US Top Secret Research Centers Facilities?

This is a silly question I know....But in this one typical MacGyver episode, is there some US top secret research centers similar like the one in the film?

Would it be something like Area-51 or the Tonopah Test Range centers or even DARPA in were they use am AI computer-like machine to control voise commands and intruder detections?

I know its just a show, but even back then in the 80's, I think they pretty much existed.

www.youtube.com...

www.imdb.com...

Storyline
sent to test the security system at a top secret research center MacGyver finds himself at odds against an ambitious doctor and her highly advanced computer system. MacGyver breaks through the security system only to get trapped inside the research center with a computer that is going to kill him by pumping all the oxygen out of the center.

If there are secret bases like what you are saying, do you think we would know about them? I mean if its "secret" then the info would not be available to the public.

BTW I thought that was the best episode of the MacGuyver series.

By watching that episode, do you think a real life setting would be similar to Area-51, Los Alamos National Laboratory, or the Tonopah Test Range, or even DARPA?

Interviews with researchers at DARPA over the years have proven out the fact that they watch movies like everyone else and actually take inspiration for "Can we really make that?" or "Why can't we make that concept work in real life?" from Sci-Fi in some cases.

If for NO other reason that the sheer neat factor when times have been good and money flowed freely such as the 1980's Star Wars program or the total free for all since 9/11...I'll bet more than one facility that existed or had to be made anyway, has been made to look just as impressive and buck rogers like as some of the movies. Why not? Even evil geniuses have a sense of cosmetic 'Neato' factor for such things.


BTW... In my very personal opinion with nothing I have handy to back it up.... I don't think Area 51 has been the real center of Super-Secret stuff for many many years anyway... Look to the Western States...but Nevada is too well known right down to grade school children these days for the real secrecy to be handled there. Just my view... (Color...AHEM...ado). Sorry... had to clear my throat. Hate it when that happens.

So in this MacGyver episode, what secret research lab would resemble that in real life?
I would guess it has to be Los Alamos or the Oak Ridge Nat. Laboratory.

The research facility in the middle of nowhere is more likely to be the exception to the rule. First of all, you need to recruit scientists to work in the middle of nowhere. Then tend to live in cities, often near the university where they graduated. The remote lab has been done at less than a hand full of facilities, often due to hazardous materials. Los Alamos and Mercury come to mind. In the case of Los Alamos, it became a company town, but workers had their families out there. In the case of Mercury, you were essentially stationed there or took the bus. It is well noted that the rooms in the Mercury "bachelors" quarters are small than the prison cells down the road. If you have done the drive from Vegas to Mercury, you will note the quality of the highway deteriorates after you pass Mercury. The feds improved the road and eventually set up the bus service due to losing too many scientists to traffic accidents.

A lab needs supplies, maintenance, and calibration. There is a certain amount of commercial infrastructure you need to run a lab. Now this isn't to say you can't fly all the supplies in, or set up your own calibration lab, but all this adds cost to the facility. If the secret is what is in the lab rather than the lab itself, it is far cheaper just to set up shop in some town and use security to keep your secrets secret. Many Silicon Valley start ups never even have a sign on the door. Until you have a product to sell, all you have is a design lab, and that isn't open to the public.

The Lockheed Skunkworks is the prototype model that works best for secret projects. It is used all the time in commercial industry. The iphone was design in the "purple" lab. Of course, for something like a smartphone, you don't need that much infrastructure, just privacy.

I've posted the story before, but it is worth repeating. When Varian invented the ion implanter, they set up a skunkworks in Sunnyvale Ca. Now the way an ion implanter works requires strong magnetic fields. The prototype machine wasn't shielded very well. The machine produced magnetic fields strong enough to deflect the electron beams in the TVs of nearby houses. So much for secrecy.

I had a contract once where I was given an address and a floor number of a midrise building (5 or 6 stories). I got off the elevator and found the project used the entire floor. No hallway, no walls, just an empty shell. It was optics related, and they needed the open space. It was skunkworks for a company designing a laser measurement system.

