications Tower, also known as Site E, is a classified United States military microwave tower located in

Tysons Corner Tysons, also known as Tysons Corner, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, developed from the corner of Chain Bridge Road ( SR 123) and the Leesburg Pike ( SR 7). Located in Northern Virginia between the c ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The tower is administered by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from

Fort Belvoir Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It was developed on the site of the former Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Fairfax family for whom Fai ...

History

The tower was constructed in 1952 as part of a

continuity of government Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a catastrophic event such as nuclear war. COG was developed by the British government bef ...

plan to ensure that lines of command were preserved between the U.S. President and military bases and troops in the field in the event of a nuclear attack. In the event that defense communication facilities in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, were disabled, there were two alternate communication facilities on Cross Mountain in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and Lambs Knoll,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Another tower just south of the

Raven Rock Mountain Complex The Raven Rock Mountain Complex (RRMC), also known as Site R, is a U.S. military installation with an underground nuclear bunker near Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, at Raven Rock Mountain that has been called an "underground Pentagon". The ...

in southern Pennsylvania relayed signals from these two backup sites to the Washington defense facilities, along with the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

, the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

and other government facilities. However, the alternate communications facilities were located on the west side of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

, and the microwave signals could not carry directly to Washington, thus the Tysons Corner tower was built to serve as the major relay between Washington and these facilities to the west. It was selected because it is close to the Pentagon and the White House but far enough away from Washington to withstand a direct nuclear attack on the city. The specific uses of the tower today are classified. It was rumored to be a government intelligence

numbers station A numbers station is a shortwave radio station characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which are believed to be addressed to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. Most identified stations use speech synthesis to vocal ...

, although others argue that the tower's communications equipment is now obsolete. Several microwave antennas have been removed from the tower, including those pointed to

Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a government command facility in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia, used as the center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also known as the High Point Special Facili ...

. It is speculated that these have been replaced by fiber-optic cable links. Additionally, the tower is reportedly connected by underground fiber-optic cable to

Warrenton Training Center Warrenton Training Center (WTC) is a classified United States government communication complex located in the state of Virginia. Established in 1951, it comprises four discrete stations located in Fauquier and Culpeper counties. WTC has served ...

, which is a continuity of government facility as well as a

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

communications facility.

References

{{reflist

External links

Images of Tysons Corner Communications Tower
Secret places in the United States Installations of the United States Army Buildings and structures in Fairfax County, Virginia Military installations in Virginia Continuity of government in the United States Disaster preparedness in the United States Transmitter sites in the United States Towers completed in 1952 1952 establishments in Virginia Towers in Virginia Tysons, Virginia

History

See also

References

External links