LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Pentagon
built 196 days ago
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was dedicated on January 15, 1943 and it is the world's largest low-rise office building. Those who work within its walls often simply call it "The Building," "Fort Fumble," or the "Puzzle Palace." The term "the Pentagon" is often used to refer directly to the Department of Defense, rather than the building itself. The building is pentagon-shaped in plan and houses approximately 23,000 U.S. military and civilian employees and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. It has five floors above ground (and two basement levels) and each floor has five ring corridors.
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The Pentagon is the headquaters of the American Deparment of Defense. A visit to the Pentagon is the only way to appreciate the immense size of this building (the United States Capitol could fit inside any one of the Pentagons five wings) and a guided tour will take you through only a fraction of the 17.5 miles of corridors inside. "Walk-in" Tours begin at the Metro entrance and take approximately one and a half hours to complete the mile long route. Group tours are ... available, but require advance booking. Note that photographic Identification is required.
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On October 19, the Pentagon Chapter held its monthly speaker series luncheon featuring Arnold J. Haiman, deputy general counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The luncheon was held at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. USAID is the principal federal agency which administers U.S. foreign aid. USAID’s mission includes promoting peace and stability by fostering economic growth, protecting human health, providing emergency humanitarian assistance, and enhancing democracy in developing countries. Haiman discussed some of the challenges the U.S. currently faces around the world, the military’s role in international humanitarian relief efforts, and the interplay between civilian and military agencies in international relief and development efforts. Haiman is a former Coast Guard and Navy judge advocate, and was acting general counsel of USAID from June 2005 to October 2006.
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The Pentagon, completed in 1943 under the urgencies of World War II, was built to provide a central headquarters for an expanded U.S. military. On September 11, hijackers crashed an American Airlines Boeing 757 airliner into the portion of the Pentagon that recently had been reinforced as part of a building renovation and counterterrorism effort. The plane impacted just outside the building and slid nearly halfway through it. It totally destroyed a section of the first two floors of the five-story building. The heavily damaged upper floors initially held but, with an intense fire raging, soon collapsed. Many experts credit the use of coiled reinforcement in the columns (now common practice in earthquake regions) for making the Pentagon as resilient as it was and allowing the upper floors to survive long enough for some of the workers to escape.
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Contractors involved in the Pentagon Renovation Program were ... charged with the task of rebuilding the damaged section of the Pentagon following the attacks. This additional project was named the "Phoenix Project", with the goal of having the outermost offices in the damaged section occupied again by September 11, 2002. Part of the pre-attack renovation had involved adding improved security features, including walls and windows with greater blast resistance. An initial analysis suggested that the section's improvements had saved lives, enabling more people to evacuate. Repairs included demolition of the damaged areas, complete rebuilding of the area that had previously been renovated, and reconstruction of the shell of the unrenovated section. The first Pentagon tenants whose offices were damaged in the attack began moving back in on August 15, 2002, nearly a month ahead of schedule.[12][13] The repairs cost the Department of Defense about $500,000,000.
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The Pentagon was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1941 and 1943 to consolidate various offices in the War Department, which was expanding rapidly during World War II. Covering an area of thirtyâ€four acres, with four stories aboveground, the reinforced concrete building was designed to provide 5 million square feet of floor space for 40,000 employees. When completed, the Pentagon was the world's largest office building. In 1947, it became the headquarters of the newly established Department of Defense. The term “the Pentagon†often refers to the Defense Department.
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