Windowless New York skyscraper that can survive nuclear blast is secretly America’s biggest spy hub, shocking revelations claim
Manhattan's imposing Long Lines tower is officially a telephone exchange for international calls into the US
THE black windowless facade of Manhattan's most menacing tower has a sinister secret according to claims - it is one of the world's biggest spy hubs.
AT&T's imposing 29-story Long Lines skyscraper looms over the Big Apple's skyline, officially operating as a telephone exchange.
Tellingly, it is able to withstand a nuclear blast and shelter its inhabitants from radioactive fallout for two weeks.
And new allegations claim the brutalist building has an altogether more worrying purpose - spying on millions around the globe.
Documents leaked by notorious whistleblower Edward Snowden suggest the building in fact has the codename Titanpointe and monitors phone calls, text messages and internet usage.
Among those monitored are 38 countries and bodies such as the UN and the World Bank.
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And ominously, the building - often known as the Long Lines tower - is located just two blocks down the road from one of New York's busiest FBI HQs.
made the claims after speaking to an employee of telecoms giants AT&T - which owns the tower.
They say it was opened as part of a "Project X" in the 1970s in a bid to spy on international rivals.
The building - which has the world's largest windowless wall - is alleged to contain a "gateway switch" through which any international call reaching the US must pass.
Concerned privacy campaigner Elizabeth Goitein told the Intercept: "This is yet more proof that our communications service providers have become, whether willingly or unwillingly, an arm of the surveillance state.
"The NSA is presumably operating under authorities that enable it to target foreigners, but the fact that it is so deeply embedded in our domestic communications infrastructure should tip people off that the effects of this kind of surveillance cannot be neatly limited to non-Americans."
AT&T denied claims it acts on the US Government's behalf to spy on conversations.
Nor do US security workers have access to the parts of the building the company owns, spokesman Fletcher Cook said.
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