Hidden in Plain Sight: Beyond the X-Files [Format Kindle]

This is a fascinating subject, and Mr. Sauder is said to be the alternative literature's top expert on mysterious underground installations, but the book is mostly conjectural - with very little witness testimony and even less certitude.

The author's modus operandi is typically to cite decades-old defense contractor or think-tank briefs mulling deep-underground command bases under Washington DC, super-fast subterranean maglev trains, sub bases on the sea floor, etc. and then conclude, "based on my research," that such things "probably" have been built in total secrecy. This begs credulity on lots of fronts not addressed by Mr. Sauder, from the job of keeping them secret (hordes of builders must have been silenced, somehow, to a man, to say nothing of the thousands needed to staff such bases) to practical logistics: if the nation is really crisscrossed with enormous secret underground bases and tunnels, where did all the excavated earth go? How do they get supplies, food, and power without attracting attention? After all, Jacques Vallee memorably stumped believers in the alleged vast underground Dulce, NM base by asking, "How do they take the garbage out?"

Mr. Sauder reports rumors that the secret Pine Gap intelligence station in the Australian Outback was in line for an underground expansion capable of hosting 250,000 people. How you'd dig such a thing out, or move such a crowd in, without it looking like D-Day to the observant residents of nearby Alice Springs is not discussed.

The good stuff in this book, a handful of tantalizing emails claiming firsthand knowledge of weird subterranean installations, totals about ten pages. The rest is laborious and often repetitive padding (Mr. Sauder mentions at least three times that he's ridden the Washington DC Metro rail system extensively) or windy, stream-of-consciousness speculation hung on the slimmest of hooks. He reproduces a set of fanciful, science-fiction-grade illustrations of undersea bases, commissioned by the military back in the 1960s as an apparently abstract exercise, then leaps to the (wholly unsupported) view that they are likely to exist by now in real life. He "reveals" the existence of a VIP rail platform under the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, extending north from Grand Central, as possible evidence of a secret transport system -- not seeming to realize the platform, built for FDR in the 1930s, is common knowledge.

You will turn pages with increasing exasperation looking for hard information, and find too little to satisfy. Even the underground bases we know about, like Mount Weather or Cheyenne Mountain, are mentioned only in passing.

Many of the flaws that bedevil alternative / speculative lit are evident here: logical lapses, thin data, and lack of a good editor. This is a very cool topic awaiting more rigor and, hopefully, more direct testimony.

Some really interesting stories and insights; there was much that I had not read anywhere previously on the subject. I especially was interested to learn about past research pointing towards the maximum depth of planned underground and sub-sea floor structures.

Only a couple of criticisms. There was quite a bit of speculation on some subjects where there wasn't a lot of solid info available; understandable but still a bit frustrating. Also the whole book felt a bit like an assembly of stories of various related subjects - it does not feel like a coherent whole. It could use an update with a good editor bringing it together a bit better.

Overall an enjoyable read which I recommend to anyone interested in what might be possible or actually exist with respect to Deep underground bases.

I am fascinated by Richard Sauder's book; he raises some very interesting points and possibilities, some with photo evidence and others with artist renditions of his descriptions.
If you want a peek behind the scenes, I would recommend this book as a good read.