What Elon Musk Got Wrong About Why Federal Retirement Is Still Managed out of a Limestone Mine | EUROtoday
Along with the Civil Service Commission, different federal businesses, together with the National Archives, the Office of Civil Defense (the precursor to the Federal Emergency Management Agency), and the Social Security Administration started storing information within the Boyers facility across the similar time. J. G. Franz, then workplace supervisor of the Boyers mine, informed a newspaper reporter in 1966 that federal businesses have “backup equipment for everything” saved in a particular space of Boyers to guard the information within the occasion of nuclear fallout.
Franz informed an area newspaper that staff “hope we will never have to worry about a nuclear explosion,” however that if one occurred, the mine could be safely sealed off, in accordance with newspaper archives reviewed by WIRED. “The mine is equipped with a 30-day supply of food and supplies for all of the employees.”
At the time, the workers at Boyers have been reportedly capable of course of about 600 kilos of information every day bussed to the ability straight from Washington, DC. They relied on the lately constructed interstate freeway system for well timed deliveries. In truth, the federal authorities constructed an exit off Pennsylvania’s Interstate 80 particularly for “quick access to the mine in case of an emergency,” in accordance with an article within the Pittsburgh Press.
There are different sensible advantages that make outdated mines a superb place to retailer information. For one, their sometimes rural and secluded settings create a layer of pure safety from different kinds of threats. Repurposed mines present “excellent fire protection,” and immunity from occasions like “flood, theft, civil disorder, aircraft crashes, tornadoes, lightning,” famous a 1999 Iron Mountain presentation for the National Archives.
Carmichael tells WIRED that entry to the underground amenities he’s visited tends to be tightly managed, usually via closely guarded entrances. These amenities additionally often have maze-like designs that may seemingly discourage or confuse thieves in the event that they by some means acquired inside.
Several present managers of repurposed limestone mines informed WIRED that their caves are naturally between 55 and 70 levels Fahrenheit, optimum temperature for many storage conditions. John Smith, director of commercial actual property for the corporate that manages the limestone storage facility Carefree Industrial Park close to Kansas City, Missouri, mentioned that this implies utility prices are “dramatically lower” in comparison with above-ground amenities. His essential bills are related to air flow, since caves are usually very humid.
It All Goes Wrong
Shortly earlier than the Civil Service Commission arrived at Boyers, the US federal retirement equipment was a multitude. A 1951 authorities report discovered that “an adequate record system” wasn’t even in place but and urged Congress to “insist” one be created. At first, it appeared just like the group at Boyers was capable of flip issues round. The News-Herald reported in 1966 that with simply 55 staff, the system on the mine was working “with the same efficiency and effectiveness as it used to in Washington, DC.”
However, because the variety of retirees continued to climb, issues fell into disarray. By the early Nineteen Eighties, the Office of Personnel Management was being audited to search out the basis causes of extreme delays in processing retirement claims. In 1981, the Government Accountability Office advisable that OPM “develop a long-term plan for automating the retirement claims process.”
https://www.wired.com/story/limestone-mine-elon-musk-retirement/