If you have never heard of Mount Weather, you're not alone.  Most Americans haven't.  And that's exactly how FEMA and the President want it.

Mount Weather is a real place, located in rural Virginia a mere 45 miles from Washington but a significant 1700 feet above sea level.  It has belonged to the US government since 1903 and got its name from its use by the US Weather Service during the first half of the the 20th century.

What's most interesting about Mount Weather is not what is above ground, as seen in these photos, but what is below ground.

Mouth Weather is reputedly ground zero for FEMA's operations pending a national emergency.  It has been fictionalized in the 1960's thriller Seven Days in May, and has been investigated by the Progressive magazine in 1976.

It supposedly is a fully fuctional and stocked underground city, replete with housing, water and food supplies, transportation systems, communication facilities, and a shadow government, representing the executive branch, its cabinet and a number of other federal agencies.

Once again, don't take my word for it: investigate it yourself.  Simply google "Mount Weather" and you'll get tons of links.

I have to wonder what kind of emergency they are expecting?  Nuclear war? Earthquakes? Hurricanes?

Or is the "emergency" something more insidious, like civil unrest?