02x02 - Top Secret Sites

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

[Duchovny] Tonight
on "Secrets Declassified"...

government sites so surprising
or dangerous

that they're kept
from the public--

from a luxury resort hiding
a government doomsday bunker...

- If a b*mb drops
on the golf course,

anyone behind the blast doors
would be okay.

- To an expl*sive factory
where every shift

is life or death...

[Martin] I can't imagine
something more stressful

than trying to disassemble
a thermonuclear warhead.

- And even a fake country
in Virginia

that's really
a CIA training camp.

- When you cross the border
into this fake world,

it's Disney World for adults.

- These are the astonishing
and sometimes terrible places

built by governments and
the people who work for them.

It's time to bring them
to light.

♪ ♪

In West Virginia,
there's a luxury hotel

for the rich and famous

that boasts
over 700 guest rooms,

exclusive restaurants,
an 18-hole golf course,

and a secret underground bunker
primed for Armageddon.

♪ ♪

[Hakeem] Nuclear anxiety
is peaking in the 1950s...

and the U.S. president
is concerned

about the safety
of the government

in the case
of a nuclear attack.

The government
has commissioned

these b*mb-proof havens

for the president
and his cabinet.

[Duchovny]
Now they want a bunker

for members of Congress--

somewhere big enough

to house over


and discreet enough
to keep it secret.

The answer--
a five-star hotel.

[Hakeem] The Greenbrier
is a luxury resort

in White Sulphur Springs,
West Virginia.

This place is a slice
of old-school luxury,

where the rich and powerful
come to do business and relax.

You can find presidents
or celebrities

sipping drinks at the bar.

[Duchovny] It sounds
like the perfect place

to see out World w*r III.

- It's far enough
from Washington, D.C.,

that hopefully
it could escape the effects

of a direct nuclear attack
on the capital city

but also close enough

that people would be able
to escape to it in time.

[Duchovny]
It's shielded by mountains

for extra protection.

- Perhaps what swings it,
literally,

is the hotel's
golfing facilities.

Eisenhower is a regular
on the Greenbrier course.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny] The government
discreetly approaches

the hotel
for their assistance,

and the management
at the Greenbrier

are happy to oblige.

The only problem
is keeping it a secret.

- An immense
construction project

on the grounds
of the Greenbrier

is sure to get
the VIP guests gossiping.

So the bunker needs
a cover story.

[Duchovny] The Greenbrier
gets a brand-new extension--

the West Virginia Wing.

Underneath...

a vast doomsday bunker
unlike any other

begins to take shape.

[Hakeem] The bunker underneath

the Greenbrier Hotel

hosts 153 rooms

spread out
over 112,000 square feet.

There are two chambers

for the House and the Senate,

and there is this vast hall

for joint sessions.

It's essentially
a giant underground capitol

for the government
to continue functioning

in the event of a nuclear w*r.

- Beyond these chambers
are the facilities you'd expect

in a top-of-the-range
government survival bunker--

high-pressure shower
to rinse off nuclear fallout,

over 1,000 beds
for congressmen and women,

a hospital, a cafeteria,

and a small arsenal
of handguns.

[Duchovny] Perhaps
the most impressive features

are two enormous blast doors
to seal Congress inside.

- Each door is 19 inches thick,
weighs 28 tons,

and they're strong enough
to withstand a nuclear blast

from only 2,000 feet away.

- If a b*mb drops

on the eighth hole
of the golf course,

anyone behind the blast doors
will be okay.

- And these doors are hidden
behind a false wall

in the exhibition hall
just inches away

from where guests
are mingling.

- For 30 years,
the false wall stands firm,

and the bunker
remains secret...

until 1992, when rumors
finally begin to leak out.

♪ ♪

[Jesse] Ted Gup
is a investigative reporter

for "The Washington Post,"

and an anonymous source
tips him off

that the Greenbrier resort

might not be all that it seems.

[Duchovny] Gup speaks
to former employees,

who confirm
that something mysterious

is hidden beneath
the West Virginia Wing.

But for a genuine scoop,

Gup needs hard evidence.

- So he decides to go stay
at the Greenbrier himself

to see if he can get
that final bit of proof.

[O'Keefe]
When Gup meets the manager,

he goes straight to the point.

He asks, "Is there a government
nuclear fallout shelter

under the hotel?"

