An insider with knowledge of life inside of one of Manhattan’s most mysterious buildings has opened up about the unusual experience.
Built in 1974, the windowless behemoth at 33 Thomas Street has loomed over the Tribeca neighborhood, but few have ventured beyond its front door — and even fewer have gone on record about what they’ve seen.
Now, one man who worked as a steamfitter in the imposing, 29-story edifice, has opened up about his time on premises during the early 2000s, installing wiring and pipes within what is known as the “Long Lines Building.”
“There were rooms we couldn’t get into. They specifically told us not to enter, and we couldn’t ask what’s inside or why we can’t go in,” the man recalled, according to the Daily Mail.
The man and his crew, which included his son, were strictly forbidden from roaming around the building — parts of which were so aggressively off limits, that the workers had to work around them, in a move the whistleblowing worker called unprecedented.
Once, while in the basement, the crew came upon what appeared to be confidential papers containing classified information about how to handle certain machines in case of a radiation attack.
According to a 2016 report by The Intercept, 33 Thomas St. functions as “NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight.”
NSA stands for National Security Agency. The intelligence gatherer operates under the Department of Defense.
The report stated that the building, designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates as a secure communications hub, was built to withstand an atomic blast.
According to the publication’s investigation, which included documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden, there is “compelling evidence that 33 Thomas Street has served as an National Security Agency surveillance site, code-named TITANPOINTE.”
The Intercept added that, at the time of publication, AT&T owned the building and it contained “vital telecommunications equipment” — as well as key surveillance gadgetry, including a major international “gateway switch” which routes calls between the US and other countries.
According to a former AT&T engineer and top-secret NSA memos, the agency may have tapped into these calls from within the building.
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