1 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:08,680 Tonight on "Secrets Declassified," 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,920 the top secret bases that governments disguised 3 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:13,760 and then denied for decades, 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,880 from the government doomsday bunker 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:17,640 hidden beneath a luxury resort... 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,640 If a bomb drops on the golf course, 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,440 anyone behind the blast doors would be okay. 8 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:26,240 To the U.S. Army's nuclear launch site 9 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,440 built inside a glacier. 10 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,960 They put a nuclear reactor in one of the most brutal 11 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,320 and difficult environments on Earth. 12 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,600 And Stalin hollows out a mountain to conceal 13 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:40,000 a fleet of Soviet subs. 14 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,120 It even has a secret gate 15 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,240 so that subs can get in and out. 16 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,680 It's something out of a Bond film. 17 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,080 These are some of the hidden bases 18 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,320 built by governments throughout history. 19 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,799 It's time to bring them to light. 20 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:03,760 In West Virginia, there's a luxury hotel 21 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,240 for the rich and famous that boasts over 700 guest rooms, 22 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,760 exclusive restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, 23 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:15,039 and a secret underground bunker primed for Armageddon. 24 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:23,000 Nuclear anxiety is peaking in the 1950s, 25 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,080 and the U.S. president is concerned 26 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,160 about the safety of the government 27 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:30,720 in the case of nuclear attack. 28 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:32,640 Top of Eisenhower's list of people 29 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,600 who need to survive Armageddon? 30 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:36,680 Members of Congress. 31 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,840 This means finding a location for a bunker that can house 32 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:43,040 1,000 government officials and is discreet enough 33 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,080 to keep it hidden from the public. 34 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,960 The answer? A five-star hotel. 35 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,680 The Greenbrier is a luxury resort 36 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,240 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. 37 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,840 This place is a slice of old-school luxury, 38 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,080 where the rich and powerful come to do business and relax. 39 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,080 You can find presidents or celebrities 40 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:03,880 sipping drinks at the bar. 41 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,560 It sounds like the perfect place 42 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,720 to see out World War III. 43 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:09,280 It's far enough from Washington D.C. 44 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:11,080 that hopefully it could escape the effects 45 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,480 of a direct nuclear attack on the capital city, 46 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,720 but also close enough that people would be able 47 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:17,520 to escape to it in time. 48 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:19,120 It's shielded by mountains 49 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:20,880 for extra protection. 50 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,560 Perhaps what swings it-- literally-- 51 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,240 is the hotel's golfing facilities. 52 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,239 Eisenhower is a regular on the Greenbrier course. 53 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:34,360 The government discreetly 54 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,880 approaches the hotel for their assistance, 55 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,720 and the management at the Greenbrier 56 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,200 are happy to oblige. 57 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,280 The only problem is keeping it a secret. 58 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:45,440 An immense construction project 59 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,160 on the grounds of the Greenbrier 60 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,600 is sure to get the VIP guests gossiping. 61 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,960 So the bunker needs a cover story. 62 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:55,280 The Greenbrier gets a brand-new extension, 63 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,840 the West Virginia Wing. 64 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,640 Underneath, a vast doomsday bunker 65 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,400 unlike any other begins to take shape. 66 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:05,800 The bunker underneath 67 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:07,880 the Greenbrier Hotel 68 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,880 hosts 153 rooms spread out over 112,000 square feet. 69 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,440 There are two chambers 70 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:15,480 for the House and the Senate, 71 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:17,120 and there's this vast hall 72 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:18,720 for joint sessions. 73 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,640 It's essentially a giant underground capital 74 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,520 for the government to continue functioning 75 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:25,520 in the event of a nuclear war. 76 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:28,720 Beyond these chambers are the facilities you'd expect 77 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,200 in a top-of-the-range government survival bunker-- 78 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,840 high pressure shower to rinse off nuclear fallout, 79 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,920 over 1,000 beds for congressmen and women, 80 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:42,840 a hospital, a cafeteria, and a small arsenal of handguns. 81 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:44,840 Perhaps the most impressive features 82 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,720 are two enormous blast doors to seal Congress inside. 83 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,040 Each door is 19 inches thick, weighs 28 tons, 84 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,760 and they're strong enough to withstand a nuclear blast 85 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,160 from only 2,000 feet away. 86 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,600 If a bomb drops on the eighth hole of the golf course, 87 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,400 anyone behind the blast doors will be okay. 88 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,680 And these doors are hidden behind a false wall 89 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,440 in the exhibition hall, just inches away 90 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,640 from where guests are mingling. 91 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,279 For 30 years, the false wall stands firm 92 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:21,560 and the bunker remains hidden from view, until 1992, 93 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,080 when rumors finally begin to leak out. 94 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,480 Ted Gup is an investigative reporter 95 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,520 for "The Washington Post," and an anonymous source 96 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,200 tips him off that the Greenbrier Resort 97 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,840 might not be all that it seems. 98 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,200 Gup speaks to former employees 99 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,560 who confirm that something mysterious is lurking 100 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,960 beneath the West Virginia Wing. 101 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,480 But for a genuine scoop, Gup needs hard evidence. 102 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:52,880 So he decides to go stay at the Greenbrier himself 103 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,240 to see if he can get that final bit of proof. 104 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:58,840 When Gup meets the manager, 105 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,720 he goes straight to the point. 