Biden Reveals Location of Secret VP Bunker 550
Hugh Pickens writes "Fox News reports that 'Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.' According to the report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old US Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president. Although earlier reports had placed the Vice-Presidential hide-out in a highly secure complex of buildings inside Raven Rock Mountain near Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, Fox News reports that the Naval Observatory bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks. According to the report, Biden 'said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment.' According to Eleanor Clift, Newsweek magazine's Washington contributing editor 'the officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall.' In December 2002, neighbors complained of loud construction work being done at the Naval Observatory, which has been used as a residence by vice presidents since 1974. The upset neighbors were sent a letter by the observatory's superintendent, calling the work 'sensitive in nature' and 'classified' and that it was urgent it be completed on a highly accelerated schedule."
Stupid article (Score:5, Interesting)
Excuse me, but it isn't a secret when EVERYONE already knows guys. If you didn't know, you must have missed the news regarding all of the construction at the house when Dick was in residence. All of the neighbors complaining about the round the clock heavy equipment use making the ground shake. That is when everyone was saying that they were probably expanding/renovating the bunker under the house.
But hey, keep the non-news coming.
Re:Genius (Score:3, Interesting)
Or perhaps they want us to think that. ^^
Re:Government Transparency (Score:3, Interesting)
I also figure that the handlers around Biden will begin limiting his access to really sensitive stuff. So I'm enjoying the fun while it lasts. Perhaps he can get his hands on some Area 51 stuff and attend a convention where he decides to "dispel some rumors" by explaining that there are no aliens, just some cool anti-gravity stuff...
Re:Semper Infidelis (Score:5, Interesting)
I ate that apple. Some of the best and worst times of my life. Some of the best and worst of society are contained in there.
Now, what exactly did I give away? That I was assigned to a unit? That we would be stationed at a facility? That's hardly telling anything of merit.
The facility had been (when I was in) top secret. While I was in the Corps, I was aware of civilian delivers to the facility. Since I have left active duty, I have learned that the facility I would have been working at has been declassified.
zOMG, string me up like a traitor for leaking vague references to a facility that is no longer top secret and has had it's location plastered on the front page of /.
I tell ya what, go down to your local recruiter and join up. You appear to hold Marines in quite high regard, so why not be all you can be? I can assure you, surviving even just a 4 year tour will be far more rewarding to your life than any amount of keyboard jockeying.
-Rick
Re:You want to know where this stuff is? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well hold on.
If your team is at a secure facility, I presume the fact that the team is there is the secret? (And not that the building itself is somehow invisible...)
Unless you order your food by identifying yourselves "Hi, this is Joey from the Bravo squad of the 1st Forecon, er, DRP of the MARSOC, and we're down as 123 Elm Street and need the usual, please" I doubt that ordering pizza is somehow blowing operational security.
How would anyone know that they're delivering pizza to your unit, and not just to the janitor(s)?
(Terrorist leader watches Dominoes.com website carefully: "AHA! We've found the dirty American imperialist commandoes! Nobody in this city orders cinnamon twists AND cheesy bread! It *must* be the Americans! Muhahahah!")
Re:Yeah, real big secret (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Yeah, real big secret (Score:2, Interesting)
Since you brought up Sarah Palin (I'd have been happy to let sleeping dogs lie), how important are your Constitutional rights to you?
Would you really have preferred a Vice President that doesn't even understand the First Amendment [tinyrevolution.com]?
And apparently it wasn't just a one-time thing--she continues to believe that private citizens can somehow deny other private citizens the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22511.html [politico.com]
And yet (Score:3, Interesting)
He steadfastly supports draconian copyright measures and the like. Now maybe he's just doing it because he's a dumbass, I suppose there's that. However I think it is more likely that the man owes big media in some way, and thus tows their party line.
That is why people accuse him of being owned by Hollywood. It isn't because of anything secret or shady, it is because of voting record. He routinely pushes for laws with regards to copyright that many would call unconstitutional, and nearly all would call unfair to the consumer.
So you tell me, what's your theory as to why he votes this way?
Re:Semper Infidelis (Score:4, Interesting)
You appear to hold Marines in quite high regard, so why not be all you can be?
Heh.. that's the Army. Don't think any Marine would ever make that mistake. Although you could say "Accelerate your life," since Marines are just the hiking division of the Navy [wikipedia.org]. :P
Re:Yeah, real big secret (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps not 'embedding' reporters to act as cheerleaders for a war would lead to better military strategy, even if it isn't as politically favorable. Yes, we should see the realities of war, but protecting and dragging around a camera crew is detrimental to a unit's combat viability and should be seen for what it is: a propaganda generator which poses an unnecessary risk to soldiers' lives.
Re:Real Tragedy: Black Racism Against non-Blacks (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if I'm the only who instantly disregards what someone is saying when they use Obama's middle name every time he is referenced.
Re:Still Better than Chaney (Score:3, Interesting)
Eh, true, but it's the same as noting that the sky is blue when asking what the weather outside is like: it's completely irrelevant. Sure you can see Russia from parts of Alaska. So what does that have to do with foreign policy experience? And I'm sure Alaska geographically sits between Canada and Russia. But again, where does foreign policy come into play?
She could have, when mentioning Canada, bring up examples of resource disputes and such with the Canadian government. But no, it seems she decided to imply that Alaska's geographical location has some relevance to foreign policy, which is in and of itself, ridiculous.
But the specifics of her statments doesn't really matter overall. That she doesn't realize that she's made a nonsensical remark by failing to further clarify or otherwise specify her comments is even more telling than the fact that she made the comment.
Re:Yeah, real big secret (Score:3, Interesting)
wtf? Where did I claim plame WASN'T an undercover agent?
My claim is that the entire "scandal" was blown way out of proportion and was essentially a non-story politics-wise.
The following exchange was between Woodward and Armitage over a month before Novak published his article:
According to Woodward, Plame's own husband was saying this... And this was known by for quite some time.