The rented building in a city is far more likely to be the secret research facility than the lab in the middle of nowhere. This presumes you don't space for your project (i.e. room to fly the plane), or something similar. Lawrence Livermore National Labs is just a campus in the town of Livermore .Livermore was a company town at one time, but nowadays the lab doesn't really dominant the town.

But in this TV show episode, what top secret military research lab would this remind you of mostly?

en.wikipedia.org...

Comes to mind.

Or, DARPA.
www.darpa.mil...

Area-51 or the TTR range does not match, because its mostly secret aviation stuff rather than scientific research.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Colorado indeed my friend. I've seen some weird stuff out here. I live close to D.I.A. And have heard some crazy stuff from people who have worked there and at buckley air force base.

reply to post by darpa999


Oak Ridge isn't very remote. It's location was picked due to the source of plentiful electric power from the TVA to run centrifuges. Otherwise, it is just another campus.

DARPA to my knowledge doesn't have any labs at all. They just administrate contracts. They have office space where you can meet with them, SCIFs, etc. But hardly remote.

Groom Lake and the TTR are the closest there is to that video if remoteness is the key. If you look at what it takes to run Groom Lake and the TTR, you can see my point about why the base in the middle of nowhere is not a particularly intelligent plan if you don't need the space. Groom and the TTR has to run it's own airline to staff it. Nobody wants to live there. A charter airline just to staff your remote lab would be a ridiculous amount of overhead if you didn't have a reason for remoteness. Now some companies operate their own airlines such as intel. But they have facilities in multiple locations in order to attract enough skilled people to do the work.

DARPA solicitations can be found on fbo.gov with the search term DARPA. The winner gets a contract and sets up lab. When the contract is over, depending on terms, you have to return the lab equipment to the government for disposition. That is, DARPA isn't handing out venture capital. The US Government has organizations that work like that such as inQTel

Even germ labs like Plum Island aren't remote.

reply to post by darpa999


The top secret research facilities are similar to, say, your neighborhood Starbucks. High traffic, anonymous, heavily monitored.

You've probably walked past on and didn't even know it.

NEST teams are all over the states.

So in that MacGyver episode, it would be safe to say that Groom and the TTR would be the closest top secret research facility?

I know I know....Its just a made-up TV setting....But Groom and the TTR would be the closest in regards to that episode?

Thanks!!!!!

There is a base here in Australia that is essentially a US base, known as Pine Gap. It's location is very remote, close to the centre of the country.

From Wikipedia:

With the closing of the Nurrungar base in 1999, an area in Pine Gap was set aside for the United States Air Force's control station for Defense Support Program satellites that monitor heat emissions from missiles, giving first warning of ballistic missile launches. Since the end of the Cold War, the station has mainly been employed with intercepting and recording weapons and communications signals from countries in Asia, such as China and North Korea. The station was active in supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after the September 11 attacks

In general, very little has been confirmed about the operations inside the designated area for the US Airforce.

Probably not in the scale you're looking for (though without knowing exactly what happens there, it could be) but worth a thought to maybe look outside your borders.

reply to post by Kostafa


James Bamford's NSA books have covered the use of Pine Gap. It is basically a listening post. The premise of this thread is a remote research facility. That would eliminate Pine Gap as a candidate.

Originally posted by Slash
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Colorado indeed my friend. I've seen some weird stuff out here. I live close to D.I.A. And have heard some crazy stuff from people who have worked there and at buckley air force base.

Please DO TELL more!!!

I have heard many times folks say that same thing about stuff they see there, but they never elaborate. Please DO TELL more!!

reply to post by HangTheTraitors


You do realize the area around DIA has been studied extensively for fracking. There is nothing secret there. Just typical internet BS. There are countless threads on ATS about this crap. Nothing ever found.

Looks like he was just going where the stargate was!!! haha

Edwards Air Force base is purported to have extensive "secret" operations going on. I think most bases are capable of compartmentalizing their staff if need be. Many secrets are best kept in plain site.

I am just wondering like from the that episode, is that is there any facilities that have those lasers, fingerprint scanners, heat seeking robots, and that voice recognition thing in real-life?

If so, then one would guess where. My guess is still like Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore, MIT, and etc...Or....maybe even at the FORT DETRICK lab or the NORAD Cheyenne Moutain range.