Well, the manager
immediately denies this.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny] Gup doesn't get
the answers he's hoping for,

but he's determined
not to leave the Greenbrier

without his story.

- Gup visits the office
of a maintenance company

called Forsyth Associates,

who are supposedly in charge

of maintaining
the Greenbrier TVs.

When he gets to the offices,
he sees something strange.

[Hakeem] He sees a wall
covered with books

on nuclear w*r and Armageddon.

You don't need that
if you're building TV antennas.

- When he digs deeper,
he finds out

that many of the people
who work at Forsyth Associates

are former U.S. military
cryptographers

and radio specialists.

- Turns out, Forsyth Associates
is just a front company.

Their real job is maintaining
the communications

for the bunker.

[Duchovny]
"The Washington Post"

runs Gup's story
on May 31, 1992.

♪ ♪

And the Greenbrier's secret
is finally unearthed.

Within days,
the government goes public

about the Greenbrier bunker...

and announces
its deactivation.

- Today the bunker
is a tourist attraction.

For about $50,

you can go tour the halls
where the American government

might have been reborn
after Armageddon.

♪ ♪

- A luxury hotel
might be the perfect place

to hide a government bunker,

but in the 1950s, the CIA has
to hide something much bigger--

a vast college campus set up

to train the next generation
of super spies.

♪ ♪

[Sami]
At the dawn of the Cold w*r,

the CIA realizes
that this is a conflict

that's not going to be fought

by traditional soldiers
with b*ll*ts and bombs

but by covert agents
stealing secrets

from under the enemy's nose.

When it comes
to training spies, though,

the Americans
are on their back foot

compared to their rivals
at the KGB.

[Andrew] The KGB has
a decades-old infrastructure

for training spies,

and CIA is relatively new
to the game.

So they realize that
if they're going to keep up

with their KGB counterparts,
they have to step up big.

[Hakeem] The spy-craft skills
that could save your life

and maybe even your country
isn't something that's taught

in any college or university.

The CIA brass realize
that their agents

need training to prepare them
for the real world--

what they're gonna face
out there in the field.

So, in secret, they set up

a new espionage university.

[Duchovny] The first step
is finding the right place

for a campus.

- They need a very large place,

someplace secluded,
someplace cut off,

but someplace large enough
with infrastructure enough

to simulate the activities
of a normal city.

[Duchovny]
They find it

at a former naval base
called Camp Peary.

- It stretches
for 9,000 acres--

more than half the size
of Manhattan.

♪ ♪

[Sami]
To the outside world,

Camp Peary remains
a regular naval base.

But behind its fences,
the site is transformed

into an elite proving ground
for spies.

- Trainees refer to it
as "The Farm."

And generations of spies
are secretly schooled here,

right up to the present day.

♪ ♪

Training begins

when students leave
CIA Headquarters in Langley

on a blacked-out bus.

- The men and women
chosen for this

are among the most elite.

They've gone
through rigorous testing--

psychological testing,
physical testing--

to prove that they are truly
the best of the best.

[Hakeem] When a CIA trainee
arrives at The Farm,

they leave their real identity
at the door.

They're given a new cover story

that they must maintain
throughout the training.

[Andrew] They are leaving
the real world

to go into a fake world,

a fake microstate

that simulates life
in a foreign country.

And it's
in this simulated country

that their
undercover training begins.

- The whole location
of the Farm is one giant set.

There's a town square,

a shady downtown neighborhood,

suburbs,
and then the countryside.

Everyone on the site,

from visiting diplomats
to the local café owner,

is a veteran CIA operative
playing a role.

There's even
a cable news channel

reporting on the region's
fictional politics.

- The Farm really is
Disney World for adults.

[thunder rumbles]

[Duchovny]
In this college,

lessons aren't learned
in the classroom

but on the streets
of its fake town.

- The foundation
of undercover work

is being able to recruit
and handle

foreign intelligence sources.

You're looking for people
who have access to secrets.

♪ ♪

- The whole time,
they're playing cat and mouse

with their rivals and enemies--

other students and operatives

who are trying
to catch them out.

[Duchovny]
Outfoxing the enemy

calls for some of the more
advanced maneuvers

that a wannabe James Bond
must learn.

- You're trained how to flip
a car during a car chase,

how to get in a firefight

and not sh**t unarmed,
innocent civilians,

how to parachute
out of aircraft

and survive in the woods
on, you know, no food.

