Joe Biden gets the prize

I can't help but to think poor Joe walks into a lot of closed doors.

It's Dan Quayle all over again - but WORSE!!

I really think the qualification for choosing a VP is to pick someone so radical or so bumbling that it's scarier to consider them as President than to consider assassinating the President.

Oh hebbins; I think you're onto something.

Hey all, Heid's Husband here... and I have to reply to this thread after my long absence since I know a bit about this subject..

What Joe did was way more than a gaffe. It was more than a blunder. It was more than just stupidity. It's a security concern in my eyes. A major one.

Let me explain. Back in the 50s and 60s, The US and other allies built bunkers in case of Nuclear Warfare so that the governments can maintain (or at least attempt to) a government for the reconstruction and the like. There were a tons of bunkers built across the US. To put it plainly, we were ready to rebuild and survive to a point after a nuclear war. Some are still active. Heidi and I live near a FEMA bunker that is located in the Denver Federal Center north of here. But as the Cold War ended, bunkers became empty that weren't needed, out dated or outed by the press (Greenbrier Hotel comes to mind, thank you Washington Post). Because of what I did in the military, I learned a lot. I learned a lot about Continuity of Government operations and where some of these bunkers were located. The ones I know of are still active from reading between the lines talking to a few LongLines folks. These things are kept in secret for a reason. To continue and protect our important officials in the US Government so it can continue the best it can under certain circumstances.

So what Biden did was a total security foul up beyond belief. Nearly worst than the Greenbier expose` that the Washington Post did. Not only he said it existed, he said flat out that the VP was there from time to time. He essentially compromised the security of that bunker in the Naval Observatory, forever. It's officially confirmed thanks to him. I know that there are other relocation sites for the VP, which I will not name here though if you look hard enough, you can find one or two possibilities, but the present bunker at his residence might as well go into retirement or at least hope that this gets buried and everyone forgets like the past projects.

Why is this "news"? It's been an "open secret" for years, with jokes about Cheney hiding in the dark, etc. Is it such a slow week for "news" stories?

The BBC reported on it in 2002, for example: Cheney's neighbours stoke bunker rumours

This old satire, Cheney's Evicted from Naval Observatory, also jokes about the "undisclosed location".

First off, they were reporting on a rumor. I read about it myself back in 02 and realize that there may have never been a bunker there in the first place and he was relocated elsewhere.

It's when a high level cabinet, like VP Biden, that it does confirm that there *is* a bunker there and creating a possible security risk, like I said in my previous posts when in actually it is a classified location. Just like SITE R (still classified), Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center/Relocation (still classified despite what is known about it now), Greenbrier Congressional Relocation Site, SITE CROWN (classified), AUTEC (classified), Area 51 (classified, for the most part), all of those are known Top Secret bunkers, relocation sites and known military secret research facilities. Most of them are out in the open, hiding in plain site. Sure there are the stories, urban legends, rumors of what is out there, but having the Vice-President confirming his own bunker that is a top secret location and even giving a brief description of its innards? Yeah, that a security compromise. This is more than a blunder. They will probably still use it, if necessary, however, I'm willing to bet that there are plans for another relocation site now so the press isn't camping out on Mass. Ave waiting to see if the VP emerges from his home after a 9/11 style event (or worse) or the young reporter trying to do a expose` on the said bunker.

You also have to realize that about a year ago, I was talking to a LongLines AT&T tech who was working that day, 9/11, and he told me that our government went into a Continuity of Government action for that whole entire day. That only happens when there is a threat of a release of nuclear weapons. Think about it, Nuclear Weapons. That's the reason why they sent Bush to STRATCOM. Everyone that was nearly someone was relocated very quickly and out of DC and elsewhere. That's when the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies go into offices, escort (or literally pick up) the said individuals right out of their homes, offices or where ever they are and ship them off to secure location by any means. That's what happened. Rumor has it that there were several limos and SUV's rushing down the Blue Ridge mountains rushing members of Congress to Mount Weather. That's a rumor mind you, but reported (so everyone for the most part was "hiding in the dark").

Locations like the VP bunker, like Biden blurted/gloated about at a dinner and reported is irresponsible and just plain stupid and compromises his own security.

Biden irresponsible? Stupid? How can that be? After all, he's got the highest IQ in the senate (maybe in all of DC). Just ask him, he'll tell you.

