Warrenton Training Center Warrenton Training Center ( WTC ) is a classified U . S . government communications complex located in the state of Virginia . Established in 1951 , it comprises four discrete stations located in Fauquier and Culpeper counties . WTC serves multiple roles , most notably as a Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) signals intelligence facility , numbers station , and communications laboratory . The center also houses at least one underground " relocation " bunker that serves U . S . continuity of government purposes , and is a communications and signals intelligence training school for various federal departments and agencies , including the CIA , National Security Agency ( NSA ) , Department of Defense and Department of State . Additionally , it is a relay facility for the Department of State ' s Diplomatic Telecommunications Service . The United States Army administers WTC on behalf of the U . S . government . History . Warrenton Training Center was established on June 1 , 1951 , as part of a " Federal Relocation Arc " of hardened underground bunkers built to support continuity of government in the event of a nuclear attack on Washington , D . C . The center was ostensibly designated a Department of Defense Communication Training Activity and served as a communications training school . The CIA listed personnel and other expenses at Warrenton Training Center in its fiscal year 1955 budget . Initially , the United States Army served as the executive agent for the administration and management of the center on behalf of the Department of Defense . In 1973 , the center was transferred to the Department of the Army under the administration of its signals intelligence branch , the Army Security Agency , a subordinate to the NSA , and the base was renamed U . S . Army Training Group , Warrenton Training Center . In 1982 , the center was restored its original name and reverted to Department of Defense control with the Army as the executive agent for administration on behalf on the National Communications System ( NCS ) . Under the NCS ( dissolved and functions transferred to the Department of Homeland Security in 2012 ) , the center is mandated to provide communication for the federal government under any circumstances , including a nuclear attack . Its underground bunkers house communications infrastructure that provides service for most major federal departments . In 2002 , the Brookings Institution listed an unspecified WTC " relocation bunker " as a facility with an active nuclear weapons , weapons - related or naval nuclear propulsion mission . The CIA has used Warrenton Training Center as a communications facility since the 1950s . Short - wave radio enthusiasts have identified WTC antennas broadcasting suspected intelligence transmissions . In 1989 , a WTC spokesperson acknowledged that the stations " are operated . . . to communicate with embassies , and for espionage transmissions " to American intelligence agents in Cuba and Central America . In 1998 , laboratories at WTC were reported to produce concealed radio equipment used to send and receive communications , typically in the form of furniture items . In 1986 , the KGB threw U . S . investigators off the trail of CIA officer and Soviet mole Aldrich Ames by constructing an elaborate diversion whereby a Soviet case officer told a CIA contact that the mole was stationed at Warrenton Training Center . Ames was stationed in Rome at the time . U . S . mole hunters investigated 90 employees at WTC for almost a year and came up with ten suspects , although the lead investigator noted that " there are so many problem personalities that no one stands out . " WTC has continued its role as a communications training facility for various government agencies , including the CIA , NSA , Department of Defense , and the Department of States ' s Foreign Service Institute . In 1995 , a former NSA employee told the " Baltimore Sun " that WTC ' s communications training included listening in on the phone calls of U . S . citizens , using a loophole in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that permitted domestic eavesdropping so long as the tapes were destroyed immediately afterward . In April 2013 , Dominion Virginia Power representatives indicated that facility expansion plans at WTC had accelerated the need for electrical transmission line upgrades in the area . This sparked debate among Fauquier County residents on whether the U . S . government should be required to pay for the upgrades . Facilities . Warrenton Training Center is spread across four separate facilities in two different counties . Station A , Station B and Station C are located in Fauquier County , while Station D is located in Culpeper County . Station A , near Warrenton , is an administrative , training and residential compound . Numerous structures on site include both residential and office buildings . Station A is used as a training facility by multiple agencies , including the Department of State and the CIA ' s Directorate of Intelligence and Directorate of Support . Station B , also near Warrenton , houses the headquarters of WTC and , at , is the largest of the four facilities . It consists of several multi - story buildings concealed atop a heavily forested mountain , as well as underground bunkers that house communications infrastructure . Operations at Station B include a communications laboratory , communications training , electronics testing , and equipment maintenance . The facility is a node on a fiber - optic cable that runs from Stations C and D , and which also connects WTC with other facilities in the Washington , D . C . area , such as the Tysons Corner Communications Tower . Station B also houses the Brushwood conference facility , constructed in the 1990s . The Environmental Protection Agency classifies Station B as a superfund site due to the presence of an inactive landfill and two chemical pits that have released trichloroethylene into nearby residential drinking water wells . Station C is a CIA numbers station , which transmits coded signals to U . S . embassies overseas and intelligence agents in the field . Station D , also known as Brandy Station due to its proximity to the community of the same name , is the primary high frequency receiver facility for the CIA Office of Communications , and also hosts a variety of satellite communications ground station facilities . Station D is also a core regional relay facility for the Department of State ' s Diplomatic Telecommunications Service ( DTS ) , a system of secure integrated networks that supports U . S . government departments and agencies operating from diplomatic missions and consulate facilities outside the United States . Facility locations . Station A : SW of Warrenton ( ) Station B : NW of Warrenton ( ) Station C : SE of Remington ( ) Station D : NW of Lignum ( )