System Error (Re NSA and the $1.2 Billion Trailblazer Project)

Baltimore Sun ^ | 29 January 2006 | Siobhan Gorman

[phil_t]

A Baltimore Sun Special Report

System error

The NSA has spent six years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to kick-start a program, intended to help protect the United States against terrorism, that many experts say was doomed from the start.

Originally published January 29, 2006

A program that was supposed to help the National Security Agency pluck out electronic data crucial to the nation's safety is not up and running more than six years and $1.2 billion after it was launched, according to current and former government officials.

The classified project, code-named Trailblazer, was promoted as the NSA's state-of-the-art tool for sifting through an ocean of modern-day digital communications and uncovering key nuggets to protect the nation against an ever-changing collection of enemies.


snip

The NSA initiative, which was designed to spot and analyze such hints, has resulted in little more than detailed schematic drawings filling almost an entire wall, according to intelligence experts familiar with the program. After an estimated $1.2 billion in development costs, only a few isolated analytical and technical tools have been produced, said an intelligence expert with extensive knowledge of the program.

Trailblazer is "the biggest boondoggle going on now in the intelligence community," said Matthew Aid, who has advised three recent federal commissions and panels that investigated the Sept. 11 intelligence failures.

Complex from the start - the initial Trailblazer plan called for more than 1,000 priority items - the project ballooned as it was passed through three separate NSA divisions, each with its own priorities, former intelligence officials said. And, they said, Trailblazer's overseers lacked either the influence or the time to clearly define their goals..

[phil_t]

This is a long two-newspaper-page article. For a related story regarding the TRAILBLAZER Contractor, SAIC, see

Contractor has close ties with staff of NSA

[gogogodzilla]

Well, no wonder it doesn't work...

It's a Chevy Trailblazer! What'd you expect?

:-)

[USS Alaska]

The classified project,

What does classified mean? How does the baltimore sun know this? Is anyone going to jail because of classified leaks from the NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY?

[taxesareforever]

No wonder it isn't up and running. The money was spent on "leaky" equipment.

[jimtorr]

This story appears to be strictly from unclassified sources, from the Pentagon mostly. I don't see anything classified in it.

It is true, always has been, that NSA has trouble managing large programs. There is nobody better at managing small and medium style contracts, but large programs are another story.

NSA uses a very hands-on program management approach, and has always been committed to training and promoting management people from within. This sort of approach is needed in such a highly classified environment, but it does tend to produce management personnel who are not experienced at coordinating a large contractor work force with the Gov. team.

I think Gen. Alexander is making the right sort of approach - define the problem better and make the contracts smaller and more easily managed with the less experienced staff.

[USS Alaska]

This story appears to be strictly from unclassified sources

How does a classified program get revealed from an unclassified source? What does that mean? A program is either classified or unclassified, by definition it can't be both.

[jimtorr]

A program is either classified or unclassified, by definition it can't be both.

There are always reports and summaries produced for people who are not cleared. This story appears to be drawn from a series of reports about management problems written for the accountants at the Pentagon.

My guess is that the "defense experts" cited in the story do not actually know very much about the program.