History UsefulNotes / ThePentagon

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Steel in the East is in the ruins of the Pentagon, which they have rechristened "The Citadel".

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Steel in the East is in the ruins of the Pentagon.

[[caption-width-right:350:Your tax dollars at work[[note]] Unless you're not American, in which case it's those Americans' tax dollars at work[[/note]]!]]

* You get to blow it up in ''CommandAndConquerRedAlert 2'' as the Soviets.
** You also get asked to do this in the first game, as a Nod commander under Seth. [[spoiler:Your orders, and Seth's life, are revoked by Kane]].
*** And in ''Tiberium Wars'', you defend it against a Nod attack during the GDI campaign. It's also where the head of the GDI military makes his command center.

* It's one of the possible settings in ''CrushCrumbleAndChomp''.

->-- ''Film/{{Airplane}}''

The seat of the U.S. Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia near Washington, D.C. This is where the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and all the service secretaries and service chiefs have their offices. Nobody ever mentions its street address, but it actually has one: 47 N Rotary Road, Arlington, Virginia, 22211.[[note]]To add extra confusion, Pentagon ''mailing'' addresses are actually in Washington, D.C. For example, you can reach the Secretary of Defense at "1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C., 20301".[[/note]]

Architecturally, it's a distinctive, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pentagonal]] building, with 5's as a recurring theme: 5 sides, 5 floors, 5 concentric rings; also, whether by intent or by chance, the courtyard in the middle is just over 5 acres in area. It has ''[[BigLabyrinthineBuilding 17.5 miles (28.2 km) of corridors]]'', and those five 108° angle corners result in a ''very'' [[AlienGeometries confusing layout.]] The interior is notoriously homogeneous; if you don't read the signs, it's easy to get lost there, since every area looks like every other area. Not to mention that it's easy to forget which ''floor'' you're on, as some of those corridors are actually ''ramps''. [[Series/GetSmart Agent Maxwell Smart]] got lost inside it for several ''days.'' That said, once you get familiar with the building, it takes seven minutes or less to get from any place inside the building to any other.

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe". Even before the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, when the Pentagon was built in [[TheForties the early 1940s]],[[note]][[{{Irony}} Ironically]], construction began on September 11, 1941--60 years to the day before the attacks[[/note]] it was designed to be able to withstand a naval bombardment by battleships, being fairly close to the sea. Also, in terms of floor space, it is the largest office building in the world, and with good reason when you consider how massive the United States military is. Since it was constructed in Virginia in the 40s, the Pentagon was built with "separate but equal" dining facilities and restrooms for white and black workers. This didn't sit well with UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who ordered the building desegregated when he attended its dedication. The Pentagon would be the only non-segregated workplace in Virginia for the next twenty years, and it still has twice as many toilets as it actually needs.

The building is such a strong symbol of the American military that it's practically synonymous with it, or with the military-industrial complex. When the Defense Department makes an announcement, newscasters will say "The Pentagon announced today...". When the government pays a military contractor (what to the public seems like) an unreasonably large sum for a mundane item, such as a toilet seat or screwdriver, that's Pentagon Spending. When the U.S. military offers cheap assistance to movie producers in order to make a blockbuster movie showing tanks or fighter planes, that's BackedByThePentagon. Et cetera. In the UK "Horse Guards" (a building, not a group of people) formerly had the same connotations of being synonymous with the military, but this faded when the leadership moved out at the start of the twentieth century.

The distinctive shape and design of the Pentagon and its relationship to other stock mystical symbols as pentagrams lead some to imagine that the building [[SealedEvilInACan is holding something inside]] besides a garden. For instance, early Internet culture half-jokingly spoke of the Shub-Internet, cause of all network slowdown, lurking beneath the Pentagon. In fact, the reason the Pentagon is a pentagon is rather more mundane: the original site of the Pentagon (Arlington Farm) was defined by local roads as an irregular pentagon, and the building was designed for maximum use of space; however, it was soon realized that it would block the view of DC from Arlington Cemetery, so they chose another site instead. Since this site didn't have the same constraints but there wasn't enough time or resources to conduct a major redesign, they elected to just change it to a regular pentagon. It helped that FDR liked the design.

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', U.S. Space Command is in the Pentagon. [[note]]U.S. Space Command (1985-2002) was actually located in Colorado Springs, Colorado![[/note]] It even has a picture of the building stenciled on a glass divider.

