RE: [TSCM-L] Re: Federal judge orders end to wiretap program - Says governments listening in without warrant is unconstitutional

This is Part 3 of a 3 Part article in the August 6, 2006, edition of the Baltimore Sun concerning the NSA's problem re electriciy supply.

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"POST -9/11 NEEDS

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the NSA has ramped up its operations, and the electricity needed to sustain major projects -- such as the warrantless surveillance program and technology modernization programs -- has increased sharply.

The computer systems supporting these programs demand far more wattage per square foot than their predecessors and still more energy to cool them.

Area development like the Arundel Mills Mall has contributed to the problem by putting additional strain on the local electrical grid, according to two sources familiar with the issue. Joe Bunch, BG&E's director of strategic customer engineering, said, however, that the mall's demand 'was fairly easily accommodated.'

Demand in the Baltimore-Washington region has been growing, and the regional operator for Maryland and 12 other states has been studying the installation of up to $10 billion in new power lines to deliver more and cheaper electricity to this region.

'We've seen a lot of growth in Anne Arundel County as a whole but particularly in the north and northwest area of the county,' said Bunch, who agreed to talk about trends in the area but not the NSA's specific demand. Much of that growth is because of the surge of high-tech jobs in the area from the NSA and government contractors, he said.

He said BG&E is working to meet the demand by building new substations in the area. One was built about a year ago, and another is scheduled to be built in two to three years, he said.

'We have adequate capacity' now, he said, but upgrades like the new substation are being planned to stave off future strains on the electrical grid.

The NSA's problem was identified in the late 1990s and could have been fixed by now -- and for much less money -- had keeping the lights on been a priority, current and former officials said.

'It fits into a long, long pattern of crisis-of-the-day management as opposed to investing in the future,' said one former government official familiar with the NSA's electricity shortfall.

Electrical infrastructure maintenance and upgrades have been a casualty of the fight against terrorism, according to unclassified budget documents.

UPGRADES DELAYED

Even as the NSA's budget has balooned after 9/11, the agency has put off basic utility upgrades such as a $4 million computer system to manage the allocation of power at the NSA -- a sliver of the NSA's estimated $8 billion budget.

'Due to budget constraint [sic] and other development [sic] in the fight against terrorism,' a 2007 budget document reads, the system was never fully implemented.

Without this system, the document stated, the NSA 'may experience difficulties in meeting its power requirement to supply critical war fighting missions.'

Neglect of infrastructure at the NSA has been a chronic problem, ofter fraught with bureaucratic politics, former agency officials said.

Fort Meade is not the only NSA outpost facing limitations on its ability to upgrade electrical infrastructure. Listening posts around the world, such as Menwith Hill in Britain and Bad Aibling in Germany, are ailing.

The NSA's largest listening station, Menwith Hill, has an 'aging infrastructure that cannot support the people or the equipment' there, according to a budget document for 2007.

It is faced with 'concrete foundations that are crumbling,' an 'electrical infrastructure that is not in compliance with current codes,' and a weakened infrastructure that poses a safety hazard, the document said.

Identical language appeared in the previous year's budget documents.

With agency operations facing an imminent threat, faciilities issues are front and center. 'It's a big deal,' said one former senior NSA official. 'They're all talking about it, anyway. That's progress.'

Sun reporter Paul Adams contributed to this article."

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THIS IS THE END OF PART 3 OF A 3 PART ARTICLE ON THE ELECTRICAL POWER PROBLEM AT NSA.

Reg Curtis/VE9RWC



 



Reg Curtis

From: "James M. Atkinson" <j..._at_tscm.com>

Reply-To: TSCM-..._at_googlegroups.com

To: TSCM-..._at_googlegroups.com

Subject: [TSCM-L] Re: Federal judge orders end to wiretap program - Says governments listening in without warrant is unconstitutional

Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:20:22 -0400

This is one of those cases where the Plaintiff's need to bang their heads against the wall.

I applaud their efforts, and I am proud of them for doing the right thing and standing up for our collective rights.

But I have to point out that only went after the NSA, and that the order only tells the ***NSA*** to pull the plug, doesn't order AT&T, QWEST, MCI, Tyco, Sprint, et al to pull the plug, does not tell DCI to pull the plug, fails to mention DHS, or the FBI, etc. All that AT&T needs to do is start routing the intercepted data to an agency different from the NSA to be compliant with the judges order, they could just as easily route the illegally incepted data streams to a DOD facility, or DCI facility. Olney could also handle the data as it is outside of the NSA charter. If you really want to split hairs (or fiber as it were) then the order should have directed not only against the RBOC's, and Long Lines companies, but also the underseas cable companies like Tyco, and to the military facilities that act as host for several of the agencies that do the initial minimization screening of the East coast intercepts such as McGuire AFB, Ft. Dix, and Ft. Monmouth in the name of homeland security. (Note: The information about McGuire, Dix, and Monmouth being used is already in the public domain and thus is not classified, just seriously embarrassing to the companies involved.)

The order needs to be expanded to cover these other agencies as well, and strong punitive actions need to be taken against all involved.

-jma

At 04:49 PM 8/17/2006, John Young wrote:

The judge's order and memorandum opinion telling NSA to

shut down the illegal operation:

http://cryptome.org/aclu-nsa.pdf (46 pages)

Hooray -- for now.

We Hunt Spies, We Stop Espionage, We Kill Bugs, and We Plug Leaks.

James M. Atkinson, President and Sr. Engineer

Granite Island Group

127 Eastern Avenue #291

Gloucester, MA 01930-8008

Phone: (978) 546-3803

Fax: (978) 546-9467

Web: http://www.tscm.com/

E-Mail: jm...@tscm.com