106 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:04,040 He asks, is there a government nuclear 107 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:05,880 fallout shelter under the hotel? 108 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,319 Well, the manager immediately denies this. 109 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,960 Gup doesn't get the answers he's hoping for, 110 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,400 but he's determined not to leave the Greenbrier 111 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,000 without his story. 112 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,640 Gup visits the office of a maintenance company 113 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,720 called Forsythe Associates, who are supposedly 114 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:27,120 in charge of maintaining the Greenbrier TVs. 115 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,280 When he gets to the offices, he sees something strange. 116 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:33,880 He sees a wall covered with books 117 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,640 on nuclear war and Armageddon. 118 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,320 You don't need that if you're building TV antennas. 119 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:42,120 When he digs deeper, he finds out 120 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,080 that many of the people who work at Forsythe Associates 121 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,160 are former U.S. military cryptographers 122 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:49,800 and radio specialists. 123 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,200 Turns out Forsythe Associates is just a front company. 124 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,880 Their real job is maintaining the communications 125 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:57,960 for the bunker. 126 00:05:58,080 --> 00:05:59,400 "The Washington Post" 127 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,319 runs Gup's story on May 31, 1992. 128 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,880 And the Greenbrier's secret is finally unearthed. 129 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,840 Within days, the government goes public 130 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,880 about the Greenbrier bunker 131 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,160 and announces its deactivation. 132 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:20,760 Today, the bunker is a tourist attraction. 133 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,600 For about $50, you can go tour the halls 134 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,040 where the American government might have 135 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:28,279 been reborn after Armageddon. 136 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:32,800 In the event of an attack, 137 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,200 it's not just Congress who needs protecting, 138 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,160 but the president and the vice president too. 139 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,200 On 9/11, U.S. leaders are rushed to a secret bunker 140 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:42,880 beneath the White House. 141 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,320 The only problem is, it's been hidden away so long, 142 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,279 it's 50 years out of date. 143 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,760 In 1950, the White House is undergoing a massive expansion. 144 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:01,040 President Truman is overseeing renovations of the East Wing. 145 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,360 Truman decides that in the atomic age, 146 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:05,760 the White House needs a nuke-proof 147 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,280 emergency shelter, one to be used in the event 148 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,680 of a Soviet attack on D.C. 149 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,680 The $11 million investment under the East Wing 150 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,560 is called the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. 151 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,800 The P-E-O-C, or PEOC, is an underground bunker 152 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:24,920 meant to protect the president and key personnel, 153 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:28,160 meant to ensure continuity of government, 154 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:32,280 and also meant to act as a command and control center 155 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:35,000 in a time of crisis. 156 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,000 It's accessible from an elevator in the East Wing. 157 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:39,880 Behind these heavy steel doors, 158 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:41,280 there's a shower room 159 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,160 for washing off any nuclear fallout. 160 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:47,160 This then leads to a number of rooms, including a food store, 161 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,400 living quarters for the president and the first lady, 162 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,080 and most importantly, the communications center, 163 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,760 which has direct telephone lines to the Pentagon. 164 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,720 Truman's PEOC is a cutting-edge hideaway, 165 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,440 ready and waiting for a threat to the White House. 166 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:05,400 But the threat never comes, 167 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:09,480 and for 50 years, it lies dormant. 168 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,120 Until 2001. 169 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:13,759 Oh, my God, oh, my God. 170 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:18,040 When the Twin Towers are hit 171 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:19,520 and the United States is under attack, 172 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:21,960 President Bush is in Florida. 173 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:26,360 But the first lady, Laura Bush, is in D.C. 174 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,360 Laura Bush was at the Congress. 175 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:30,680 She was at the Capitol. 176 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:38,320 The Secret Service, they sent her to the PEOC. 177 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:40,039 The secret bunker is called on 178 00:08:40,159 --> 00:08:42,240 for the very first time. 179 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,920 Bush had never been to the PEOC before. 180 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,760 She describes walking through a tunnel, 181 00:08:54,880 --> 00:09:00,600 going through these metal doors into the secure facility. 182 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,000 Who was there but Vice President Cheney 183 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:05,720 and Mrs. Cheney. 184 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,280 President Bush is in the air flying back to Washington, 185 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,160 so the vice president is running things 186 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:11,880 from underground. 187 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:13,840 The PEOC is suddenly the most 188 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:17,880 important room on Earth. 189 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,120 Immediately, things start going wrong. 190 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,840 Cheney can't get through to key personnel. 191 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,080 And there's another problem. 192 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,720 The TV screens can play live news programming, 193 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,320 but then they can't hear the internal 194 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,320 video teleconferencing. 195 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:38,840 It's not just the communications 196 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:40,680 that are failing. 197 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:42,480 There is an air problem. 198 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,880 The room is sealed, it's crowded, 199 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,480 and carbon dioxide levels are rising. 200 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,000 With CO2 levels rising, 201 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,880 the evacuated staff start to feel the pressure. 202 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,360 The vice president has to choose. 203 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:57,240 He can either stay in the safety 204 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,800 of this subterranean bomb-proof shelter, 205 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:05,160 or he can go upstairs into the unfolding chaos 206 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:08,040 and take control. 207 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,800 Cheney is instructed to stay underground, 208 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,640 so he's in the failing operations center 209 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:16,240 for the whole day. 210 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,600 The Bushes were asked by the Secret Service 211 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,000 if they wanted to spend the night there. 