CRISISBOOM

As evidence mounts that the world may fast be slipping into the next Ice Age, Washington insiders are hurrying to solidify a new power base for centralized government operations.

Fears that the US capital might be struck by another more deadly terrorist attack—or other disasters—prompted agencies a decade ago to hurriedly establish back-up operations in case catastrophe struck.

Despite the fact that many conspiracy theories are weaved around the subjects that follow—including some fairly wild-eyed, tin foil hat scenarios—most conspiracy theories have a basis in fact, although the facts are distorted or wildly exaggerated.

The actual story of the Denver airport, the nation’s “second capital,” the impending Ice Age possibility, and the threat the Yellowstone supervolcano presents to the people of the United States of America and their government follows:

The nation’s “Doomsday capitol”

As long ago as the 1990s during the Clinton Administration, civilian agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Agriculture and Federal Bureau of Investigation created a secondary nexus in Denver, Colorado.  The theory was that establishing an emergency capitol—a “Washington outside Washington”—would afford a higher level of security if located near the geographical center of the country with the Rocky Mountain range at its back instead of the Atlantic Ocean on its doorstep.

Agencies duplicated resources and some moved their entire headquarters there such as the National Geospatial Technical Operations Center.

Denver is a logical choice as many government assets exist in or near the city: Nellis AFB and Groom Lake are within defense range, much of the US nuclear arsenal is stockpiled in the general region, the mountains make a ground attack force next to impossible, and Denver sits a mile above sea level.

In addition to the civilian agencies, the Pentagon also moved segments of its operations—including the Defense Intelligence Agency, the super-secret Strategic Intelligence Department, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and others—to the more secure “Doomsday capitol.” Some of the Pentagon assets occupy part of newly refurbished levels deep underground inside the famous Cheyenne Mountain NORAD facility.

After the 9-11 al-Qaeda attacks, the CIA, NSA and some smaller nuclear intelligence agencies that are virtually invisible to the proverbial man-on-the-street, also transferred

some assets to Denver.

While some military assets are fully established in the sub-levels of the Denver International Airport, a few are still outside Denver closer to Colorado Springs, home of the United States Air Force Academy.

The “Death Zone”

Now, however, the carefully crafted plans of the federal government are in disarray. As evidence mounts that a possible full-blown Ice Age may be emerging, Denver and the surrounding region is rapidly becoming a no-go.

Another concern facing officials is the increased chance that the supervolcano at Yellowstone might erupt. The last time the volcano blew was in the far distant past. It obliterated almost half of what is now the United States. Unofficially the risk area is called the “Death Zone.”

The western city would not be an auspicious spot if Yellowstone erupts as the volcano’s footprint could have a shock wave and debris radius extending more than 800 miles. Denver is a mere 463 miles from its city limits to the lip of the Yellowstone caldera.

$100 billion already spent

According to budget insiders, the federal government has already spent more than $100 billion since 1997 to establish the framework of an emergency second capital for the US.

Now, planners are in a quandary. Although the odds are extremely low that the Yellowstone supervolcano will undergo a catastrophic eruption, some officials argue that it’s too high a gamble to risk.

Others are adamant that Denver is fine.

Creeping disaster

More worrisome is the possibly impending Ice Age. It may not materialize. If it doesn’t, Denver remains the best location. Conversely, an Ice Age may come, but only the so-called mini-Ice Age. A small Ice Age would probably present an inconvenience and task logisticians, but it’s workable.

A full-blown, major Ice Age, though, is definitely a game-changer. The entire region would have to be abandoned and the city of Denver—and most of northern Colorado—written off for as long as several thousand years, maybe more.

Whereas a Yellowstone supervolcano eruption would be swift and deadly, an advancing Ice Age would be a creeping disaster.

For now, the decision is to wait it out. The risk in doing nothing, of course, is if the Ice Age arrives with a vengeance—some scientists say the process can happen as fast as a relative handful of years—the federal Denver capitol will have to be abandoned as Washington, DC itself becomes unmanageable.

And the steaming, burning Yellowstone caldera dome is rising at a faster pace than ever recorded in history—an ominous sign that it might indeed erupt. If it does, the government will not be able to do much to protect the 100 million Americans expected to perish in such an apocalyptic calamity, but the guilt-edged priority in any case is that the government maintain a viable structure and seamless continuity.

Suggestions to move the second capitol from Denver to areas with an infrastructure—such as Atlanta, Georgia that’s well outside the Yellowstone “Death Zone” or Austin, Texas that lies on the theoretical border of the deadliest effects of the supervolcano’s reach—are being intensely debated at government think tanks and intelligence agencies.

In the meantime, with the nation’s capital at risk and the possibility of its second capitol’s infrastructure being compromised or wiped out, the U.S, government finds itself in the untenable position of ceasing to exist if the odds happen to tip the wrong way anytime in the foreseeable future.

There are those citizens that would celebrate the idea of getting rid of the federal government—especially such unpopular institutions as the IRS, EPA and BLM. But with any kind of sober reflection most rational individuals would have to conclude that a disaster leading to total anarchy—a Mad Max type of country—is really not something to desire in any shape or form.

Meanwhile the internal debates rage on as the clock ticks and the danger mounts.