WWIII3
Cyber Nuclear Holocaust is an original John Storm political thriller.
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac
River from
Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is often used as a metonym for the Department of Defense and its leadership.
The building was designed by American architect George Bergstrom and built by contractor John McShain. Ground was broken on 11 September 1941, and the building was dedicated on 15 January 1943. General Brehon Somervell provided the major impetus to gain Congressional approval for the project; Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which supervised it.
The Pentagon is the world's second-largest office building, with about 6.5 million square feet (600,000 m2) of floor space, 3.7 million square feet (340,000 m2) of which are used as offices. It has five sides, five floors above ground, two basement levels, and five ring corridors per floor with a total of 17.5 mi (28.2 km) of corridors, with a central five-acre (2.0 ha) pentagonal plaza. About 23,000 military and civilian employees work in the Pentagon, as well as about 3,000 non-defense support personnel.
In 2001, the Pentagon was damaged during the September 11 attacks. Five al-Qaeda hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the western side of the building, killing themselves and 184 other people, including 59 on the airplane and 125 in the Pentagon. It was the first significant foreign attack on federal facilities in the capital area since the burning of Washington during the War of
1812. Following the attacks, the western side of the building was repaired, with a small indoor memorial and chapel added at the point of impact. The coordinated attacks, which killed 2,977 people, was the deadliest terrorist attack in history.
In 2009, an outdoor memorial dedicated to the Pentagon victims of the September 11 attacks was opened.
The
Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, USA
HISTORY
Until the Pentagon was built, the United States Department of War was headquartered in the Munitions Building, a temporary structure erected during World War I along Constitution Avenue on the National Mall. The War Department, which was a civilian agency created to administer the U.S. Army, was spread out in additional temporary buildings on the National Mall, as well as dozens of other buildings in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. In the late 1930s, during the Great Depression and federal construction program, a new War Department Building was constructed at 21st and C Streets in Foggy Bottom but, upon completion, the new building did not solve the department's space problem. It became the headquarters of the Department of State.
When World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, the War Department rapidly expanded to deal with current issues and in anticipation that the United States would be drawn into the conflict. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson found the situation unacceptable, with the Munitions Building overcrowded and department offices spread out in additional sites.
Stimson told U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in May 1941 that the War Department needed additional space. On 17 July 1941, a congressional hearing took place, organized by Representative Clifton Woodrum (D-VA), regarding proposals for new War Department buildings. Woodrum pressed Brigadier General Eugene Reybold, who represented the War Department at the hearing, for an "overall solution" to the department's "space problem", rather than building yet more temporary buildings. Reybold agreed to report back to Congress within five days. The War Department called upon its construction chief, General Brehon Somervell, to come up with a plan.
FACILITIES & LAYOUT
The Pentagon building spans 28.7 acres (116,000 m2), and includes an additional 5.1 acres (21,000 m2) as a central courtyard.
Starting with the north side and moving clockwise, its five façade entrances are the Mall Terrace, the River Terrace, the Concourse (or Metro Station), the South Parking, and the
Heliport. On the north side of the building, the Mall Entrance, which also features a portico, leads out to a 600 ft-long (180 m) terrace that is used for ceremonies. The
River Entrance, which features a portico projecting out twenty ft (6 m), is on the northeast side, overlooking the lagoon and facing Washington. A stepped terrace on the River Entrance leads down to the lagoon; and a landing dock was used until the late 1960s to ferry personnel between Bolling Air Force Base and the Pentagon.[9] The main entrance for visitors is on the southeast side, as are the Pentagon Metro station and the bus station.
There is also a concourse on the southeast side of the second floor of the building, which contains a mini-shopping mall. The south parking lot adjoins the southwest façade, and the west side of the Pentagon faces Washington Boulevard.