212 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,160 Neither one wanted to. 213 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:29,040 It was a pretty crammed and not terribly inviting place to be. 214 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,680 The PEOC turns out to be a Cold War relic 215 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:33,360 no longer fit for its purpose. 216 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,040 The details of what happened down there are kept hidden 217 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,280 for nearly a decade. 218 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,240 In 2010, Laura Bush publishes her memoir 219 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:43,320 in which she reveals her experience 220 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,519 in the outdated bunker. 221 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,120 Just months later, diggers start pulling up 222 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:52,840 the White House lawn. 223 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:54,920 In the wake of the PEOC's failings, 224 00:10:55,040 --> 00:11:00,080 a massive renovation project takes place underground. 225 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,960 A new and improved 21st century operations center 226 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,240 is installed five stories below the White House, 227 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,879 so hopefully, something like this never happens again. 228 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,160 The Cold War gave rise to an abundance of hidden bases, 229 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,080 outposts carved into some of the most 230 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,200 extreme environments on Earth. 231 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,120 But one U.S. operation beneath Greenland's ice hides something 232 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,680 far more dangerous: a nuclear launch site 233 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:29,880 buried for nearly three decades. 234 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,200 It's 1956, and the U.S. Department of Defense 235 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,280 releases a documentary about this groundbreaking 236 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:42,720 polar research station in Greenland, 237 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,000 800 miles south of the North Pole. 238 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:46,680 The United States Army 239 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,320 has established an unprecedented nuclear-powered 240 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,120 Arctic Research Center. 241 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:52,680 In the Arctic, you have to contend 242 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,800 with sometimes minus-20 to minus-40 conditions. 243 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:58,600 It's just an incredibly difficult 244 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,040 environment to operate in. 245 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,680 An army colonel named John Kerkering 246 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,880 is tasked with constructing a polar city. 247 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,440 It's housed in huge, covered tunnels 248 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:14,400 with dormitories, a hospital, 249 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,800 even a chapel and a barber shop. 250 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:18,600 The documentary presents the polar 251 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:20,880 research station as being well ahead of its time, 252 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:22,360 primarily because of the fact that 253 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,720 it is powered entirely by the world's first 254 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,240 portable nuclear reactor. 255 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:30,800 The name of the base is Camp Century. 256 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,840 It's an ambitious project. 257 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,080 They put a nuclear reactor in one of the most 258 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:39,879 brutal and difficult environments on Earth. 259 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:43,880 As wild as that is, that's not even 260 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:45,879 the craziest thing about this. 261 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:49,600 Although only a few people know it, 262 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:52,159 Camp Century is just a cover story. 263 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,120 The real plan here is to construct 264 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:02,640 an immense nuclear launch site deep under the snow. 265 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:04,879 Its name: Project Iceworm. 266 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,320 When Project Iceworm was envisioned, 267 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:13,160 there were a lot of legitimate fears 268 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,200 that we were on the precipice of nuclear war. 269 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,640 In the 1950s, the threat of nuclear war 270 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:20,600 couldn't be more serious. 271 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,680 Iceworm will give the West an opportunity to survive it all. 272 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:30,200 Their idea is to have hundreds of nuclear warheads 273 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:36,360 all prepped, all ready to go in the tunnels under the ice. 274 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,000 A full-on nuclear arsenal. 275 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:40,600 If the Russians initiated 276 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,520 a nuclear first strike on America, 277 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:45,880 there would be the secondary base in Greenland 278 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,119 that could fire retaliatory counterattacks into Russia. 279 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,600 The Camp Century cover story is so convincing 280 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,280 it fools the Russians. 281 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,120 They did actually do experiments there and work 282 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,800 on science, but it was basically 283 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:08,520 a test bed to see what else we could do under the Arctic ice. 284 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:10,760 In the end, the real challenge 285 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,200 to the success of Project Iceworm 286 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,280 doesn't come from being discovered, 287 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,800 but from the landscape itself. 288 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,520 The Greenland ice cap is so dynamic, 289 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,920 you just can't maintain a permanent structure 290 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:25,640 underneath the ice. 291 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:27,800 The base was being sandwiched 292 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:29,800 between the ice walls as they constricted, 293 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:32,880 because every year, the ice moves another 6 feet. 294 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,560 You've got 600 nuclear warheads 295 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:37,440 and a nuclear reactor. 296 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,120 You cannot put them in shifting ice. 297 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,600 And so Camp Century is abandoned in 1967. 298 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,520 They end up pulling the plug on the entire thing, 299 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:50,680 and they just walk away. 300 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:52,720 I think the line is, we'll just open the door 301 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:54,440 and let it snow. 302 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:56,160 And they thought it would be permanently entombed 303 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,599 in this ice and be safe in that way. 304 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,400 Although the nuclear reactor at Camp Century was removed, 305 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:05,920 the material that was left behind 306 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,040 is still dangerous to the environment. 307 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,520 The truth stays buried until 1996, 308 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:13,680 when newly declassified documents reveal 309 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,000 the shocking truth about Camp Century, 310 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,200 that this Arctic research base was no mere science lab 311 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,160 but a front for a nuclear launch site 312 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:24,039 hidden beneath the ice. 313 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,960 The same decade that the U.S. uses the Arctic to hide nukes, 314 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:31,840 they conceal their newest spy station 315 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,679 not on Earth but in space. 