Olney Support Center

The Olney Support Center, formerly the Olney Federal Support Center, is an underground facility of the Carderock Division of the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) located in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.^[1][2] The center occupies 75 acres (30 ha) of property 2.0 miles (3.2 km) east of Laytonsville, Maryland, on the site of a former Nike missile base.^[3][4] The NSWC acquired the facility from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in March 2019.^[5]

Prior to its acquisition by the NSWC, the center was a communications, satellite teleregistration and data network facility. It at one time housed the FEMA Alternate Operations Center (FAOC)^[6] as a control center for the U.S. National Warning System.^[3][7][8] It was also part of the FEMA National Radio System (FNARS), a high-frequency radio network that links FEMA's emergency operations centers.^[3]

References

1. Sterling, Kelley (July 10, 2020). "Carderock Division Changes Command". Naval Sea Systems Command. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
2. Lew, H.S. (1999). Supporting Document for Rehabilitation Cost Estimates of FEMA Existing Buildings (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved March 24, 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
3. "Bunkers Beyond the Beltway: The Federal Government Backup System". The Lay of the Land. Center for Land Use Interpretation. Spring 2002. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
4. "Olney O&M Support". General Services Administration. July 25, 2010. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
5. "Carderock recognizes the best of the best". Naval Sea Systems Command. September 16, 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
6. The Alternate National Warning Center (ANWC) was renamed the FEMA Alternate Operations Center (FAOC) in 1999. See National Warning System Operations Manual (PDF). Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2001. p. 1-3. The FAOC may have since relocated to the FEMA Regional Center in Thomasville, Georgia. See Rivera (June 2, 2004). "The Government Underground: FEMA/Military Bases Itch to be Only Game in Town". Portland Independent Media Center.
7. "Alternate Special Warning Facility: Olney Special Facility". Federation of American Scientists. July 25, 1998. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
8. Goodwin, Jacob (August 7, 2010). "FEMA Needs Armed Guards at Secretive Federal Support Center in Gaithersburg, MD". Government Security News. Retrieved March 21, 2013.

39.2093°N 77.1063°W / 39.2093; -77.1063