[VIDEO] The Most Secret Building in Manhattan

This video sheds light on 33 Thomas Street in Manhattan, a towering, windowless brutalist building initially constructed in the late 1960s as a highly secure telecommunications hub for AT&T, designed to withstand a nuclear blast and operate off-grid for weeks. The building, nicknamed "Project X" and later "Long Lines building," was equipped with advanced 4ESS switches to process millions of long-distance calls daily, making it indispensable to New York City's communication infrastructure, as evidenced by a 1991 power failure that disrupted air traffic control. However, whistleblowers like Mark Klein and Edward Snowden's leaked NSA files revealed the building, code-named "Titanpointe," to be a critical NSA mass surveillance site. It is believed to house a "sensitive compartmented information facility" (SCIF) that taps into communications and uses satellite dishes to intercept internet data, including video calls, all funneled to NSA headquarters and accessible via the XKEYSCORE search engine. Despite the revelations, AT&T has never publicly acknowledged its cooperation with the NSA regarding the activities within 33 Thomas Street, and other similar windowless buildings operated by AT&T across the US are suspected of serving similar surveillance purposes.

via fern

AT&T Long Lines Building
Matt Coneybeare

Matt Coneybeare

Editor in Chief

Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.

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