Reply #25: This is weird, too

[Emit]

Apparently, there had been a study before this decision was made (this article below says they are not really shutting it down, just downsizing the crew) -- and the study was prompted by:

The study is rooted in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the former government official said.

That day, Gen. Ralph “Ed” Eberhart, who at the time was chief of NORAD and U.S. Space Command, spent 45 minutes getting from Peterson to Cheyenne Mountain, which had communications capabilities not available at Peterson.

Enroute, he lost a cellphone call with Vice President Dick Cheney, underscoring the fact that Eberhart, now retired, wasn’t at his battle station inside the mountain.

A short time later, the order was given to shoot down a hijacked airliner, five minutes after the plane plunged into a Pennsylvania field.

New repeater stations were installed almost immediately to fix the phone problem, and Congress began pumping money into Peterson.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:VIGAsyoylAQJ:www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2006/060616-cheyenne-mountain.htm+Peterson+Air+Base+dick+cheney&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

On edit -- oops, meant to reply to OP -- ah well.