You learn
all the kind of things

that you would see
in a spy movie.

[Duchovny]
The new recruits are pushed

to the edge of their wits.

- After six months

of intense blood, sweat,

tears, stress, strain, anxiety,

this siren blares out...
[siren blaring]

And signals
that the simulation is over,

and any trainees that are left
have made the cut.

[Duchovny] The government
has never officially admitted

it exists at all.

Graduates of the Farm
rarely go on the record

about their experience...

until 2019.

- Former CIA intelligence
officer Amaryllis Fox

actually wrote
about all of her experiences

at the Farm in her book,
"Life Undercover."

♪ ♪

The Farm is truly a journey

that's inspiring
and pleasurable,

more than it is something
that's scary and terrifying.

The scary and terrifying part

is when you have to use
those skills in the real world.

- As the Blitz hits London,

Winston Churchill
needs a b*mb-proof shelter

where he can lead his troops
in secret.

It's got 70 rooms, 500 staff,

and the strangest thing
about it--

a private line to the president
inside his restroom.

[dramatic music]

- By 1938, British government
know that w*r with Germany

is on the horizon.

And this w*r is going to be

unlike anything
in human history.

For starters, the Germans
have the aerial capability

to rain bombs over
Britain's towns and cities

on an apocalyptic scale.

[Duchovny] To stand any chance
of winning the w*r,

the British government
needs an emergency hideout,

and the safest place
is underground.

[James] Halfway between
the prime minister's residence

in Downing Street
and the British Parliament

sits the Treasury.

Here, they have a vast basement
ten feet below the ground,

which is used
to store thousands

of Treasury documents.

[Duchovny]
A top secret makeover begins.

- This underground space
beneath the Treasury

is divided
into 70 hyper-secure rooms.

Now, this included everything
from the cabinet office,

offices for secretaries
and switchboard operators,

and a dedicated bedroom
for the prime minister himself.

[Duchovny] The w*r rooms are
kept on standby for a year...

[air raid siren blaring]

Until London comes
under attack

and Winston Churchill takes
his cabinet underground.

♪ ♪

- On September 7, 1940,

the Luftwaffe drop


♪ ♪

k*lling 430 civilians
and injuring 1,600 people.

It's called Black Saturday.

♪ ♪

Black Saturday
is only the beginning.


of attacks followed,

testing the resilience
of both London

and its leadership
as never before.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny]
Despite the hammerings,

the w*r rooms
and Churchill survive.

So the Germans
turn up the heat.

- By late 1940, the Germans
are using parachute mines.

And these weapons descend
under an open parachute,

and they're fused such

that they will explode
at rooftop level,

and they'll create a pattern
of destruction

that's 300 feet in diameter.

They can flatten
an entire city block.

If a weapon like this
were to explode

over the cabinet w*r rooms,

it could bury
the prime minister

and the entire w*r cabinet
in one shot.

That's a risk
that simply cannot be taken.

[Duchovny] The underground
compound is reinforced

with a massive concrete roof,

referred to as "The Slab."

- That means
that the cabinet w*r rooms

can sustain a direct hit
from a 500-pound b*mb.

[Sami]
During the renovation,

Churchill requests
the expansion

of the complex itself.

It triples in size,

making room for 500 personnel

working underground 24-7.

[Duchovny] Such a bustling
underground workspace brings

one particular problem...
[telephone rings]

That Churchill hates
above all others.

- Churchill
is notoriously sensitive

to excess noise.

So 500 people working
in a busy, claustrophobic,

and echoey
underground environment

can cause quite a ruckus.

- To make the boss happy,

several things
are put in place.

One of them is phones
that don't ring

but instead light up
whenever someone is calling.

They also import
noiseless typewriters

from the United States

to mitigate all the noise
that will be created

inside
this underground bunker.

- The expansion
of the cabinet w*r rooms

brings a new problem.

With so many people
coming in and out,

Churchill fears
classified talks

with the U.S. president
may be compromised

by spies working
for the other side.

[Sami] He needs a secure line
of communication

with Franklin D. Roosevelt,
so he figures,

where's the one place
I'm not gonna be interrupted

or eavesdropped on?

The bathroom.