316 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,520 The U.S. develop and test a two-man operated 317 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,600 scientific research station. 318 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,600 A program designed to evaluate 319 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:49,400 man's performance in space over extended periods of time. 320 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,520 It's designed to remain in orbit 321 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,440 150 miles above the Earth's surface. 322 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:59,760 It's 60 feet long with a laboratory and a living space. 323 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:01,360 The design team comes up 324 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:03,840 with incredible innovations. 325 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:05,720 They develop the next generation 326 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:07,359 of flexible spacesuits. 327 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,360 The laboratory simulator becomes part 328 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,360 of NASA's future projects, as does the MOL's 329 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:17,760 waste generation system. 330 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,760 The individuals who trained on the MOL 331 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:21,520 later went on to be pioneers 332 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,840 who manned some of the early space shuttle missions. 333 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,360 The project's greatest technical 334 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:28,799 breakthrough is its own giant camera. 335 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:33,959 The camera is the size of a car. 336 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,280 It uses an external mirror that is as tall as a man. 337 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,000 It is described as the perfect tool 338 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:45,120 for conducting scientific studies of Earth. 339 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:47,160 Things like tracking tectonic plates 340 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,920 or air pollution or studying the polar caps. 341 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,680 All to benefit humankind. 342 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,879 The benefits seem endless. 343 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,480 In November 1966, the first prototype 344 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,520 is ready for test launch. 345 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,640 Launch commit lights are green. 346 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,640 T minus 10 seconds. 347 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,520 The MOL enters orbit and remains in contact 348 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:14,358 with the Earth for 30 days. 349 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,040 It's a huge success. 350 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:23,800 But behind all the excitement 351 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:26,720 hides a stunning secret. 352 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:30,360 In 2015, the military declassifies documents 353 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:32,680 that expose the science project 354 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:34,159 as an elaborate cover story. 355 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:38,920 It's really a hidden base 356 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,800 designed to spy on the Russians. 357 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:44,680 Since 1960, the American military 358 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,480 has been monitoring Russia's nuclear capabilities 359 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:49,000 from surveillance satellites. 360 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:50,800 Photographs from space 361 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,120 of value to strategic intelligence 362 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,640 completely revolutionize the intelligence process. 363 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,280 After the cameras take the pictures, 364 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,800 the film needs to be processed back on Earth. 365 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,520 By that point, it could be too late to react. 366 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,080 What good is intel on an enemy attack 367 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,440 if it arrives too late to respond? 368 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:18,040 One solution is a spy camera operated by astronauts. 369 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:19,960 The crew on the MOL could actually 370 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:21,600 direct the camera at exactly what they 371 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:23,039 wanted to take a picture of. 372 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:28,600 They can report what they are looking at, 373 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:30,800 and then the crew back on Earth knows exactly 374 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:33,280 what photos they'll be getting. 375 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:38,080 From its orbit between 150 to 170 miles, 376 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:43,400 it can resolve places and objects 9,000 feet across. 377 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,920 That's easily big enough to get detail 378 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,520 from military installations and other really important sites 379 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:52,839 that the United States is trying to spy on. 380 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:56,920 The camera works, 381 00:18:57,040 --> 00:18:58,960 but the price of this hidden space base? 382 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,240 A whopping $13 billion. 383 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,000 It was too expensive, and the evolution of technology 384 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,520 was making modern day satellites better equipped 385 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,120 to carry out the same operation 386 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:11,760 that the MOL was supposed to carry out. 387 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,240 The MOL is mothballed after just one flight, 388 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:17,760 but there's one more twist to this tale. 389 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,600 The cover story that the MOL will make discoveries 390 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,800 for the benefit of the planet ultimately comes true. 391 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:28,160 Technology from the MOL would be used in Skylab, 392 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,240 America's first space station. 393 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,000 Launched in May 1973, it proves humans can live 394 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:37,599 in space for weeks at a time. 395 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:43,040 In World War II, the U.S. military needs 396 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,360 to disguise a crucial 26-acre aircraft plant 397 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:46,960 from Japanese bombers. 398 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,360 So they turn to an amateur magician 399 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,800 and ask him to make the entire factory disappear. 400 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,040 When the Japanese bomb the U.S. fleet 401 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,720 at Pearl Harbor, the United States 402 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,840 immediately declares war against Japan. 403 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,400 But the United States is not particularly 404 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,480 well-prepared for a war with Japan, 405 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,360 and in February of 1942, about two months 406 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,400 after the Pearl Harbor attack, a Japanese submarine 407 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:21,280 surfaces off the coast of California 408 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,480 and shells an oil field. 409 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,720 And this really ramps up American fears 410 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:29,480 of the possibility of a Japanese attack 411 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,599 on the West Coast. 412 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,080 What the U.S. is really concerned with 413 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,960 is the vulnerability of our aircraft 414 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,920 and shipbuilding plants on the West Coast. 415 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:44,280 If the Japanese bombers were to strike there, 416 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,800 they could destroy this nascent industry 417 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,920 and just flatten it before it ever gets off the ground. 