"The most important military citadel in central London - and arguably in Britain - is PINDAR, a bunker built beneath the Ministry of Defence on Whitehall. Its construction, which took ten years and reportedly cost £126.3 million, finally came to a conclusion in 1994, but PINDAR became operational two years earlier, in 1992.1 The high cost became the subject of some controversy in the early 1990s. Much of the cost overrun was related to the facility's computer equipment, which proved extremely difficult to install due to the very limited degree of physical access to the site.
PINDAR's main function is to serve as a crisis management and communications centre, principally between the MOD headquarters and the actual centre of military operations, the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood. It is reported to be connected to Downing Street via tunnels under Whitehall. Although it has been rumoured that it connects to some secret underground transport system, Armed Forces Minister Jeremy Hanley told the House of Commons on 29 April 1994 that "the facility is not connected to any transport system." Although PINDAR is very definitely not open to the public, it has had some very limited public exposure. This came in the 2003 BBC documentary on the Iraq conflict, Fighting the War, in which BBC cameras were allowed into the facility to film a small part of a teleconference between ministers and military commanders.