NSA To Build $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center

Information Week ^ | 10/29/2009 | J. Nicholas Hoover

[markomalley]

The National Security Agency, whose job it is to protect national security systems, will soon break ground on a data center in Utah that's budgeted to cost $1.5 billion.

The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"Our country must continue to advance its national security efforts and that includes improvements in cybersecurity," Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said in a statement. "As we rely more and more on our communications networks for business, government and everyday use, we must be vigilant and provide agencies with the necessary resources to protect our country from a cyber attack."

The data center will be built at Camp Williams, a National Guard training center 26 miles south of Salt Lake City, which was chosen for its access to cheap power, communications infrastructure, and availability of space, Gaffney said. The complex will comprise up to 1.5 million square feet of building space on 120 to 200 acres, according to the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City.

[markomalley]

The realist in me says this is good, considering the threat. And the only way they could put that kind of thing at Ft Meade is to destroy one of the remaining golf courses (and they've already taken one for the new DISA Headquarters).

But with Ø in charge, my tinfoil hat is never far away...

[Gaffer]

I am all for not spending $1.5 Billion dollars on the local economy of MARYLAND, period....UTAH? Good as any......Guess this is really gonna piss of the LDS haters...

[green pastures]

In a related story, the $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center to be built has reportedly already been hacked.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

How did Robert Byrd let that one not be built in WV?

[SeeSharp]

...and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security,

Translation: They're going to work on ways to crack SSL, evesdrop on Skype conversations, get into foreign bank accounts, etc.

[silverleaf]

Utah? Do they know something we don’t?

[TexasCajun]

You would think finding the new location would be pretty important to any terrorist making plans.

SO LET'S JUST TELL THEM WHERE IT IS!

The data center will be built at Camp Williams, a National Guard training center 26 miles south of Salt Lake City,

WHY NOT INCLUDE A GOOGLE MAP AS WELL?

[backwoods-engineer]

They’ll need something to house Skynet in :-)

[WellyP]

It all boils down th this: Are you more likely to find good employees in Greenbelt, MD. or outside Salt Lake? Greenbelt is FULL of illegals and uneducated individuals. Utah has a lot of well educated straight people and a slight problem with illegals.

[Gaffer]

I totally agree with you. I don’t have anything against Mormons, LDS’ers, etc.....My main concern is that the $1.5 Billion NOT be spent to improve the economy of ANY New England, NE state/city/locale, period.

[stripes1776]

SO LET'S JUST TELL THEM WHERE IT IS!

No need to tell them. They will outsource the construction and decryption to China, and locate the call-center in India. That will free up time for the employees in the US to make diversity banners to hang in the lobby.

[Paine in the Neck]

How did Robert Byrd let that one not be built in WV?

It will be located in the newly renamed "Robert Byrd State of Utah".

[SuperLuminal]

Simply moving out from behind ememy lines in time for the coming scrum...

[Iron Munro]

WOW!

$1.5 billion to criminalize and shut down conservative bloggers and other Obama critics on the web.

[SunkenCiv]

ALERT! GTMO Terrorists Headed For South Carolina
Under Pentagon Orders [Unconfirmed]
Red State | 11/02/09 | Erick Erickson
Posted on 11/02/2009 2:28:59 PM PST by American Dream 246
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2376889/posts

[markomalley]

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.

President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic," and Department of Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from government systems.

But the program has provoked debate within DHS, the officials said, because of uncertainty about whether private data can be shielded from unauthorized scrutiny, how much of a role NSA should play and whether the agency's involvement in warrantless wiretapping during George W. Bush's presidency would draw controversy. Each time a private citizen visited a "dot-gov" Web site or sent an e-mail to a civilian government employee, that action would be screened for potential harm to the network.

"We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has. But . . . they will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the people we have at the Department of Homeland Security," the department's secretary, Janet Napolitano, told reporters in a discussion about cybersecurity efforts.

Under a classified pilot program approved during the Bush administration, NSA data and hardware would be used to protect the networks of some civilian government agencies. Part of an initiative known as Einstein 3, the plan called for telecommunications companies to route the Internet traffic of civilian agencies through a monitoring box that would search for and block computer codes designed to penetrate or otherwise compromise networks.

AT&T, the world's largest telecommunications firm, was the Bush administration's choice to participate in the test, which has been delayed for months as the Obama administration determines what elements to preserve, former government officials said. The pilot program was to have begun in February.

"To be clear, Einstein 3 development is proceeding," DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said. "We are moving forward in a way that protects privacy and civil liberties."

Source: WaPo

More on Einstein 3 from Wired (extract not posted per FR rules)

Why SLC? If I am not mistaken (and I may well be), there is a whole lot of fiber (to include legacy UUNET) going through that area.

[markomalley]

Are you more likely to find good employees in Greenbelt, MD. or outside Salt Lake?

As an FYI, Ft. Meade is located between Laurel and Odenton MD (just south of BWI airport).

Greenbelt is about 20 miles away.

I would think the more pertinent question, though, would be "are you more likely to find 100-200 people that are already full scope poly cleared in Maryland or Utah?"

I don't know what the answer to that one would be...

[RFEngineer]

“SO LET’S JUST TELL THEM WHERE IT IS!”

The real one is in the basement of the Mormon Tabernacle where they house the genealogy supercomputers. That’s also where they control the Mormon satellite network and mind-control beams.

This “NSA” story is just a cover and will simply be a place to put the backup storage and archive the paper files.

[myknowledge]

$1.5 billion dollars to be wasted in a tsunami of cyber attacks from patriotic nationalist groups.

[PIF]

“They’re going to work on ways to crack SSL, evesdrop on Skype conversations, get into foreign bank accounts, etc.”

Why would they want to build a new data center to do what they have already done... years ago?