* In ''Film/DrStrangelove'', the fictional [[TheWarRoom War Room]] is located inside the Pentagon.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Happy Birthday" contains these cheery lines:

* Being [[ArcNumber five-sided]], it was inevitable that Pentagon cropped up in ''TheIlluminatusTrilogy'': in the books, [[spoiler:[[CthulhuMythos Yog-Sothoth]] has been trapped within the pentagon formed by its walls (he was also trapped in a similar construct back on Atlantis), but the walls are blown up later in the trilogy and he escapes]].

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe". Even before the ColdWar, when the Pentagon was built in [[TheForties the early 1940s]],[[note]][[{{Irony}} Ironically]], construction began on September 11, 1941--60 years to the day before the attacks[[/note]] it was designed to be able to withstand a naval bombardment by battleships, being fairly close to the sea. Also, in terms of floor space, it is the largest office building in the world, and with good reason when you consider how massive the United States military is. Since it was constructed in Virginia in the 40s, the Pentagon was built with "separate but equal" dining facilities and restrooms for white and black workers. This didn't sit well with UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who ordered the building desegregated when he attended its dedication. The Pentagon would be the only non-segregated workplace in Virginia for the next twenty years, and it still has twice as many toilets as it actually needs.

** You also get asked to do this in the first game, as a Nod commander under Seth. [[spoiler:Your orders, and Seth's life, are revoked by Kane.]]

* ''CallOfDuty: Black Ops'' has a short level set in the pentagon where the player receives orders from the President and Secretary of Defense Robert [=McNamara=].

* In ''VideoGame/MagicalCannonWars'' [[spoiler:they're the enemy and control Zero, one of their weapons.]]

[[ParanoiaFuel Your identity has been noted]]. [[{{NSA}} Greetings from Fort Meade]].

* A (not the) Pentagon is also a national wonder in ''CyberNations'', again giving bonuses to military attacks and defences.

* In the 1980 {{X-Men}} comic miniseries ''Days of Future Past'', Mystique sneaks into the Pentagon disguised as a military researcher. The comic incorrectly states that the Pentagon is in Washington, D.C..

* In one episode of ''Daria'' Daria's parents, back in the sixties or seventies, as hippies, tried to use harmony and telekenisis to send the Pentagon away. When that failed, Jake kicked a wall and hurt his foot.

Architecturally, it's a distinctive, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pentagonal]] building, with 5's as a recurring theme: 5 sides, 5 floors, 5 concentric rings; also, whether by intent or by chance, the courtyard in the middle is just over 5 acres in area. It has ''[[BigLabrynthineBuilding 17.5 miles (28.2 km) of corridors]]'', and those five 108° angle corners result in a ''very'' [[AlienGeometries confusing layout.]] The interior is notoriously homogeneous; if you don't read the signs, it's easy to get lost there, since every area looks like every other area. Not to mention that it's easy to forget which ''floor'' you're on, as some of those corridors are actually ''ramps''. [[Series/GetSmart Agent Maxwell Smart]] got lost inside it for several ''days.'' That said, once you get familiar with the building, it takes seven minutes or less to get from any place inside the building to any other.

->''"Headquarters? What is it?"''
->''"It's a big building where generals meet, but that's not important right now."''

** Parts with KevinCostner at the concourse and in the NATO corridor were actually filmed at the real thing, despite the fact that the film ''did not'' receive official [=DoD=] support. This was made possible because at the time of filming, the Pentagon building itself was not owned by [=DoD=], but by the General Services Administration (GSA). The producers could therefore film in public corridors and hallways. This loophole was finally closed in 1992 when ownership was transferred to [=DoD=].

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe". Even before the ColdWar, when the Pentagon was built in [[TheForties the early 1940s]],[[note]][[{{Irony}} Ironically]], construction began on September 11, 1941--60 years to the day before the attacks[[/note]] it was designed to be able to withstand a naval bombardment by battleships, being fairly close to the sea. Also, in terms of floor space, it is the largest office building in the world, and with good reason when you consider how massive the United States military is. Since it was constructed in Virginia in the 40s, the Pentagon was built with "separate but equal" dining facilities and restrooms for white and black workers. This didn't sit well with FDR, who ordered the building desegregated when he attended its dedication. The Pentagon would be the only non-segregated workplace in Virginia for the next twenty years, and it still has twice as many toilets as it actually needs.