It seems that everyone in the current administration gets a pass no matter how grievous their words or actions. Thank you for enlightening everyone about Biden's latest episode.

BTW, great to see you posting again, Arg0. Don't be a stranger.

So, if I understand correctly, Biden may or may not have foolishly divulged information that was truly "Top Secret". And if he did, apparently those who received the information at the dinner table knew of its supposedly classified status, and felt such obligation to keep such information under wraps, that they decided to in fact share it with the world?

Not to exonerate someone from an error in judgment, but one of these actions seemingly had malice, and the other did not.

Or did I miss something in the article?

Considering the attendees included "elite media", the error in judgement had no chance of staying under wraps. If you say something with the media in the room that was supposed to be classified, it is no longer a secret. I'm sure it was an error in judgement, but the media didn't consider it to be malicious to release the information. They were "just doing their job."

I realize it's fodder for a different thread, but it's really unfortunate that this particular type of "free pass" never falls under scrutiny.

Ah well. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

To be honest, Biden is a goofball, but I find all this "oh noes, he's compromised national security! May as well have given them the launch codes!" talk to be really disingenuous. Next thing they're going to tell us is that there's a bunker under the White House. It's not like this is some secret bunker up in the Ozark mountains which relies on absolute secrecy to avoid being hit in the first place. It's under the Veep's house. I imagine that the USNO is already pretty high on the list of targets for China or Russia's missiles, so whether they know there's a bunker there or not, it will be obliterated in an all-out scenario. In most other scenarios, knowledge of the bunker is still pretty meaningless. Conventional explosives or airplanes most likely couldn't penetrate it and in the event some type of smuggled nuke was detonated nearby there probably wouldn't be time to get into the bunker.

Well, that's a little melodramatic, don't you think? I've not heard anyone say anything even close to that.

Disingenuous? Well, I suppose this Administration is all about transparency, right? So who needs classified information anyway? I guarantee that if Cheney had made a flub like this, the uproar would have been deafening.

It was a rumor that this bunker existed. A pretty well known rumor, and easily accepted, but a rumor nonetheless. Even though it's also well known and accepted that there is a bunker under the White House, it would be a large breach in security for anyone to start giving details of how to get to it or how it's constructed. Would it be targeted by Russia or China? Of course. But they aren't our primary concern right now, are they? Sure, Russian spies know full well how bunkers are constructed, are up on the latest entrance plans, etc. Al Qaeda or another terrorist group with ambitions to make a name for itself may not have been. But now they have one more piece of information that they didn't have before, and that they shouldn't have at all.

What's even more laughable is that Biden's aide wants us to believe he was really talking about an office upstairs. But apparently in this Administration, all they have to do is deny it happened and people just nod and agree.

I see they're doing "spin control" now.

The real problem is, of course, that if someone knows the exact location of a bunker, it doesn't take a nuke to take it out; conventional weapons, or special bunker-busting convential weapons, can take them out. Ask Sadam.

I would have assumed that any real enemy would have assumed there was a bunker at the VP's residence and would have it on the target list, anyway.

But it's fun to see the left get a poster boy for doofism. Heaven knows the right has had their share.

It does kinda seem that way! How is it that the US always has a prominent political figure who's prone to saying stupid things??

In regards to bunker busting weapons, our weapons couldn't even reach some of the he big bunkers that Saddam had because of the depth of the them. Some weren't even touched because they were buried so deep.
No but I am willing to bet that it may have been a target anyways. DC has so many bulls eyes, its not funny. I once saw a declassified list of a list of targets in DC released by the Russians. I think I counted nearly 30 or so that were in a 15 square mile.
No kidding... I still shake my head. I mean, there is a difference from a bunker to a now bedroom on the second floor. I'm sure that Naval Officer that was showing Biden around did know what he was talking about.

Remember too, it takes more than one person to make a "blunder" happen; someone to actually commit the activity, and another to distort and/or report it. I'm not sure if the U.S. has an inordinate number of the former, but we certainly have plenty of the latter, all too often seemingly with an agenda of some sort.

I'm so sick and tired of his blunders.

First there's the asking the man in the wheelchair to stand up and be recognized. Then there's also the comment about 'don't get on a plane' comment that the admin tried to say 'what he meant to say' which was laughable. And now this. And this is just three there have been more...............

I just think these past two 'oops' are more than just plain stupidity. I really don't know what you call it though. What's after stupidity?

The man is a tool.