NSA -Power Problems -Update - Part 2

From: <reginal..._at_hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2007 08:36:46 -0800

Part 2 of 3 Parts

"...

NSA officials 'were so busy doing what various people wanted that they
forgot to understand that they were running out of power, and that's
sort of a national catastrophe,' he said. 'We cannot have that place
go dark.'

With its focus on intercepting communications, the NSA is the
country's largest intelligence agency and also one of its most
technology - and electric power - dependent.

Three main factors have contributed to the problem: insufficient
electricity available from Baltimore Gas and Electic Co., lack of
capacity at substations serving the NSA, and infrastructure in the
agency buildings that cannot handle rising electrical demands.

To curb its appetite for electricity in the short term, the NSA has
shut off some equipment and delayed plugging in some new
supercomputers.

According to a committee aide, Rockefeller's panel has posed basic
questions to the NSA about the agency's present electrical capacity
and its expected capacity when new items in the pipeline are added. It
has also inquired about capacity when longer-term modernization
projects take hold and where the agency expects to get the electricity
to support it all.

So far, the NSA has given the committee data on how much electricity
the agency uses, though, the aide said, there is a significant margin
of error in that estimate. There are also concerns that the NSA might
not fully understand its future needs.

The NSA uses about 65 to 75 megawatt-hours of electicity, The Sun
reported last week. Its needs are projected to grow by 10 to 15
megawatt-hours by next fall.

Another shortcoming - the NSA's continuing difficulty in devising a
computerized system to collect electronic communications in the wake
of the global information explosion - which also will be explored by
his committee, Rockefeller said.

'They have had their problems there,' he said, noting that the NSA's
last modernization effort, dubbed Trailblazer, 'didn't work.'

Rockefeller said he had not yet reached a conclusion on the NSA's
latest modernization projects. His staff expects to report its
findings to the committee in advance of the March oversight hearing.

Rockefeller's committee is also evaluating the legality and
effectiveness of President Bush's Terrorist Surveillance Program at
the NSA.

....."

End of Part 2 of 3 Parts

Reg Curtis/VE9RWC
Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:27 CST