Churchill has
a new private toilet installed

for his personal use,

and inside is actually a phone

that connects
to an encrypted line

direct to the Pentagon
in Washington.

So any spy will just assume

that the prime minister
is taking a bathroom break,

when, in reality,

he's actually
masterminding victory.

It kind of goes
back to the old adage of,

your best ideas happen
when you're on the toilet.

Perfect example.

[Duchovny] The cabinet w*r
rooms remain the beating heart

of Britain's w*r effort
for almost six years.

Then two days
after Japan's surrender,

on August 16, 1945,

the w*r rooms and its secrets
are locked for good.

For 40 years,
it lays beneath London,

untouched and forgotten.

Then in 1984...

♪ ♪

The bunker's secrets
are finally revealed

when the Imperial w*r Museum
opens its doors to the public.

♪ ♪

- Everything is restored
to its original state,

frozen at the precise moment
when the Allies won the w*r.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny]
After World w*r II,

the United States
engages in a race

to stockpile the largest
arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Building the most destructive
warheads on Earth

requires a new kind
of top secret factory,

a place so dangerous, it comes
with a chilling fail-safe.

One wrong move,
and it self-destructs.

♪ ♪

- By the early 1950s,

we're in the beginnings
of the Cold w*r,

and both the Americans
and the Soviets have the b*mb.

So, in order
to regain nuclear superiority,

the U.S. goes all-in
on maximizing production.

The attitude from American
military leaders is this--

if we can't have
the only nuclear weapons,

then we have to have the most.

[Duchovny] A few hundred
warheads won't cut it.

The U.S. wants thousands.

- You're creating
these things in volume,

in a factory packed full
of volatile materials.

One false move, and you'll have
a nuclear fireball

on home soil.

[Duchovny]
A site this hazardous

needs to be remote, secure,
and secret.

- The Atomic Energy Commission,
or the AEC,

begins scouting
for suitable sites.

One facility
that ticks all the boxes

is an old World w*r II
munitions plant

in the Texas Panhandle,


It's called Pantex.

During the w*r, thousands
of workers, mostly women,

packed munitions
and shells here,

but now the factory is closed.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny]
The AEC spends $25 million

renovating the old factory,

and in 1951,
the U.S. has itself

a brand-new

nuclear-weapons facility.

Workers at Pantex quietly
and efficiently assemble

the world's
most lethal product--

while trying not
to blow themselves up.

- Workers assembling
the warheads

must perform what's called
the mating process--

when the expl*sives
and the nuclear materials

are brought together
inside the warhead.

[Martin]
If there's one accident...

it's going to set off
a chain reaction

that will produce
a nuclear expl*si*n.

- A single second
of human error

could wipe out a large portion
of the Texas Panhandle.

[Duchovny] To avoid
this nightmare scenario,

Pantex builds six new bunkers
for assembling these warheads,

called Gravel Gerties.

[Hakeem]
Each Gravel Gertie

is a steel-reinforced
concrete lab,

where the technicians work,

and above them is what amounts
to a mountain of gravel

held in place by steel cables.

Inside the lab, three workers
assemble the nuke.

And this process
is so sensitive

that one of the worker's jobs

is just to read
the instructions step-by-step

as the other two workers
carry out their directions.

[Duchovny] One false move
from a tired technician,

and the whole facility
goes up.

Hence,
the merciless fail-safe.

- If there's
an accidental detonation,

the expl*si*n will snap

the steel cables
supporting the roof.

The entire chamber
is then buried

under thousands
of tons of gravel.

The design traps
the radioactive material,

reducing fallout by 90%.

However, it also entombs
the three workers

who triggered the expl*si*n.

It's a literal death trap.

[Duchovny] The possibility
that each shift

could be their last

hangs over the heads
of the Pantex workforce.

And yet
production rates rocket.

- Pantex is producing 2,000
nuclear warheads a year.

The U.S. arsenal
swells to 37,000.

That's enough
to destroy not only the Soviets

but every civilization
on the face of Earth.

[Duchovny]
For four decades,

Pantex fuels
the nuclear stockpile,

until the end of the Cold w*r
forces a sudden U-turn.

The slowdown
in m*ssile production

makes the world safer.

But for workers at Pantex,

the danger levels skyrocket.

- Nuclear weapons
that were manufactured,

in some cases
decades previously,

have to come
into a manufacturer

for disassembly.

