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Stop: Restricted Area. Persons Not Assigned To This Area Must Obtain Permission Before Entering |
"In mid-1962, a specially-designated detachment of communications
technicians, from the Naval Communications Station, Adak, augmented an
operation within a small hut on this site. This activity became known
as "SPECOPS." It was moved to Zeto Point where it was renamed "SISS
ZULU." After moving to an improved site on the east side of Clam
Lagoon, the operation was known as "Classic Wizard." The last facility
complex to house this operation is located due north of this marker at
North Lake. From its initial inception, this operations served to
provide extremely valuable support service to the Navy's tactical fleet
units in the Northern Pacific Ocean region, as well as national
intelligence authorities. " Adak Historical Markers
Extremely valuable support service = super sneaky spy stuff. See what Major A. Andronov Zarubezhnoye Voyennoye Obozreniye had to say about that, in 1993,
here. There were five known Classic Wizard installations, which supported Noss / White Cloud satellites. In addition to Adak, there were Classic Wizard facilities in Diego Garcia, Guam, Winter Harbor (Maine), and Edzell, Scotland. They were decommissioned in the early 90s.
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Pretty non-descript. |
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Two layers of security fencing and a guard shack (?) That's a lot of security for an island in the middle of nowhere, crawling with Marines. |
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Most likely an auxiliary power shed. Many of the buildings have similar structures nearby. |
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Moat effect caused by recent torrential rains, not likely part of the original design. |
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Gauges. |
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Carefully destroyed circuit panel. |
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This door was guarding something secret. |
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The door to the break room area. |
To see what was inside...
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The Wizard himself! Each orb represents one of the satellites. I like to think that his face contained something super classified, but more likely the ravages of time have done him in. Note the metallic insulation (on an interior wall). Hmmm. |
Great article! Thank you for posting this. I lived on Adak between 86-90 as a kid and have always been fascinated by it's history. If they opened it up again as a base in light of current event's I'd very much like to try and work/live their.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Derek!
ReplyDeletemy father was there and worked on classic wizard
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article though
ReplyDeleteI worked in that building thanks for the blast from the past! Haven't seen that Wizard in over 20 yrs :-)
ReplyDeleteCool! Thanks for posting. Was not in that particular bldg, was there '79-'82. FYI, heard on the radio that Sugar Grove is going to be given over as a prison, cept for ops site. Wud'nt Adak be a better prison? Lol Doug Williams.
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