418 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:51,560 An attack on these factories 419 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,120 could totally cripple America's war effort. 420 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,040 One location in particular 421 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,160 keeps U.S. generals awake at night: 422 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,880 Boeing's vast Plant 2 aircraft factory. 423 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,600 Boeing's Plant 2 is a state-of-the-art 424 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,160 million square foot aircraft facility 425 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:10,920 in Seattle, Washington. 426 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,400 It employs over 30,000 workers who churn out 427 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:17,840 over 300 B-17 bombers a month. 428 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,880 To protect Plant 2, the U.S. military 429 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,040 turns to engineer Colonel John Ohmer Jr. 430 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,120 He's the perfect guy for this job. 431 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,040 Number one, he's an expert in camouflage. 432 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,800 And number two, as a hobby, he is a magician. 433 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,840 So who better to make an entire factory disappear? 434 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:39,800 If Ohmer can disguise Plant 2 435 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:41,960 to make it vanish, 436 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,600 it will be the greatest magic trick of his life. 437 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,680 But hiding a sprawling mega factory 438 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,320 will take far more than a few rolls of camo netting. 439 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,520 Ohmer must think bigger. 440 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:56,920 Ohmer decides to build an entire fake town 441 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,920 on the roof of the factory, a whole 3D model neighborhood 442 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,000 perched right on top of Plant 2. 443 00:22:04,120 --> 00:22:05,840 Ohmer wants to make the entire Boeing 444 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,800 production plant disappear when viewed from above. 445 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,720 To any Japanese pilot, this giant aircraft facility 446 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,440 will look like just another residential suburb. 447 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:19,640 Ohmer's plan gets approved, 448 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,360 but given the possibility of a Japanese attack, 449 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,120 there's no time to lose. 450 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,680 For help, he turns to Hollywood. 451 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:35,120 The film business is filled with set designers, stagehands, 452 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,200 carpenters, and decorators who have made 453 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:40,200 their entire careers building fake worlds 454 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:41,960 on tight schedules. 455 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:46,320 Ohmer realizes that they're the perfect collaborators. 456 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:48,640 Ohmer recruits John Stewart Detlie, 457 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,320 an Oscar-nominated art director in Hollywood who's also married 458 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,600 to the star Veronica Lake, and puts him in charge 459 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,560 of the project up in Seattle. 460 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,960 Together, they assemble a Hollywood dream team 461 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,040 of 13 architects, 8 commercial artists, 462 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,200 7 landscape architects, 5 engineers, 463 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,720 and 1 soil management expert. 464 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:12,880 Nothing is overlooked. 465 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,720 They get to work on construction. 466 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,200 First, they stretch 26 acres of netting across the roof 467 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,600 of the plant 50 feet off the ground, 468 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,240 creating an elevated blank canvas. 469 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,240 On top of this, they begin to construct their fake town. 470 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:32,840 Next, the team has a brainwave. 471 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,480 From the air, it's impossible to tell how tall a building is. 472 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,720 And since they're running a race against time, 473 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,240 they decide to cut some corners. 474 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,160 They can build them a third of the height 475 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,520 using plywood and canvas. 476 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,440 Ohmer's attention to detail is incredible. 477 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,080 He actually gets Hollywood set designers 478 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,680 to create a special paint that won't absorb heat from the sun 479 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,560 and give away the fact that the fiberglass trees 480 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,240 are not authentic organic vegetative material. 481 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:07,880 Soon, a strange miniature town appears, 482 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:12,120 53 houses, a dozen garages, greenhouses, 483 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,440 a service station, even a corner store. 484 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:18,720 Then it's brought to life. 485 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,200 Detlie and his people put in fake trees 486 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:22,760 made out of fiberglass. 487 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:24,640 And for the foliage on the trees, 488 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:29,360 they use chicken feathers painted in appropriate greens. 489 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,440 Now all this Hollywood production needs 490 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,080 to make it sing is a cast. 491 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,120 Boeing employees are encouraged 492 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,520 to spend their breaks on the rooftop, 493 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:41,680 moving cars, straightening laundry, 494 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,640 or just lounging on fake porches. 495 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,400 The total cost of the subterfuge is $3 million. 496 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,840 Now, at the time, that's ten times the price 497 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,000 of making a major Hollywood movie. 498 00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:58,160 By spring 1943, it's finished. 499 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,560 Now Ohmer's grand disguise needs to be put to the test 500 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,920 by top brass back in Washington. 501 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,600 They send cameras up in open cockpit planes. 502 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,280 They look down, capture images, 503 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,320 and what they find is startling. 504 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:16,320 The town works. 505 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,800 This giant factory with thousands of workers 506 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,680 has completely disappeared. 507 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:23,600 Japan's bombers never make it 508 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,920 to the U.S. mainland, 509 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:30,320 and Ohmer's illusion is never truly tested. 510 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,280 But the entire operation is kept secret from the public 511 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,960 until the end of the war. 512 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:37,880 It's only as the Americans are closing in 513 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,640 on the Japanese homeland in late July of 1945 514 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,400 that they feel confident enough to tell the public. 515 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,920 On July 23rd, three weeks before V-J Day, 516 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,600 "The Seattle Daily Times" unveils the fake town 517 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,040 to their astonished readers, 518 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,120 dubbing it the "Boeing Wonderland." 519 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,440 In the 1950s, the CIA creates an entire country. 