I can't imagine
something more stressful

than trying to disassemble
a thermonuclear warhead.

- Nuclear weapons aren't
designed to be disassembled,

and some of these
have been sitting around

for up to 40 years.

They've degraded,
and some of their expl*sives

are not as stable
as they once were.

- Now it's turned over
to Pantex and go,

here's the problem--
you solve it.

You take it apart, and try
not to have an expl*si*n.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny]
It's not just the nukes

that are past
their use-by date.

[Martin] At this time,
Pantex is over 50 years old,

and it's in desperate need
of an upgrade,

but, instead, they're rushing
to complete the materials.

[Duchovny]
The rush is so intense

that in 1996, factory workers
blow the whistle.

♪ ♪

[Hakeem]
"The New York Times"

publishes some astonishing
and disturbing claims

that at Pantex,
the equipment is faulty,

and safety measures
are being ignored.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny]
For the first time,

the public is alerted
to a nuclear threat

on their own doorstep.

♪ ♪

The site is still
in operation,

with as many as 2,000 warheads

still waiting
to be disassembled.

♪ ♪

- If the Soviets sent assassins

to try and k*ll you not once
but 22 times,

it makes sense to build
a secret underground hideout.

But that doesn't mean
it can't be comfortable.

This is the story
of how one European dictator

commissions
his own private super bunker

to the tune of $20 billion.

[dramatic music]

- After World w*r II,
Yugoslavia is led

by a socialist dictator
by the name of Josip Broz.

He is better known
to the world as Tito.

[Duchovny]
Yugoslavia is independent

from both Western Europe
and the Soviet Union.

But this comes at a cost.

Stalin hates Tito
and is out for blood.

- The Soviet leadership
has orchestrated

over 22 assassination attempts
on Tito,

so he must be thinking,

it's only a matter of time
until his time runs out.

[Duchovny]
Tito believes

a Soviet attack on Yugoslavia
is imminent,

which would trigger
a global response.

World w*r III could kick off
in his backyard.

- Tito begins to prepare
for the worst,

with a near-impossible
solution.

He decides to build
an impenetrable retreat

that has to be strong enough
to withstand a nuclear blast

but big enough
to hold his entire government.

[Duchovny] The only way
to meet Tito's demands

is to tunnel under a mountain.

- Tito's engineers pick a site
near the village of Konjic,

and the reason is
because it's remote

and shielded by the mountains.

Plus, its central location

makes it pretty accessible
for government ministers

who are in a mad rush
to take shelter.

[Duchovny]
The question is,

how do you hollow out
a mountain in secret?

- To maintain
total confidentiality,

Tito enforces extraordinary
security protocols.

- He does not employ locals.

Instead, he brings in
construction workers

from other parts
of the country

who won't be able to recognize
the location.

- As an extra measure,
they travel in blindfolds

or in blacked-out vehicles
to the location.

[Duchovny] The site is
cordoned off from the public,

and an immense
tunneling project begins.

♪ ♪

- Workers are using expl*sives

to slowly and methodically
burrow within the mountain.

It's brutal and dangerous work.

In fact,
later testimonies claim

that barely
a single shift passes

without someone
getting k*lled.

[Duchovny] As the deaths
stack up, so does the cost.

Tito pours the equivalent

of $20 billion
into the tunnel,

and meter by meter,

his hidden fortress
takes shape.

- The entrance
to Tito's bunker admits you

to a horseshoe-shaped


that's carved
into the mountain.

It has 100 dormitories

that are capable of housing 350

of Yugoslavia's political
and military elite.

In every way, this facility
is designed to provide

for the continuity
of government

in the eventuality
of a nuclear w*r.

[Duchovny]
The base is fitted out

with the latest Cold w*r tech.

- It contains
five operational centers

with a cryptography center

and even a fully equipped
hospital operating room.

[Duchovny]
The most iconic gadget

is straight
out of a spy movie--

the red telephone,
which will ring

when nuclear Armageddon
kicks off.

If that happens,

Tito can sit out
the end of the world

in relative luxury.

- The rest of the survivors
will have to slum it,

but Tito gets
a private residence

in the heart of the mountain.

It consists of five rooms,

including an office
and a bedroom,

with the bunker's
only double bed.

[Duchovny] The inside
of the bunker is vast,

but the entrance is hidden
to the outside world

by a stroke of genius.

