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(c)1989
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! When the World Comes Crumbling Down... ?
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! AT&T AND WORLD WAR III ?
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! by ?
? --]> Professor Falken <[-- !
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What will Phreaks and Hacks do without a telephone system ? Phreaks will
not have a network to experiment with nor will Hacks have such a direct method
of infiltrating computer systems. The communication system for the " CORRUPT "
computer generation will be destroyed. No matter what we do, almost everything
is directly linked to the phone system. Thats why it will be the first thing
to go if a limitied nuclear strike is initiated.
Laying 40 feet below the surface of Netcog New Jersey is AT&T's
National Emergency Control Center. All that is visible from the surface is a
Yellow brick building the size of a large garage. Visitors are buzzed in
through two ground level doors and must walk down four flights of stairs.
Once at the bottom they must pass through two heavy vault doors that open one
at a time. The two-story subterranean complex was constructed during the late
1960's. Blasting through solid granite was required to build the building,
then concrete was poured and reinforced for the walls, and the roof and four
feet of Earth was laid atop of that. Then entire structure is wrapped in steel
to shield the inside from the electromagnetic pulses sent out by a nuclear
explosion.
During peacetime, the Netcog center is a switching relay station on the
Boston-Miami cable. In a pre-nuclear war crisis, the center's normal staff
will be joined by workers from the AT&T Communications operations center at
Bedminster, New Jersey, fifteen miles away. The workers at Bedminster
oversee the nation's AT&T long distance network. Following a nuclear attack,
they will reroute calls around cities that have ceased to exist.
The AT&T Communications staff will work under fluorescent lights in a
large open room in the Netcog center. Their phones, desks, and terminals
all waiting for them. Bell System files are stored nearby and updated
monthly, and a phone list of sixty people to be called to the center in a
crisis is pinned to a bulletin board.
In another area of the complex, lined wall to wall are ESS running units
which are attached to the ceiling by heavy steel springs and anchored to the
floor by think elastic bands. If the building is struck by a massive shock
wave, the elastic bands will snap and the switching units will swing, cushioned
by the springs. All other mechanical equipment in the center is similarly
shock mounted. The storerooms are stocked with tanks of drinking water, and
kerosene for generators. The ventilation system is equipped with fallout
filters and blast valves that will close if a blast wave hits. Sometimes the
blast valves are activated by thunder, which jolts the peacetime Netcog crew.
The desks for AT&T executives are in a large open area next to the
operations center. The AT&T Communications crew will run what is left of the
long distance network, with help from backup centers in Kansas and Georgia and
seven other underground centers.
AT&T is a nuclear prepared corporation, across the country AT&T routed
long distance cables around target cities and buried the cables inside steel
and concrete conduits to protect them from nuclear blast. The 4,000 miles
transcontinental cable was built by the Bell system to withstand national
crisises, including a nuclear blast short of a direct hit. It can take
pressure of over 100 pounds per square inch; an overall pressure of one half-
pound per square inch would crush the average home. All communications
equipment associated with the cable is shockmounted in underground concrete
buildings. The cable runs from New York to California, skirting all major
cities and potential target areas.
If an attack were to strike the nation and the telephone system was still
in operable condition special FCC regulations would be put in effect to
direct telephone usage. These regulations outline a telephone call priority.
Sorta of like the Autovon priority system ( Priority, Immediate, Flash, and
Flash Override ) The highest priority category is designated " FLASH
EMERGENCY. " All other calls in progress will be interrupted to put through
FLASH EMERGENCY calls, which will include those involving command and control
of military forces and " conduct of diplomatic negotiations critical to the
arresting or limiting of hostilities. " From what I can understand the normal
telephone service will become in effect an Autovon, primarily for military
usage.
In any case, the phone system would probably be trashed. So lets enjoy
it and experiment with it while we have it. It is probably the best telephone
network in the world, and we all have AT&T to thank for it.
Article written 12/27/88 by Professor Falken, Released 5/8/89.