Free 100 Places You Will Never Visit by Daniel Smith

its metal-clad ingresses are visible from nearby Route 16. However, anyone who stumbles across the complex will encounter razor-wire fencing and conspicuous red warning signs.
    UNDER THE ROCK An overview of the Raven Rock Mountain Complex, built amid the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the early Cold War. While the odd driver along Route 16 may glimpse one of the entry portals, they are given little clue as to the vast infrastructure that lies within the mountain.
    Nonetheless, Raven Rock is a product of its times. Many of its technological features soon became obsolete, and rumors of its existence quickly spread—something of a problem for a secret base. Plans to overhaul the complex for modern operations were drawn up in the late 1970s, but were abandoned before the decade was out.
    Even more damaging to its prospects in the 1980s was the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev through the political ranks of the USSR. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, it seemed as if Raven Rock had come to the end of its useful life—a mothballed future appeared its most likely fate.
    But there was to be another twist. Dick Cheney, Vice-President to George W. Bush, reputedly stayed in Raven Rock for one or more spells after the terrorist atrocities in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. Never had there been such a direct attack on the nation’s heart of government as when the Pentagon, the core of the nation’s defense system, was hit by a hijacked airplane. Suddenly the world seemed far less secure than it had the day before, and the need for an alternative operations base in case of a future, even more devastating hit on Washington seemed more important than ever. The future of Raven Rock was, for the short-to mid-term at least, secured.
    Today, the majority of operations carried out at Raven Rock are still highly classified. Access is strictly monitored and confidentiality is a prerequisite for all staff and visitors. It is illegal to photograph, map or sketch the site without prior permission, and cellular mobile phones and other modern communication devices are not allowed. In fact, even if a phone did find its way in, it would be useless as there is no service. However, anyone found guilty of breaching security can expect to experience the full force of the law, whether in the form of a hefty fine or a spell in prison.
    For a no-longer-secret secret base, covertness remains high on the agenda and no one can be too sure what is going on inside that mountain—it can only be hoped that it need never be used as an emergency base for the US government.
    AERIAL VIEW The complex boasts an impressive array of communications hardware, including a forest of antennae or aerials on top of the mountain. As early as 1951, local newspapers were speculating about the construction of a “Second Pentagon” at the site, though some have argued that the facility was out of date almost as soon as it was completed.
    24 CIA Headquarters
    LOCATION Langley, Fairfax County, Virginia, USA
    NEAREST POPULATION HUB Washington, DC
    SECRECY OVERVIEW Operations classified: the home of the CIA, the USA’s intelligence agency.
    The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is responsible for providing intelligence on matters of national security to Washington’s policymakers. As well as operating an unrivaled network of spies around the world, it also engages in covert action when required to do so by the President. The George Bush Center for Intelligence, the CIA’s home at Langley, Virginia, is among the most secure buildings on the globe.
    Ever since evicting the British from America in the 18th century, the government of the United States has been involved in intelligence gathering at home and abroad—yet the CIA is relatively new on the scene. By the 1880s, both the navy and army had their own independent spying operations, and in the aftermath of the First World War their respective duties fell under the remit