It's camouflaged
behind the façade

of three
regular-looking houses.

- Tito's impossible dream

is finally completed in 1979--


after construction began.

[Duchovny] But Tito never gets
to take the grand tour.

He dies in 1980.

The secret bunker
is fully operational,

and the Yugoslav government
keeps it on standby.

Then, 40 years
after construction began,

an incredible order is given--

to blow this thing apart.

♪ ♪

- In the early 1990s,

Yugoslavia,
as it used to be known,

is torn apart
as a result of a civil w*r.

And Tito's bunker is right
in the middle of the conflict.

For the past 12 years,

the bunker
has been looked after

by one of Tito's
trusted servants--

Colonel Grabovica, who's now
with the Serbian army.

Bosnian troops are advancing
toward the complex.

Colonel Grabovica
is given an order

to demolish the entire
facility with expl*sives.

[Sami]
This is an agonizing order,

because Grabovica
has spent 12 years

taking care of this complex.

When his unit
plants the expl*sives

and prepares to leave,

he makes a decision

that could cost him his life
for treason.

He quietly cuts the cables
connected to the expl*sives,

and he saves Tito's bunker.

[Duchovny]
The underground complex

is taken by Bosnian troops,

who retain it as a secret
military installation

until the end
of the civil w*r.

In 2011, it's finally
decommissioned,

and the government
opens its doors

as a museum and art space.

Locals get to explore
the secret labyrinth

that's been hiding behind
these houses for 60 years.

- A quiet neighborhood
in Germany

is the last place you'd expect
to find a sinister CIA program.

It's a site that brings
together Soviet spies, LSD,

and a n*zi scientist intent
on mastering mind control.

[dramatic music]

[Martin] During the early
years of the Cold w*r,

the CIA is more
and more obsessed

with interrogation techniques.

They want to be able
to manipulate the enemy

who falls into our hands,

and then they also
want to figure out ways

to reinforce the will

of our personnel who might fall
into enemy hands,

reinforce their ability

to resist
interrogation techniques

that the enemy
might expose them to.

The only way to figure out
how best to serve

both of those masters

is to conduct
psychological experiments.

[Duchovny] The CIA sets up
a top secret program

to explore methods
of mind control.

It's called Project Bluebird.

- These experiments
can't be conducted

in a regular laboratory,
obviously.

They have to be done
in a classified environment--

a sort of black site

that governments
typically turn a blind eye to.

[Duchovny] So Project Bluebird
is taken out of the U.S.,

to battle-scarred
West Germany.

- At this time,
part of Germany is still

under American occupation
after World w*r II,

when the U.S. military
have a site

in a quiet town
just north of Frankfurt.

[Duchovny]
It's called Camp King.

- Camp King has been in use
since World w*r II.

It was used for imprisoning

and interrogating
n*zi leaders.

[Sasha] Camp King has
the perfect infrastructure

for psychological experiments.

It has secure cells,
housing for staff,

and even a hospital.

[Duchovny]
But its most vital asset--

absolute privacy.

- The locals are used to seeing
the Americans

from Camp King around,
and they don't ask questions

about what
they're doing inside.

[Duchovny] The project needs
a lead scientist,

someone willing to turn
a blind eye

to medical ethics.

- It turns out that the chief
medical doctor at Camp King

has quite the résumé.

Dr. Walter Schreiber
is the former surgeon general

of the German army.

- Walter Schreiber oversaw

horrific medical experiments

at Dachau and Auschwitz.

Under his watch,

concentration camp prisoners
are frozen,

injected with hallucinogens,

and even dissected
to track gangrene--

experiments that end
in slow and painful death.

[Duchovny]
Schreiber was picked up

by U.S. military intelligence
after the w*r.

Now his skills are put to use
on Project Bluebird,

running Camp King's
experiments in mind control.

- This includes
hallucinogenic drugs.

It includes hypnosis.

The idea is to break
the prisoner from his own mind

and do what the CIA wants.

[Duchovny] The secure facility
has a ready supply

of test subjects.

- Its current inmates
are Soviet defectors,

spies, and refugees--

people who could be considered
expendable.

They could be treated
inhumanely

or die during trials,
and who would know?

- The subjects are described

as experienced
professional-type agents...

suspected of working
for Soviet intelligence.

