most protected places on earth
10 Most Protected Places On Earth
Here is something that even Danny Ocean and his eleven, twelve, or thirteen, would find difficult to crack. Presented in this Buzzle post are some of the most secure and protected places on Earth.
Most Protected Mobile Place
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of a United States Air Force aircraft―mostly a modified Boeing 747 aircraft―carrying the President of the United States. It is one of the most protected mobile locations in the world, rumored to be capable of jamming enemy radars, ejecting flares, diverting incoming missiles, etc.Vatican Secret Archives
The central library of the Vatican City contains a section called the Secret Archives, which is believed to house precious documents dating all the way back to the 12th century.
The archives are located below ground level in a subterranean bunker which provides more than 31,000 cubic meters of storage space. This storage facility is supplemented by a high-tech climate control system, and is protected by cutting-edge security systems to ensure that the material stored within will survive for centuries to come.
Last but not the least, direct threats to the Archives are offset by the members of the Swiss Guard, who are sworn to protect the both the Pope and Vatican.
Area 51
Area 51 is a rather mysterious U.S. Air Force base located in the Nevada desert, and if the movie Independence Day is to be believed, even the President doesn't know what goes on down there! But why is that?
Perhaps it is because this region is so secretive that you won't be able locate it even on the best of maps. Also, since this highly restricted area is a no-fly zone, it isn't possible to view it from above either. Signs posted for miles around the actual base warn us to stay away and only a few authorized personnel have access.
Thus, whether it is secret experimental aircraft testing or alien autopsy that you suspect to be going on in Area 51, the fact is that owing to its impeccable security, it is near impossible to exactly find out.
The Mormon Church's Secret Vaults
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, claims to have stored important genealogical and historical records within their secret vaults located within the Granite Mountain in Utah.
These records are said to include over three billion images, immigration papers and much more, all of which are archived in a climate-controlled vault, buried deep within the mountain.
Apart from this natural security, the contents of the vault are further protected by state-of-the-art heat sensors, motion detectors as well as a fourteen-ton door, which is believed to be able to hold up even against a nuclear blast.
Fort Knox
The United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky, is one of the most secure buildings in the world. It houses the gold reserves of the country―an estimated 5000 tons! So, how well is it protected?
The building is surrounded by four fences of which two are high-voltage electric ones. Inside the fences are a number of armed sentinels who would surely shoot down an infiltrator on sight. The perimeter is also lined with a number of strategically positioned security cameras that will set off alarms at the first sign of trouble.
The walls are made of granite and are four feet thick. Also, they are held together by 750 tons of reinforced steel. The building also has a bombproof roof, and its entrance is secured by a 22-ton vault door, which opens only via a secret combination.
Within the vault there are a number of smaller vaults which are secured by a series of alarms. Finally, if someone does manage to get this far, he/she will then have to face around 30,000 soldiers from Fort Knox's military camp and Apache helicopter gunships, in order to get the gold out and escape.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Straight out of the pages of a science fiction novel, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, also known as Doomsday Seed Vault, has been built as humankind's last hope of protecting agricultural biodiversity in the event of a large-scale natural or human-made disaster.
This seed vault is located on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, which is one of the most remote places on Earth. It is located about 620 miles south of the North pole, and is surrounded by hundreds of miles of oceans on all sides.
The vault is situated at a height of 430 feet above sea level, 120 meters within a sandstone mountain on the island, and its entrance is protected by four heavy steel doors. These measures have been taken to protect it against disastrous events such as a nuclear holocaust, massive earthquakes, and even unprecedented rise in sea levels due to global warming.
Cheyenne Mountain
If you were the young John Conner, where would go to survive the nuclear apocalypse? That's right, in Cheyenne Mountain! This is a nuclear bunker located in the Front Range Rocky Mountains in Colorado, which was built back in the days of the Cold War. It used to be the base of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) which has since moved to a different location.
The actual working premises of this base are buried deep within the mountain and protected by several layers of granite. Additionally, the entrance is sealed by two 25-ton doors which can together withstand an impact from a 30-megaton nuclear blast.
Due to its depth, air from outside is required to be pumped in, which is done with the help of powerful air pumping and filtration systems that are capable of eliminating chemical, biological, and nuclear impurities.
Federal Reserve Bank in New York
A few blocks away from the mayhem of Wall Street, 80 feet beneath the surface, and surrounded by rocks on all sides lies nearly 25% of the world's share of gold. This is the Federal Reserve Bank, which is currently the largest gold repository in the world. Almost 98% of this gold is owned by the central banks of 36 foreign nations.
Considering this huge sum of money, in addition to the above security measures, the Federal Reserve Bank vault is also guarded by armed marksmen and a 90-ton steel door.
USP Florence ADX
The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) is a supermax prison which has been touted as being the modern-day Alcatraz. This penitentiary has been designed to hold the worst criminals in total solitary confinement.
To keep the inmates from escaping, this prison comprises a total of 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors and a plethora of motion-detector cameras. Guards in the prison control center, monitor each prisoner 24/7, and can activate a panic button which closes all the doors in the facility if a prison-break is suspected.
Furthermore, the perimeter of the prison is surrounded by razor wire fences and patrolled by a fleet of armed guards and police dogs who are trained to attack when a prisoner tries to escape.
All these measures make the USP Florence ADX, one of the most heavily guarded places in the world. Currently, the likes of Timothy McVeigh and some high-risk Islamic terrorists are incarcerated here.
WikiLeaks Bunker in Stockholm
For several high profile people, Julian Assange is one of the most dangerous man on Earth, and his WikiLeaks the biggest threat. These people with their wealth and contacts would go to any extremes to stop him and what he does. So how is it that the servers of WikiLeaks have still not been destroyed?
This is because these servers are located in an old nuclear bunker which is owned by Bahnhof―a Swedish Internet service provider. This bunker is located nearly 100 feet below the streets of Stockholm, and is protected by a 1.5-foot steel door. Also, the facility provides backup generators which can power the servers within it for weeks in case of a power-outage.