Hagel's verbal assurances for continued U.S. presence in the Middle East come with action What Hagel did not mention was the continued buildup of X-band radar in the area that enhances antimissile defense capabilities against Iran. The first AN/TPY-2 radar went into a spot atop Mt. Keren in Israel's Negev Desert, where a discreet U.S. military installation is operated by about 150 U.S. service members and contractors. Tehran is about 1,000 miles to the northeast, but the radar is "so sensitive it can spot a softball tossed in the air from 2,900 miles away," Time magazine reported in 2012. Another AN/TPY-2 radar is deployed at Turkey's Kurecik air force base, which is 240 miles from the Iranian border. It, too, is operated by about 150 U.S. military personnel and contractors. More recently, the Wall Street Journal disclosed that a similar X-band radar is going to a secret site in Qatar, all but guaranteeing early warning for missiles launched from almost any part of Iran and aimed at the Middle East. For years, Qatar has been the site of the Al Udeid air base, home to thousands of U.S. military personnel and a site from which U.S., British and Australian aircraft have engaged in the fighting in Afghanistan. It also has been the home of the Combined Air Operations Center as well as other centers needed for military activities today in Afghanistan. But COAC is built to continue into the future. In a 2011 release, the Air Force Central Command described COAC as "the most advanced operations center in history." Hundreds of active and reserve personnel work "satellite communications, imagery analysis, network design, computer programming, radio systems, systems administration and many other fields" in a setting that "resembles the set of a futuristic movie," the release noted. On Tuesday, Hagel visited the Qatar facility and said, "There is no facility like this truly in the world with the technology, the expertise, the leadership, all integrated into almost 30 nations" capacities." The facility can track up to 50 close air support flights a day taking place over Afghanistan and process surveillance imagery from satellites and aircraft. There are other sites in the area, built up over the past decade, that are being made permanent. Take Al Dhafra air base, operated by the United Arab Emirates Air Force and located 20 miles south of Abu Dhabi. Stanley Consultants disclosed in a news release that it had been hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "to design an Air Defense Site and Cantonment Area to replace an existing temporary camp and provide force protection to USAF (U.S. Air Force) personnel." The project is to include "housing, dining, recreation, administrative, medical, fire, communications, security, post office . . . and morale facilities." That sounds permanent to me.