Cable News: Secret "black" wires beneath Washington poses problem for Metro expansion
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053002114.html
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- FreshPlastic
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Workmen near Washington DC have to be very careful when digging. There's the usual hazards that construction crews face in cities and towns around the world but then there's the unusual.
See, the utility companies usually have maps of where their cables and pipes go. These maps are useful when a water company needs to dig up the road to fix a leak. Or, a construction company needs to do groundwork for a new building. Some things underground don't belong to any utility and aren't on any map.
In Tysons Corner, Virginia, three black SUVs turned up and half a dozen guys in suits got out of them just moments after a construction crew hit a fibre-optic cable - with one saying "You just hit our line".
The construction company assumed they'd hit a "black" wire, a secure communications line used by the US government. See, you don't ask questions about these things - you answer them!
This particular incident happened a few years back, so why in the Washington Post now? The Washington subway system is being expanded and these "black" lines are beginning to pose an even bigger problem:
"Black wire is one of the looming perils of the massive construction that has come to Tysons, where miles and miles of secure lines are thought to serve such nearby agencies as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center and, a few miles away in McLean, the Central Intelligence Agency. After decades spent cutting through red tape to begin work on a Metrorail extension and the widening of the Capital Beltway, crews are now stirring up tons of dirt where the black lines are located."
See, the utility companies usually have maps of where their cables and pipes go. These maps are useful when a water company needs to dig up the road to fix a leak. Or, a construction company needs to do groundwork for a new building. Some things underground don't belong to any utility and aren't on any map.
In Tysons Corner, Virginia, three black SUVs turned up and half a dozen guys in suits got out of them just moments after a construction crew hit a fibre-optic cable - with one saying "You just hit our line".
The construction company assumed they'd hit a "black" wire, a secure communications line used by the US government. See, you don't ask questions about these things - you answer them!
This particular incident happened a few years back, so why in the Washington Post now? The Washington subway system is being expanded and these "black" lines are beginning to pose an even bigger problem:
"Black wire is one of the looming perils of the massive construction that has come to Tysons, where miles and miles of secure lines are thought to serve such nearby agencies as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center and, a few miles away in McLean, the Central Intelligence Agency. After decades spent cutting through red tape to begin work on a Metrorail extension and the widening of the Capital Beltway, crews are now stirring up tons of dirt where the black lines are located."
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- tags:
- WTF, Webmash, men in black, Tysons Corner, 1 more
