US Building $100-Million Underground Bunker at Secret Israeli Missile Base

Walter Pincus reported in The Washington Post a few days ago that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has put out a request for proposals, seeking contractors with top-secret clearances to develop a $100-million underground military facility for the Israeli army. Here’s the project description:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named “Site 911,” at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv.

Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the facility is to have classrooms on Level 1, an auditorium on Level 3, a laboratory, shock-resistant doors, protection from nonionizing radiation and very tight security. Clearances will be required for all construction workers, guards will be at the fence and barriers will separate it from the rest of the base.

The article also notes that in the past the Corps has built facilities for Israel’s nuclear missiles. So it should come as no surprise that a highly placed Israeli source tells me that the site for this project is the top-secret Israeli missile base Sdot Micha, located near Beit Shemesh (about 15 miles from Jerusalem). That’s where the country’s ICBM (nuclear-armed Jerichos) fleet is housed. The site is so hush-hush that a 2010 article about it in Yediot had passages censored from it that came directly from the widely accessible Global Security website. Censors are often not known for subtlety or even common sense.

The U.S.-built underground site is to be nuclear-hardened so that it can withstand a WMD attack from an Israeli enemy. This would allow Israel’s missile command-and-control system to continue operating despite a potential massive and devastating attack. According to this source, the IDF already has a nuke-proof command center under the Kirya, its Tel Aviv headquarters.

Since we know that Israel and the U.S. both spy on each other, I find it extraordinary that Israel would trust the U.S. to build one of its most sensitive military facilities. In fact, I know personally that the FBI bugged the Washington, D.C. Israeli embassy over a period of years. The Mossad has for decades operated here. Why doesn’t Israel fear the U.S. would do the same with these facilities?

One answer may be that the project is financed under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, meaning our government is financing the project gratis to the Israeli taxpayer. For Israel, economy trumps self-reliance.

One has to ask: which enemy is Israel defending against in building this complex? Since the project will take two years to complete, that would be around the time a number of analysts believe that Iran could have nuclear capability should it choose to create a weapon.

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Permalink Reply by Deep Space on March 12, 2013 at 7:53am

Why Is The US Spending Hundreds Of Millions On These Secret Israeli Bunkers?

Robert Johnson | Mar. 7, 2013

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-site-y-911-phase-ii-tel-aviv-isra...

Photoshop/Wikimedia

Last year it was announced the U.S. was looking to build a secret underground complex in Israel. On February 13 a contract was awarded to Conti Corp Federal Services in Edison, NJ to complete the project.

Their bid of almost $63 million came in well below the possible $100 million set aside for the project.

Conti's bid went toward building five underground levels and six above ground buildings that they have 900 days from February 13 to complete.

The U.S. government then issued another request for proposal December 28 to construct Site 81 Phase II. Also in Israel, also partially underground, this project calls for up to $100,000,000 to refinish six underground facilities and some currently occupied surface buildings.

Walter Pincus from the Washington Post fleshed out the original Proposal construction project, called Site 911 in November.

That nearly $63 million project awarded to Conti can be built only by workers from specific countries with proper security clearances.

When complete the well-guarded compound will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory — all wedged behind shock resistant doors — with radiation protection and massive security.

Only one gate will allow workers entrance and exit during the project and that will be guarded by only Israelis.

The bottom two floors are smaller, according to the full line of schematics uploaded to the Army's Acquisition Business Web Site, and possibly used for equipment and storage.

As impressive as the American design features already are, Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects will decorate the entire site with rocks it chooses, but are paid for by the contractor, and provide three outdoor picnic tables.

Pincus also found this detailed description of the mezuzahs that will adorn every door in the facility:

These mezuzas, notes the [US Army] Corps, “shall be written in in-erasable ink, on . . . un-coated leather parchment” and be handwritten by a scribe “holding a written authorization according to Jewish law.” The writing may be “Ashkenazik or Sepharadik” but “not a mixture” and “must be uniform.”

Also, “The Mezuzahs shall be proof-read by a computer at an authorized institution for Mezuzah inspection, as well as manually proof-read for the form of the letters by a proof-reader authorized by the Chief Rabbinate.” The mezuza shall be supplied with an aluminum housing with holes so it can be connected to the door frame or opening. Finally, “All Mezuzahs for the facility shall be affixed by the Base’s Rabbi or his appointed representative and not by the contractor staff.”

Pincus finds the “complex facility with site development challenges” requiring services that include “electrical, communication, mechanical/ HVAC [heating, ventilation, air conditioning] and plumbing” requirements telling; and along with the fact that the contractor must posses a U.S. or Israeli Secret Security Clearance, he believes this phase to be a secure command center.

Pulitzer Prize winning, Yale grad, born in 1932 whose worked intelligence and media in D.C. since 1955 closes his piece with these shadowy words.

"The purpose of Site 911 is [un] clear." Our calls to the project leader for Site 81, Michael Pearson, sent us to a disconnected number and we are awaiting an email reply.

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-site-y-911-phase-ii-tel-aviv-isra...