Navy plans $40 million fiber-optic link to Guantánamo base

[struggle4progress]

Posted on Wednesday, 07.04.12
The $40 million project will put an underwater cable from the base in southeast Cuba through the Windward Passage to an undisclosed link in South Florida.

By CAROL ROSENBERG
[e-mail]

The Pentagon has decided to lay an estimated $40 million underwater fiber-optic cable from Guantánamo Bay to South Florida, The Miami Herald has learned, in the latest sign that the military is preparing for detentions and other operations at the Navy base for the long-term.

“It only makes sense to do if we’re going to be here for any period of time,” said Navy Capt. Kirk Hibbert, disclosing the project in an interview last week before ending a two-year tour as the Navy base commander.

Construction won’t start for more than a year. And communications won’t come online for probably two more years

But the American military has already notified the Cuban military to expect a surveyor ship, the USNS Zeus, off the base’s coastline this summer — a first step toward getting the program funded and then out to bid ...

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/04/2881436/navy-plans-40-million-fiber-optic.html

[think]

1. The Pentagon sure knows how to waste money while the politicians scream about the budget