The concentric rings are designated from the center out as "A" through "E" with additional "F" and "G" rings in the basement. "E" Ring offices are the only ones with outside views and are generally occupied by senior officials. Office numbers go clockwise around each of the rings, and have two parts: a nearest-corridor number (1 to 10), followed by a bay number (00 to 99), so office numbers range from 100 to 1099. These corridors radiate out from the central courtyard, with corridor 1 beginning with the Concourse's south end. Each numbered radial corridor intersects with the corresponding numbered group of offices. Corridor 5, for instance, divides the 500 series office block. There are a number of historical displays in the building, particularly in the "A" and "E" rings.
Subterranean floors in the Pentagon are lettered "B" for Basement and "M" for Mezzanine. The concourse is on the second floor at the Metro entrance. Above-ground floors are numbered 1 to 5. Room numbers are given as the floor, concentric ring, and office number (which is in turn the nearest corridor number followed by the bay number). Thus, office 2B315 is on the second floor, B ring, and nearest to corridor 3 (between corridors 2 and 3). One way to get to this office would be to go to the second floor, get to the A (innermost) ring, go to and take corridor 3, and then turn left on ring B to get to bay 15.
It is possible to walk between any two points in the Pentagon in less than ten minutes, though the optimal route may involve a brisk walk, routing through the open-air central courtyard, or both. The complex includes eating and exercise facilities as well as meditation and prayer rooms.
Just south of the Pentagon are Pentagon City and Crystal City, extensive shopping, business, and high-density residential districts in Arlington. Arlington National Cemetery is to the north. The Pentagon is surrounded by the relatively complex Pentagon road network.
The Pentagon has six Washington, D.C., ZIP Codes despite its location in Arlington County, Virginia. The U.S. Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the four service branches each have their own ZIP Code.
"We have gold because we cannot trust governments," President Herbert Hoover famously said in 1933 in his statement to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Emergency Banking Act, forced all Americans to convert their gold coins, bullion, and certificates into U.S. dollars, to stop the outflow of gold reserves during the Great Depression. The writing was on the wall, but nobody could read it.
SEPTEMBER 11 2001 ATTACKS
On September 11,
2001, coincidentally the 60th anniversary of the Pentagon’s start of construction, five al-Qaeda affiliated hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 77, en route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, and deliberately crashed the Boeing 757 airliner into the western side of the Pentagon at 9:37 am EDT as part of the September 11 attacks. The impact of the plane severely damaged the outer ring of one wing of the building and caused its partial collapse. At the time of the attacks, the Pentagon was under renovation and many offices were unoccupied, resulting in fewer casualties. Due to the renovation work, only 800 people were there, as opposed to the usual 4,500. Furthermore, the area hit, on the side of the Heliport façade, was the section best prepared for such an attack. The renovation there, improvements which resulted from the Oklahoma City bombing, had nearly been completed.
It was the only area of the Pentagon with a sprinkler system, and it had been reconstructed with a web of steel columns and bars to withstand bomb blasts. The
steel reinforcement, bolted together to form a continuous structure through all of the Pentagon's five floors, kept that section of the building from collapsing for 30
minutes - enough time for hundreds of people to crawl out to safety. The area struck by the plane also had blast-resistant
windows - 2 inches (5 cm) thick and 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg) each - that stayed intact during the crash and fire. It had fire doors that opened automatically and newly built exits that allowed people to get out.
Contractors already involved with the renovation were given the added task of rebuilding the sections damaged in the attacks. This additional project was named the
"Phoenix Project" and was charged with having the outermost offices of the damaged section occupied by 11 September 2002.
When the damaged section of the Pentagon was repaired, a small indoor memorial and chapel were added at the point of impact. For the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a memorial of 184 beams of light shone up from the center courtyard of the Pentagon, one light for each victim of the attack. In addition, an American flag is hung each year on the side of the Pentagon damaged in the attacks, and the side of the building is illuminated at night with blue lights. After the attacks, plans were developed for an outdoor memorial, with construction underway in 2006. This Pentagon Memorial consists of a park on 2 acres (8,100 m2) of land, containing 184 benches, one dedicated to each victim. The benches are aligned along the line of Flight 77 according to the victims' ages, from 3 to 71. The park opened to the public on 11 September 2008.
CHAPTERS
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| MEDIA
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MOVIE REF |
SCREENPLAYS
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