SUNSPOT, New Mexico - The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot New Mexico has been closed since last Thursday.Dyer notes:
The post office near Sunspot also remains closed. Its employees have been temporarily transferred to the post office in Cloudcroft, a USPS official told ABC-7.
ABC-7 has confirmed the post office in Sunspot will not be re-opened until further notice, and cannot be re-opened until approved by local law enforcement officials.
...The FBI did speak with local law enforcement about the length of the observatory closure.
"They spoke with my sergeant initially and they said that they would be down for a few days so that could be anywhere from a few days to months, from my past experience," said Sheriff Benny House.
The FBI did not tell Sheriff House the reason for the closure.
Sheriff Benny House did tell ABC 7 that his local law enforcement did not have anything to do with either the observatory closure, or the Sunspot post office Closure.
A spokesperson for the United States Postal Service told ABC 7 that they were given specific instructions. "We were told on September 6th that we would be evacuated along with the surrounding area, we were not told why," Rod Sturgeon said, "We were told just to be out of the area."
Hmm, Sac Peak been mostly closed for more than a year. NMSU is still operating the Vacuum Tower Telescope and the post office has been closed for a couple of years, I think.
[UPDATE] I agree with this article, that espionage is the most-likely issue:
But given AURA's statements and what else we know about the situation, there is a distinct possibility that "security issue" is actually related to espionage or a similar operational security concern. The National Solar Observatory's site enjoys a wide and largely unobstructed view of both the U.S. Air Force's Holloman Air Force Base and the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, both of which regularly host a very wide array of U.S. military research and development programs.
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