520 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,800 It's on a 9,000-acre site in West Virginia, 521 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,440 and its secret purpose is to train the next generation 522 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:10,920 of super spies. 523 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:17,520 At the dawn of the Cold War, 524 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,520 the CIA realizes that this is a conflict 525 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,000 that's not going to be fought by traditional soldiers 526 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:26,360 with bullets and bombs, but by covert agents 527 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,480 stealing secrets from under the enemy's nose. 528 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,240 But when it comes to training spies, though, 529 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:32,880 the Americans are on their back foot 530 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:34,960 compared to their rivals at the KGB. 531 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,160 The KGB has a decades-old infrastructure 532 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:42,440 for training spies, and CIA is relatively new to the game. 533 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,520 So they realize that if they're going to keep up 534 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,840 with their KGB counterparts, they have to step up big. 535 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,320 The spy craft skills that could save your life 536 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,120 and maybe even your country 537 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,800 isn't something that's taught in any college or university. 538 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,440 The CIA brass realizes that their agents need training 539 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,240 to prepare them for the real world, 540 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,920 what they're gonna face out there in the field. 541 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:09,480 So in secret, they set up a new espionage university. 542 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:10,880 The first step is finding 543 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,080 the right place for a campus. 544 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,080 They need a very large place, someplace secluded, 545 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,680 someplace cut-off, but someplace large enough 546 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,440 with infrastructure enough to simulate the activities 547 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,560 of a normal city. 548 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:25,840 They find it at a former naval base 549 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,280 called Camp Peary. 550 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,320 It stretches for 9,000 acres, 551 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:32,759 more than half the size of Manhattan. 552 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,400 To the outside world, Camp Peary 553 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,440 remains a regular naval base. 554 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,800 But behind its fences, the site is transformed 555 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,800 into an elite proving ground for spies. 556 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,280 It's described as a regular naval training center, 557 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,840 designed not to invite a second look. 558 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,960 But trainees refer to it as the Farm, 559 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,480 and generations of spies are secretly schooled there, 560 00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,399 right up to the present day. 561 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:03,240 Training begins when students leave 562 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:07,560 CIA headquarters in Langley on a blacked-out bus. 563 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,680 The men and women chosen for this are among the most elite. 564 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,920 They've gone through rigorous testing, psychological testing, 565 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,480 physical testing to prove that they are 566 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,760 truly the best of the best. 567 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,400 When a CIA trainee arrives at the Farm, 568 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,760 they leave their real identity at the door. 569 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,160 They're given a new cover story that they must maintain 570 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,040 throughout the training. 571 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:30,880 They are leaving the real world 572 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,360 to go into a fake world, a fake microstate 573 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,600 that simulates life in a foreign country. 574 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,120 And it's in this simulated country 575 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,520 that their undercover training begins. 576 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:47,520 The whole location of the Farm is one giant set. 577 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:52,000 There's a town square, a shady downtown neighborhood, 578 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,360 suburbs, and then the countryside. 579 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,880 Everyone on the site, from visiting diplomats 580 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,320 to the local café owner, 581 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,440 is a veteran CIA operative playing a role. 582 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,800 There's even a cable news channel 583 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,200 reporting on the region's fictional politics. 584 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,679 The Farm really is Disney World for adults. 585 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,360 In this college, lessons 586 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:15,960 aren't learned in the classroom 587 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,680 but on the streets of its fake town. 588 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,400 The foundation of undercover work 589 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:22,440 is being able to recruit and handle 590 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,160 foreign intelligence sources. 591 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,160 You're looking for people who have access to secrets. 592 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,000 The whole time, they're playing cat and mouse 593 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:35,240 with their rivals and enemies, other students and operatives 594 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,880 who are trying to catch them out. 595 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:39,880 Outfoxing the enemy calls for 596 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:41,680 some of the more advanced maneuvers 597 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,680 that a wannabe James Bond must learn. 598 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,360 They train how to flip a car during a car chase 599 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,240 and had to get in a firefight and not shoot 600 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,440 unarmed, innocent civilians, 601 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,040 how to parachute out of aircraft 602 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,200 and survive in the woods on no food. 603 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:58,920 You learn all the kind of things 604 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,880 that you would see in a spy movie. 605 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:03,680 New recruits are pushed 606 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,520 to the edge of their wits. 607 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:11,200 After six months of intense blood, sweat, tears, stress, 608 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:16,080 strain, anxiety, the siren blares out and signals 609 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:20,800 that the simulation is over, and any trainees that are left 610 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:22,760 have made the cut. 611 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,560 The government has never officially admitted 612 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,480 the Farm exists, and graduates rarely 613 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,560 go on the record about this hidden base-- 614 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:32,560 until 2019. 615 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,200 Former CIA intelligence officer Amaryllis Fox 616 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,480 actually wrote about all of her experiences 617 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,319 at the Farm in her book, "Life Undercover." 618 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,720 The Farm is truly a journey 619 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,560 that's inspiring and pleasurable 620 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,600 more than it is something that's scary and terrifying. 621 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:51,560 The scary and terrifying part is 622 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,080 when you have to use those skills in the real world. 