Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for Computing Center (NSA)

This isn't the Utah facility. I was checking through my regular fishing holes for a bite on interesting news, when I came across this. Well, I said to myself...'Self? ATS would probably like to know about this!'. Self agreed, so here ya go!

More news about facilities built with our tax dollars to keep us safe from ourselves, presumably.

FORT MEADE, Md. - The National Security Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground today on the High Performance Computing Center-2, an NSA-run facility that will be located on base.

Indeed... Utah isn't replacing Fort Meade, after all. Ft. Meade is getting it's very own 2.0 upgrade. That is interesting. Lets read a bit more, eh? Seeing as how it's a .gov press release, I'm thinking...they won't mind too much.

The project is an outgrowth of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), which the White House launched in 2008 to provide a unified approach to securing America's digital infrastructure. Scheduled for completion in 2016, the center will help to carry out the CNCI's mission by protecting national security networks and providing U.S. authorities with intelligence and warnings about cyber threats.

I wonder how they define Cyber threats? Of course, they'll see it the same way everyone else will, I'm sure. No Such Agency never does anything out in the grey area, right? Nawww...

The project has been awarded to Hensel Phelps Kiewit Joint Venture. Approximately 6,000 workers across a broad range of disciplines and labor categories will be involved in the construction and development phase. The 600,000-square-foot center will include 70,000 square feet of computer space.

Source

Now that is a data center even Google would be green with envy over, I'll just bet. Added to everything else, I suppose keeping up with the Jones's in Spy-Speak means tracking every single Jones on planet Earth to know what they need to keep up with? Well..... I just love how our Tax Dollars are working so hard for ...Hey, wait a sec.. isn't there a budget crisis on and sequestration? Oh. I'll bet we're not supposed to apply such standards to Spook-Land, right?

* NOTE ... That link loads directly to nsa.gov. For the paranoid sorts...you may or may not want to click on it. I don't much care, personally. If they want to know who I am, I'm sure they did...long ago. However, I know some people are touchy, so I note it, prior to any click through.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Is that the new NSA spy building I remember reading about months ago? Since the Patriot Act the gov't has collected so much data, voicemails, emails, phone calls, text messages, etc, they currently don't have the man power to process it all so they're going to build a super center for data collection.

Clearly they don't wanna miss anything we're saying. We gotta fight Al Qaeda guis! Totally makes sense! Not like our gov't is supporting these terrorists in any way, shape, or form.

USA! USA! USA!

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
This isn't the Utah facility. I was checking through my regular fishing holes for a bite on interesting news, when I came across this. Well, I said to myself...'Self? ATS would probably like to know about this!'. Self agreed, so here ya go!

More news about facilities built with our tax dollars to keep us safe from ourselves, presumably.

FORT MEADE, Md. - The National Security Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground today on the High Performance Computing Center-2, an NSA-run facility that will be located on base.

Indeed... Utah isn't replacing Fort Meade, after all. Ft. Meade is getting it's very own 2.0 upgrade. That is interesting. Lets read a bit more, eh? Seeing as how it's a .gov press release, I'm thinking...they won't mind too much.

The project is an outgrowth of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), which the White House launched in 2008 to provide a unified approach to securing America's digital infrastructure. Scheduled for completion in 2016, the center will help to carry out the CNCI's mission by protecting national security networks and providing U.S. authorities with intelligence and warnings about cyber threats.

I wonder how they define Cyber threats? Of course, they'll see it the same way everyone else will, I'm sure. No Such Agency never does anything out in the grey area, right? Nawww...

The project has been awarded to Hensel Phelps Kiewit Joint Venture. Approximately 6,000 workers across a broad range of disciplines and labor categories will be involved in the construction and development phase. The 600,000-square-foot center will include 70,000 square feet of computer space.

Source

Now that is a data center even Google would be green with envy over, I'll just bet. Added to everything else, I suppose keeping up with the Jones's in Spy-Speak means tracking every single Jones on planet Earth to know what they need to keep up with? Well..... I just love how our Tax Dollars are working so hard for ...Hey, wait a sec.. isn't there a budget crisis on and sequestration? Oh. I'll bet we're not supposed to apply such standards to Spook-Land, right?

* NOTE ... That link loads directly to nsa.gov. For the paranoid sorts...you may or may not want to click on it. I don't much care, personally. If they want to know who I am, I'm sure they did...long ago. However, I know some people are touchy, so I note it, prior to any click through.

A nice new addition to the NSA complex at Fort Meade. The Utah site was never meant to replace Fort Meade, just like the one in San Antonio built a couple years ago wasn't either. It's more about redundancy. So all the eggs aren't in one basket, so to speak.

pretty crazy thanks for posting. not sure what to think.

Who watches the watchers?
So a new 'computer centre' eh? Obviously to monitor emails and phonecalls, of the terrorists of course. ( Dont forget the list of 'terrorists' is getting longer daily and includes such evil individuals as anti governmenters, gun owners, homeschoolers etc.

WoW, now that's something you don't see everyday, the headquarters for the future Skynet / slavemachine being built right next door to you, ( Excuse me sir, may I borrow a cup of " SILENCE "? )

This really is something everyone needs to be pissed off about, specially since I didn't see a single job opening for this, but Snowden did? where does he get his classifieds! Anywho I'm sure after snowdens little event most buildings like tis are run by R2D2 units, you know the kind being used in warehouses already, just glorified palletjacks with cat brains.

One circuit, under programmer, with bandwidth and terabytes for all.

In time they'll concede that they are collecting more information than they can handle.

The haystack will be too big.

Their solution will be to establish one of these monstrosities in every state responsible for watching the traffic in and out of the state.

Soon enough we wont even bat an eye at it. It'll just be another government building downtown like the DMV.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
In time they'll concede that they are collecting more information than they can handle.

The haystack will be too big.

Their solution will be to establish one of these monstrosities in every state responsible for watching the traffic in and out of the state.

Soon enough we wont even bat an eye at it. It'll just be another government building downtown like the DMV.

That did happen in Jan 2000. NSA's computer system shutdown for a 3 day period because it was overloaded.

It's obvious they are ensuring it doesn't happen again.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


got an estimated cost on that wrabbit?

Originally posted by EA006
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

got an estimated cost on that wrabbit?

Sure do... Looks like a bit under 1 Billion for this one. Not counting cost over-runs of course...so probably over 1bn by the time it's done.

As its current data collection makes headlines, the National Security Agency is continuing to expand its data storage and processing capabilities. The agency recently broke ground on an $860 million data center at Fort Meade, Maryland that will span more than 600,000 square feet, including 70,000 square feet of technical space.

Last month the NSA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began building the High Performance Computing Center-2, an NSA-run facility that will be located on base at Fort Meade, which is home to much of the agency’s existing data center operations. The data center will be supported by 60 megawatts of power capacity, and will use both air-cooled and liquid-cooled equipment.

The NSA is already building a massive data center in Utah, investing up to $1.5 billion in a project that will feature up to 1 million square feet of facilities.

The construction at Fort Meade will see investment of $400 million in fiscal 2013 and $431 million in fiscal 2014. Up to 6,000 workers will be involved in the construction and development phase, the NSA said.

Source

That's a whole lot of computing power. Probably makes the major providers look kinda small by comparison. Small and challenged. We've all watched them create a monster, I'm thinking.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Another billion that could have been saved.....
These guys have got too much loose change.

Originally posted by EA006
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Another billion that could have been saved.....
These guys have got too much loose change.

Yep, gotta love those black budgets.