The distinctive shape and design of the Pentagon and its relationship to other stock mystical symbols as pentagrams lead some to imagine that the building [[SealedEvilInACan is holding something inside]] besides a garden. For instance, early Internet culture half-jokingly spoke of the Shub-Internet, cause of all network slowdown, lurking beneath the Pentagon. In fact, the reason the Pentagon is a pentagon is rather more mundane: the original site of the Pentagon (Arlington Farm) was defined by local roads as an irregular pentagon, and the building was designed for maximum use of space; however, it was soon realized that it would block the view of DC from Arlington Cemetery, so they chose another site instead. Since this site didn't have the same constraints but there wasn't enough time or resources to conduct a major redesign, they elected to just change it to a regular pentagon. It helped that {{FDR}} liked the design.

Architecturally, it's a distinctive, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pentagonal]] building, with 5's as a recurring theme: 5 sides, 5 floors, 5 concentric rings. It has ''[[BigLabrynthineBuilding 17.5 miles (28.2 km) of corridors]]'', and those five 108° angle corners result in a ''very'' [[AlienGeometries confusing layout.]] The interior is notoriously homogeneous; if you don't read the signs, it's easy to get lost there, since every area looks like every other area. Not to mention that it's easy to forget which ''floor'' you're on, as some of those corridors are actually ''ramps''. [[Series/GetSmart Agent Maxwell Smart]] got lost inside it for several ''days.'' That said, once you get familiar with the building, it takes seven minutes or less to get from any place inside the building to any other.

Architecturally, it's a distinctive, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pentagonal]] building, with 5's as a recurring theme: 5 sides, 5 floors, 5 concentric rings. It has ''17.5 miles (28.2 km) of corridors'', and those five 108° angle corners result in a ''very'' [[AlienGeometries confusing layout.]] The interior is notoriously homogeneous; if you don't read the signs, it's easy to get lost there, since every area looks like every other area. Not to mention that it's easy to forget which ''floor'' you're on, as some of those corridors are actually ''ramps''. [[Series/GetSmart Agent Maxwell Smart]] got lost inside it for several ''days.''

* ''Film/BrokenArrow1996''
* ''EagleEye''
* ''ExecutiveDecision''
* ''GIJane''

* ''NoWayOut'': Most of the film takes place in the Pentagon building.

* ''TheSumOfAllFears''

* ''Film/{{Transformers}}''
* ''UnderSiege''

* ''Path to War''
* ''ThePentagonWars''

* ''TheStateWithin''

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe". Even before the ColdWar, when the Pentagon was built in [[TheForties the early 1940s]],[[note]][[{{Irony}} Ironically]], construction began on September 11, 1941--60 years to the day before the attacks[[/note]] it was designed to be able to withstand a naval bombardment by battleships, being fairly close to the sea. Also, in terms of floor space, it is the largest office building in the world, and with good reason when you consider how massive the United States military is.

[[caption-width-right:350:Your tax dollars at work[[hottip:*: Unless you're not American, in which case it's those Americans' tax dollars at work]]!]]

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', U.S. Space Command is in the Pentagon. [[hottip:*:U.S. Space Command (1985-2002) was actually located in Colorado Springs, Colorado!]] It even has a picture of the building stenciled on a glass divider.

->-- ''{{Airplane}}''

* Every so often, TomClancy sends [[Literature/JackRyan Ryanverse]] characters to or from this. When important minor characters have job titles like 'Admiral', it's not unusual.

The seat of the U.S. Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia near Washington, D.C. This is where the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and all the service secretaries and service chiefs have their offices. Nobody ever mentions its street address, but it actually has one: 47 N Rotary Road, Arlington, Virginia, 22211 .

* The {{X-Men}} and MsMarvel once fought Rogue in the corridors of the Pentagon. In the comic, MsMarvel falsely claims (maybe it was a misconception at the time?) that The Pentagon had been originally designed as a hospital to treat the projected massive number of war casualties from WorldWarTwo. (Acutally, The Pentagon was always intended to house the War Department and later the Department of Defense).

* While the Pentagon is not featured in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, the Havenite military's headquarters is in an eight-sided skyscraper known as The Octagon, in an obvious nod. [[spoiler: At least, until it is blown up by the Committee of Public Safety to put down Citizen Admiral McQueen's attempted coup.]]