In one case,
doses of drugs and hypnosis

induce a deep trance.

One spy remains under
for two hours

and then completely forgets
the experience.

[Duchovny] But mastering
mind control proves elusive,

so new instruments
are brought in,

and the facility
expands its operations.

[Sami] They generate
a new set of tests

to try on their subjects,

including exposure to gases,

irradiation by infrared
and ultraviolet light,

pressure chambers,
sonic t*rture,

and dietary manipulation.

Prisoners are often subjected
to multiple combinations

of these experiments
until they can't take any more.

[monitor flatlines]

- Experiments
at Camp King continue

for the rest of the decade,

when they are quietly drawn
to a close.

But the CIA's obsession
with drugs and hypnosis

is far from over.

[Martin] The experiments
with mind control

inform the administration

of the mother of all Cold w*r
psychological projects...

♪ ♪

MKUltra.

[Duchovny] In 1993,
the U.S. returns Camp King

to the German government,
who build houses on the site.

Families move in, oblivious
to its gruesome history,

until 2002,

when German researchers
uncover the full details

of Camp King's experiments.

♪ ♪

And the new residents learn
the terrifying truth

about the place
they now call home.

- In the 1940s,

the U.S. sets up a weapons
research lab in Los Alamos

that covers
a sprawling 40 square miles.

But the Soviets--

they go bigger,


with a secret weapons facility


The question is,
how do you keep that hidden?

[dramatic music]

[Martin]
By the end of World w*r II,

both the United States
and the Soviet Union

recognize that missiles
will dominate

the future b*ttlefield.

♪ ♪

The Soviets have captured
existing examples

of the German V-2 rocket--

the world's
first ballistic m*ssile.

In addition to that, they have
captured German scientists.

The Soviets want to use
the V-2 rockets

to help them develop
a new m*ssile defense system.

[Duchovny]
The problem is,

they have nowhere
to launch them.

[Greg] They want to test
these bad boys out.

The thing is,
they've got to do this

away from the eyes of the West.

They need something private,
something secure.

[Duchovny]
In May 1946,

Soviet command
signs off the location

of their new facility.

And to ensure total secrecy,

it's in one
of the most isolated stretches

of the country.

- The Soviets choose
a remote location in the south,

in the desert, very close
to the Kazakh border,

at a place
called Kapustin Yar.

It's 600 miles from Moscow and


♪ ♪

[Duchovny]
The extreme isolation

is its major selling point
and biggest problem.

- There's no roads,
no rail, no power.

I mean, there's nothing
out there but empty horizon,

which is perfect for secrecy
and volatile rocket tests,

but it's terrible for
a massive construction project

on an ambitious deadline.

[Greg] It's also
a horrendous place to work.

In the summer,
temperatures can get

well over


and in the winter,
it plummets to below freezing.

[Duchovny] But Stalin
wants rockets in the sky

as soon as possible,
so he hands the project

to one
of his finest commanders--

General
Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk.

- Voznyuk is a man who thrives
on the impossible.

He's legendary
for his iron will

and genius for logistics.

♪ ♪

[Amy] Voznyuk is sent
to this remote site,

and he immediately
gets to work.

He builds a tent city
to house all the workers

and then builds roads
and rail lines

to bring in all
the construction material

they're going to need
to make this base a reality.

[Duchovny]
Voznyuk's team

may be sleeping in tents
on the desert floor,

but in just two months,

they built a launchpad
and a command center.

The new Soviet weapons program
is ready for takeoff.

- In October of 1947,

the secret base at Kapustin Yar

launches
its first-ever rocket--

a refurbished German V-2

that flies
for almost 200 kilometers.

After that,
the Kapustin Yar base

expands rapidly.

A new town is completed,

and it becomes the cradle
of Soviet m*ssile development,

all hidden from Western eyes.

- In the Cold w*r,
nothing remains secret forever.

Whispers
of a Soviet m*ssile base

send Western governments
scrambling

for photographic evidence.

And in 1959, the British
sneak across the Iron Curtain--

or rather, above it.

♪ ♪

- On December 6, 1959,
a British pilot sets off

towards the Soviet desert.

[Greg]
They're flying an aircraft

that the world
has never seen--the U-2.

[Amy] The U-2 is the pinnacle
in aerial espionage.

