# What is the most secure facility on earth?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 26, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585 "2007-09-26T19:11:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/1 "2007-09-26T19:11:00Z")
I want to define secure as which ever takes the longest for X amount of people to breech from the outside perimeter to the innermost section of said facility. These people are motivated and can be armed, no tanks, planes, etc. Now my first guesses would be Ft Knox, and NORAD. But I think there main defenses are no one having the balls to try and get inside. NORAD has a big ass door but once you get pass the perimeter fence are there even any armed people to stop you? I now think it has to be some sort of military base such as FT Hood. Perhaps some sort of Nuclear facility? Not sure if this should be GD of GQ
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/2 "2007-09-26T19:23:50Z")
At least entertain the possibility that it is in Nevada.
---
### Author:  [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/3 "2007-09-26T19:26:20Z")
My new girlfriend’s pants. Three months and I still haven’t gotten into them.
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/4 "2007-09-26T19:28:54Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
At least entertain the possibility that it is in Nevada.
[/QUOTE]
It isn’t more secure than #52 though because no one could even find that one.
I would say NORAD. They can just seal the facility in the end of time nuclear war configuation and no one could get in at all. It is built to survive nuclear blasts and operate through WWIII with the staff safely inside with the necessary provisions.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/5 "2007-09-26T19:31:36Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
It isn’t more secure than #52 though because no one could even find that one.
[/QUOTE]
I wasn’t thinking of a military facility, I was thinking of a casino vault. Probably not, though.
---
### Author:  [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/6 "2007-09-26T19:39:08Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12]
I want to define secure as which ever takes the longest for X amount of people to breech from the outside perimeter to the innermost section of said facility. These people are motivated and can be armed, no tanks, planes, etc. Now my first guesses would be Ft Knox, and NORAD. But I think there main defenses are no one having the balls to try and get inside. NORAD has a big ass door but once you get pass the perimeter fence are there even any armed people to stop you? I now think it has to be some sort of military base such as FT Hood. Perhaps some sort of Nuclear facility? Not sure if this should be GD of GQ
[/QUOTE]
I work next to a facility that manufactures PITs (plutonium core for the big bombs). I’m not sure what I can say about the security process, but I can tell you that there are guards that carry RPGs, and there are .50 cals that are mounted to the tops of their vehicles.
---
### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/7 "2007-09-26T19:46:42Z")
I’d like to see you get inside a submerged submarine.
---
### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/8 "2007-09-26T19:47:04Z")
[QUOTE=Amp]
My new girlfriend’s pants. Three months and I still haven’t gotten into them.
[/QUOTE]
Funny, it took me less that 3 hours. What are you putting in her drinks?
---
### Author:  [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/9 "2007-09-26T19:47:39Z")
Are offsite forces allowed to respond? I mean, if Norad’s own guards are killed, the force could blast through the door _eventually_. But I would suspect they would be swarmed by gunships within the hour.
---
### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/10 "2007-09-26T20:35:01Z")
The Internet root nameservers are pretty well defended. Most of them are housed within sites that you’d expect to have some military-strength defenses. For example, Server E is at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and Server G is at the US Department of Defense Network Information Center.
G’s mission statement sounds like they mean business: “To provide information and services that are mission critical to the operation of the worldwide IP router Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) and other DoD sponsored networks.”
Read into that whatever you wish, but to me, it sounds like they’d be all to happy to respond fast and first with deadly force.
---
### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/11 "2007-09-26T21:04:26Z")
[QUOTE=Amp]
My new girlfriend’s pants. Three months and I still haven’t gotten into them.
[/QUOTE]
Might be time for a strategic withdrawl unless she figures on your long-term plans. 😉
---
### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/12 "2007-09-26T21:05:27Z")
Fort Knox should be right up there.
---
### Author:  [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/13 "2007-09-26T21:05:57Z")
I have heard that DNS servers are almost more secure then some nuclear facilities, but in what way? Secure as in an eye scan to get into the room with a vault door or in the sense with a guy with a gun?
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/14 "2007-09-26T21:17:25Z")
Seems more like a poll than a GQ, since the only way to settle this one would really be to test it.
Might I submit that the most secure facility out there would be something like NORAD and located in a location unknown to anyone aside from its operators?
Wouldn’t surprise me for a second if such a site existed.
---
### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/15 "2007-09-26T21:22:42Z")
Dick Cheney’s undisclosed secure location.
---
### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/16 "2007-09-26T23:25:07Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12]
I have heard that DNS servers are almost more secure then some nuclear facilities, but in what way? Secure as in an eye scan to get into the room with a vault door or in the sense with a guy with a gun?
[/QUOTE]
In the sense of you have to know where it is to even try to get in.
NASA’s Ames Research Center is easy to find - it’s right there off 101 and hard to miss with its huge hangars and freeway signs. But once you get past the armed sentries at the gate, now what? Which building? What floor? What room? I doubt that the particular server room is protected by armed staff, but the facility as a whole is.
Verisign used to hide the “A” root server in Herndon, Virginia behind layers of obscurity, plus multiple biometric checkpoints and mantraps. Plus, once again, more obscurity. Which server rack? Which server?
They’ve since moved and aren’t divulging anything now. Can’t say that I blame 'em.
---
### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/17 "2007-09-27T01:36:57Z")
The White House is protected from land and air attacks. If something manages to get through, they have the comms and authority to call in _anything_.
---
### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/18 "2007-09-27T01:43:23Z")
I have to vote for NORAD. The DNS servers probably aren’t located in a facility that is designed to survive a nuclear war.
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/19 "2007-09-27T01:46:56Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio]
I’d like to see you get inside a submerged submarine.
[/QUOTE]
Easy - just bring a big knife to cut through the screen door.
---
### Author:  [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585/20 "2007-09-27T01:48:03Z")
How many people are we talking about? You have to define what the objective is. Getting into NORAD is easy, or at least it was 10 years ago when I was there. You just sign up for the tour. You couldn’t assemble enough people to take it over that way, but you might be able to cause some trouble, or possibly steal a pen.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-secure-facility-on-earth/420585.md?page=2)