623 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:58,480 It's the Cold War, and underground nuke-proof 624 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,600 bunkers are all the rage. Every world leader has one. 625 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,680 For Stalin, though, protecting his government is not enough. 626 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,960 He wants a shelter big enough to hide his submarines. 627 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,800 By 1953, Stalin is growing incredibly concerned 628 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,760 by America's increasing nuclear arsenal, 629 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,600 and he fears that a single strike could knock out 630 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:26,760 a large part of his military. 631 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:28,679 In particular, his submarines. 632 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:32,960 At this time, the Soviet submarine fleet 633 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,440 is the largest in the world, boasting over 300 vessels. 634 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,000 And each one of these submarines 635 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,920 is worth over $10 million. 636 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,360 Stalin wants his billion dollar fleet 637 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:49,480 hidden away from prying eyes and safe from falling bombs. 638 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:51,400 Stalin orders something that has never been 639 00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:53,880 attempted before, a nuclear-proof 640 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,440 underground stronghold with a secret gate to let subs 641 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,720 pass into and from the ocean in total secrecy. 642 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,160 To find a location for his super base, 643 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,000 Stalin turns to one of the few people he trusts, 644 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:09,759 Lavrentiy Beria. 645 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,800 Lavrentiy Beria is the head of the Soviet KGB. 646 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,840 He's in a position of great authority and power, 647 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:22,880 and a confidant of Stalin's. 648 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,840 Stalin turns to Beria to identify a place 649 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:30,680 for a reinforced submarine base that can survive 650 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:32,799 a thermonuclear attack. 651 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,920 Beria and his team spend months 652 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,680 scouring the coastlines, looking for an ideal location 653 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,520 that will afford maximum security 654 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,480 and natural protection. 655 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:51,520 They find a remote bay on the Black Sea called Balaklava. 656 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,440 Balaklava is home to a twisting inlet 657 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,600 around 200 meters deep. 658 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,120 It's sheltered from storms, with a narrow entrance 659 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,600 that's impossible to spot from the open sea. 660 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,800 It's also just 9 miles from the Soviet naval port 661 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:09,120 at Sevastopol, which houses Stalin's Black Sea fleet. 662 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:10,840 It's perfect. 663 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:12,880 Now Stalin's team must dig out 664 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,560 one of the world's biggest nuclear bunkers 665 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,520 without anyone realizing. 666 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,160 It's gonna take years to build. 667 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:21,680 And it's happening right around the corner 668 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:23,600 from a regular old fishing town. 669 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,520 So keeping it secret is gonna be a huge challenge. 670 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,840 The Soviets immediately declare Balaklava is closed 671 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,200 and effectively remove it from the map. 672 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,640 Then they secretly bus in workers 673 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,600 to start building the facility. 674 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:40,360 During the night, materials are brought in, 675 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,960 and during the night, debris that is being created 676 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,400 as they tunnel out a mountain is taken out. 677 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:50,800 Meanwhile, any entrances and ventilation shafts 678 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:52,600 are covered with netting. 679 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,440 This will protect the Soviets from any fly-over surveillance 680 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:57,639 that might see what's going on. 681 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,240 It takes eight years to extract 682 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,880 nearly 120,000 tons of rock from the mountain, 683 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,880 carving out a Cold War marvel in the process. 684 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,080 The finished base can hide ten submarines, 685 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:17,080 including seven in one central channel that's 500 meters long. 686 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:21,040 It also includes a dry dock, missile storage, 687 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:25,000 command rooms, and a power and filtration system, 688 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:27,880 all of it under 130 meters of rock 689 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,080 with 4.5-meter thick concrete walls. 690 00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:35,199 It's designed to withstand a direct nuclear bomb strike 691 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,560 of up to 100 kilotons. 692 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:41,079 That's six to seven times that of the Hiroshima bomb. 693 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:44,880 It can be completely sealed 694 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,120 with a set of colossal underwater gates 695 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,280 made from 150 tons of solid steel. 696 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,080 They are 7 meters high, 10 meters wide, 697 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:55,679 and provide the final line of defense, 698 00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,600 guaranteeing protection for the submarines inside. 699 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:01,880 The most secure room in the heart of the complex 700 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:03,960 is where the nuclear warheads are stored. 701 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,720 The base isn't just designed to withstand an atomic blast; 702 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,040 it's fully prepared for retaliation. 703 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,000 In the event of a nuclear war, 704 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:16,920 3,000 people can hide in here for up to 30 days. 705 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:19,720 This place is virtually indestructible. 706 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,000 Basically, it's something out of a Bond film. 707 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,000 Despite extreme efforts to avoid detection, 708 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,440 rumors about the Balaklava base start to leak out. 709 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:32,240 The area around Sevastopol is photographed. 710 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,480 The area of Balaklava is photographed. 711 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,720 U.S. spies piece together 712 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:38,640 small fragments of intel, 713 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:40,680 but the base is so effectively hidden 714 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,080 that its full nature remains shrouded in mystery. 715 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,680 Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union 716 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,160 is this secret site deactivated. 717 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:51,400 In 2003, this Cold War labyrinth 718 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,360 is open to the public as a museum. 719 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,160 For several years, its tunnels echo 720 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:01,400 with the footsteps of tourists rather than military officers. 721 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,200 But after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, 722 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,400 the base is back in the conversation. 723 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,480 And the rumors are, it's being reactivated. 