It's designed to fly so high

with such
high-resolution cameras

that it should be able
to photograph this new site

while staying
clear out of the way

of any possible
Soviet missiles.

♪ ♪

- He passes
right over Soviet territory,

and he comes back

with the first
high-quality photographs

of Kapustin Yar
to reach the West.

- The photos collected
by the U-2

are absolutely critical.

They tell the Western Allies

exactly what type
of technology

the Soviets have developed.

They tell them exactly what
type of fuel they're using,

they tell them vital things
that they need to know

about Soviet m*ssile technology
and capability.

♪ ♪

[Duchovny] Kapustin Yar
is no longer a secret...

giving the West a vital window

into the Soviet
m*ssile program.

But U.S. surveillance
doesn't slow down progress.

The desert base
continues its operation

and remains the beating heart

of Russian weapons
innovations today.

- There's a facility in Utah

that's bigger
than the Pentagon,

with restricted access,
no windows,

and a secret objective--

reportedly to spy on us all.

[dramatic music]

- In the early 2010s,

deep on the salt flats
of Bluffdale, Utah,

construction begins on
a sprawling 240-acre complex.

Now, this is not
a secret complex.

It can't be a secret.

The place is over 50 times
the size of the U.S. Capitol.

Officially, this complex is
known

as the Intelligence Community

Comprehensive
National Cybersecurity

Initiative Data Center.

Locals just call it
the "Utah Data Center."

- This giant complex is
a National Security Agency site

for cyber defense.

Today surveillance, sabotage,

and even t*rror1st attacks
can be carried out remotely.

The NSA says
the Utah Data Center

is designed to protect everyday
Americans from cyberattacks.

[Duchovny] The latest
sprawling data facility

barely makes the headlines,

which might be just
what the NSA wants,

until journalists
begin to question

the unprecedented scale
of the site.

- At the heart
of the construction,

four vast data halls
are being built,

each 25,000 square feet.

These will be filled

with cutting-edge computer

servers and hardware

that will devour


- It will come
with an electricity bill

of $40 million a year,

and keeping those servers
from overheating

requires 1.7 million gallons
of water every day.

[Duchovny]
It's a technological marvel

that you can't see
without top-level clearance.

- Security is fortress level,

with biometric access,


and barriers that can stop
a 15,000-pound truck

moving at 50 miles per hour.

[Duchovny]
So why all the secrecy?

[Sasha] When journalists
crunch the numbers,

they realize
that the Utah Data Center

can store an unimaginable
amount of data.

Some estimate
it's yottabytes--

a trillion terabytes.

[Duchovny]
To put that into context,

that's the equivalent
of 2 trillion laptops.

- This site could hold
more information

than we ever thought possible

and still have space for more.

[Duchovny]
It begs the question--

what exactly is the NSA going
to store on those servers?

In 2012, journalists
for "The New York Times"

pick up the trail,

when a retired
NSA technical director

named William Binney
steps out of the shadows

and blows the whistle.

[Amy] In the late 90s,
Binney created a program

called ThinThread

that searched everything
on the Internet

for anything
that was potentially harmful,

like t*rror1st attacks
or any other security attacks.

[Sami] His program
protects the privacy

of innocent civilians
by encrypting anything

that isn't suspicious,

while honing in
on potential bad guys.

- Binney claims
that after 9/11,

the safeguards were removed

and parts of ThinThread
were used

in a sweeping
surveillance program

on all U.S. citizens.

[Duchovny]
In August 2012,

"The New York Times" publishes
Binney's revelations.

♪ ♪

- He contends
that the Utah Data Center

is part of a massive
government effort

to store troves of data
collected on Americans

without warrants
and against the Constitution.

[keys clacking]

[Duchovny]
According to Binney,

every message you send
is recorded, saved,

and stored at places
like the Utah Data Center.

- Allegedly, it's the last part
of the NSA's mission

to own every digital
communication

without oversight

and be accessed
by NSA analysts

all over the country.

[Duchovny] The secret activity
in those immense data halls

remains highly controversial.

To its supporters,
it plays a vital role

in keeping the country safe.

To its detractors,
it's the real-world embodiment

of Big Brother.

♪ ♪

From impenetrable bunkers

to high-security science labs,

governments perform
their most covert activities

behind gates and fences
in top secret sites.

But no door
stays locked forever.

And the truth gets out
in the end.

♪ ♪