# What's the most difficult room to break into in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189 "2012-10-29T05:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/1 "2012-10-29T05:02:18Z")
Fort Knox is the classic example of [insane security](http://i.imgur.com/ku64l.jpg), but what else is there? It can’t be The White House. If you take the tour, you’re already on the one yard line. Let’s assume this isn’t a round trip for simplicity sake. You don’t have to get back out, just in. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/2 "2012-10-29T05:27:49Z")
One of the rooms on the space station, I dunno, which would be the most “secure” there… bathroom? It would probably be really hard to get back down into one of the rooms that got cut off by that Chilean mine collapse a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/3 "2012-10-29T05:33:46Z")
Any of the cabins of a ship that has sunk in the ocean, e.g., the Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/4 "2012-10-29T05:35:58Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > One of the rooms on the space station, I dunno, which would be the most “secure” there… bathroom? > > It would probably be really hard to get back down into one of the rooms that got cut off by that Chilean mine collapse a few years back. \*In \*the world, not extraterrestrial. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/5 "2012-10-29T12:27:52Z")
A nuclear missile silo? Are they locked/sealed from the inside when staffed? Along those lines, pretty much any room in the Cheyenne mountain nuclear bunker. Or maybe not. The heavy armor there is designed to tolerate nuclear-generated shock waves, but not a concentrated attack from, say, a jackhammer or an oxyacetylene torch. Security against physical breach by enemy invaders is probably predicated on the place being guarded by the US military, who can respond quickly to an armed assault. Bank safes, OTOH, need to be able to withstand assault for prolonged periods of time (e.g. overnight, over a weekend) without armed intervention. Once locked, they are pretty hard to penetrate; ISTR the walls are typically made from concrete that contains copious amounts of shredded stainless steel. The metal makes it difficult to break up the concrete with a jackhammer or conventional masonry drill bit, moreso than ordinary rebar. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/6 "2012-10-29T12:50:41Z")
An Ohio class sub while on patrol. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/7 "2012-10-29T15:28:02Z")
[hijack] Not the Rotterdam museum KunstHAL, that’s for sure. They were just robbed and the thieves got: a Gauguin, a Lucian Freud, a Picasso, a Matisse, 2 Monets and a Meyer de Haan, total worth of millions. The funniest thing is that the museum claims they had state-of-the-art security, when apparently the thieves got in by making the fire alarm go off, which unlocks the door. :smack: :smack: :smack: [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/8 "2012-10-29T16:17:50Z")
The Amber Room. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/9 "2012-10-29T16:43:25Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The Amber Room. Ooh, nice one. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/10 "2012-10-29T16:56:33Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Fort Knox is the classic example of [insane security](http://i.imgur.com/ku64l.jpg)… According to that article, the security forces are armed with Thompson sub-machine guns, probably in case Al Capone tries to knock over the joint. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/11 "2012-10-29T17:28:40Z")
The Oval Office. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/12 "2012-10-29T17:38:52Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > The Oval Office. Couldn’t some enterprising rogue just run off from the tour? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/13 "2012-10-29T17:39:30Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > The Oval Office. Certainly difficult, but I doubt its the most difficult in the world. As the OP notes, its not that hard to get in the building. Even ignoring tourists, many hundreds of people go in and out of the West Wing for meetings and the like. And when the Prez isn’t there, there isn’t really any reason to keep the Office on super lockdown. If some idiot manages to get credentials to get to the Press Secretary’s office for an interview or whatever and then ducks down the hall and rushes into the Oval Office before getting tackled by SS, its not like it really does any harm. ETA: It also has a door that opens to the Rose Garden, where there are regularly events with a lot of press and the usual assortment of people brought in to be used as photo-op props. I think you’d have a much better chance of rushing the door while attending one of those then you would of, say, getting in a nuclear submarine’s reactor room or the place in the basement of the Pentagon where they keep all the alien autopsy footage. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/14 "2012-10-29T20:22:22Z")
I’m going to speculate some of the records rooms in NSA headquarters. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/15 "2012-10-29T20:32:14Z")
I’m thinking the Vatican Library/Archives have to be up there. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/16 "2012-10-29T20:35:47Z")
The Gold Room at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. The only way to get there is to take an elevator down 80 feet below street level. The only entrance to the room is a ten-foot-long passageway, cut through a ninety-ton steel cylinder, which has to be rotated 90 degrees to allow the passageway to line up with the 140-ton door frame. Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![dimmy\_derko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/43a26b/32.png) [@dimmy\_derko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimmy_derko)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/17 "2012-10-29T21:00:51Z")
The most valuable thing in the world right now is information, so like Little Nemo, I’ll go for the database centre of some intelligence gathering organisation. Part of the difficulty in breaking in there is very few people will even be aware of its existence. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/18 "2012-10-29T21:13:24Z")
> [@dimmy\_derko](#): > > The most valuable thing in the world right now is information, so like Little Nemo, I’ll go for the database centre of some intelligence gathering organisation. Part of the difficulty in breaking in there is very few people will even be aware of its existence. Nah, all you have to do is get a job there and they let you right in. Of course, getting the job is a mite tricky… however, most of the data centers and IT security shops I’ve worked in never bothered to ask for my ID when I showed up for work, so chances are all you’d really need to do is find out when they hire somebody new and take his place. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/19 "2012-10-29T23:49:56Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > The Gold Room at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. The only way to get there is to take an elevator down 80 feet below street level. The only entrance to the room is a ten-foot-long passageway, cut through a ninety-ton steel cylinder, which has to be rotated 90 degrees to allow the passageway to line up with the 140-ton door frame. Good luck with that. Well, if you’re going to do it, do it NOW! Thanks to Hurricane Sandy the NYC power company, Con Edison, is turning off all the electricity in the Wall Street area as I type this. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189/20 "2012-10-30T01:24:56Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > Well, if you’re going to do it, do it NOW! Thanks to Hurricane Sandy the NYC power company, Con Edison, is turning off all the electricity in the Wall Street area as I type this. Wait…I’ve heard of this somewhere before… …has anybody seen Hans Gruber lately? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-difficult-room-to-break-into-in-the-world/639189.md?page=2)