724 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,360 America's first president had a Virginia estate 725 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,720 famously known as Mount Vernon. 726 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,400 Part of it is now a popular tourist spot named Fort Hunt. 727 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,560 But back in World War II, it served a much darker purpose 728 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:28,400 that was hidden from the public for decades. 729 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:36,720 The national park at Fort Hunt 730 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,320 has a direct link to America's founding father, 731 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,280 and was also a Confederate stronghold in the Civil War. 732 00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,240 One day, a curious tourist is walking around the site 733 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:46,880 and asked one of the park rangers 734 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,280 what happened here during the Second World War. 735 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,320 And the park ranger was caught off-guard by this question 736 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:54,240 and said, well, I'm not sure, but I'm gonna have 737 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:55,399 to look into the matter. 738 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,000 The park service manages to track down the men 739 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,720 with the answers: veterans who had been sworn 740 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,160 to secrecy their whole lives. 741 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,920 But 60 years after the end of the war, 742 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,680 they shared the truth about Fort Hunt. 743 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:13,680 It was a prison codenamed after its address, 744 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,719 PO Box 1142. 745 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,480 The prisoners of war that are being incarcerated 746 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,040 at PO Box 1142 were high-ranking German officers 747 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,160 captured off of the battlefields of Europe 748 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:32,440 and North Africa who could provide 749 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,640 very useful intelligence information. 750 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,560 That Nazi prisoners are secretly brought to the U.S. 751 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:40,040 is surprising enough. 752 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,040 But what's more, the interrogations 753 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,519 at this black site are the opposite of what you'd expect. 754 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:49,000 They did the most primal thing 755 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,880 that we need as human beings. They allowed them to feel safe. 756 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,120 You inspire someone to share the truth 757 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:56,240 before they have an opportunity to lie. 758 00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,360 And what they did to do that is, they treated them well. 759 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,920 These Germans are treated to luxury-- 760 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:06,120 fine clothes, cocktails, trips to the swimming pool 761 00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:09,720 and movies because the whole site is rigged 762 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,680 with hidden microphones. 763 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:16,000 The bugs are placed in the bedrooms, the mess hall, 764 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:17,880 even the trees. 765 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:22,400 Comfort rises, shields come down, mouths open up. 766 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:24,200 This was a bold move. 767 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,120 Counterintuitive interrogation is not new, 768 00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:28,880 but there are few examples of it 769 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,600 being done in quite this way. 770 00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:33,800 There's such secrecy behind this camp 771 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,040 because there would have been a complete public outcry 772 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,280 if the public knew how well we were treating Nazis. 773 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,000 The predominantly Jewish American interrogators 774 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,880 are refugees chosen for their fluency in German. 775 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,280 In this way, vital intelligence 776 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,520 is secretly extracted from the Nazis. 777 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:56,640 The most astonishing is the name of a location 778 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:01,480 that changes the course of the war for one ally-- 779 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:02,559 Britain. 780 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,120 The United Kingdom had survived 781 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:10,240 the Battle of Britain and the blitz. 782 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,600 And then word starts to emerge that 783 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:16,200 something worse is coming: 784 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:21,600 The V1 rocket, also known as the "buzz bomb." 785 00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:27,560 Then, incredibly, there's a breakthrough at PO Box 1142. 786 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:30,120 In the summer of 1943, during a chat 787 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:32,360 between two German naval officers in the room, 788 00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:35,000 one of them lets slip that 789 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,120 when the work at Peenemuende prevails, 790 00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:39,840 Germany will be victorious. 791 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:41,840 When Allied photo reconnaissance aircraft 792 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,880 then fly down and photograph Peenemuende, 793 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,480 they hit the jackpot. 794 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,280 The island is home to the secret rocket factory 795 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,199 where the V1 is being built. 796 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,799 The Allies immediately hit it with everything they've got. 797 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:08,400 596 Lancasters hit Peenemuende in one night 798 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:13,040 and absolutely destroyed the entire complex. 799 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,960 Forced the enemy to move all assembly underground. 800 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:18,640 And that's not how you win a war. 801 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:20,480 This one piece of intelligence 802 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:24,720 secretly obtained from two chatting Nazis at PO Box 1142 803 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:26,960 delays the Nazi plans. 804 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,080 This intelligence literally saved 805 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:30,920 hundreds of thousands of lives. 806 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:35,000 As they always say, loose lips sink ships. 807 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:40,160 When the war ends, PO Box 1142 is decommissioned. 808 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:42,960 Every reference to its mission is classified, 809 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:47,000 and its interrogators are sworn to secrecy. 810 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,120 Fort Hunt then kind of packs everything up, 811 00:40:49,240 --> 00:40:52,360 and this chapter of its history is largely forgotten, 812 00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:57,240 and the U.S. government kind of wants it to be forgotten. 813 00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:59,040 And that's because the operation 814 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:01,880 that was carried out there was something that violated 815 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:04,880 our obligations in the treatment of prisoners of war. 816 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,680 We were not permitted to eavesdrop. 817 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:10,920 However controversial the tactics were, 818 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:12,720 they are now part of the history 819 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,000 that tourists come to enjoy at Fort Hunt. 820 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,080 From deep space bases to buried bunkers, 821 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:22,840 governments have long disguised secret sites across the Earth. 822 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:25,320 But no matter how hidden a black site is, 823 00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,560 it will always be unearthed in the end.