NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center

[Allegro]

RESOURCE

Some redundant images, and all the links in original, weren’t installed in here. You’ll notice the image links are from StartPage, not ggl.

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Domestic Surveillance Directorate:
Defending our nation. Securing the citizens. Promoting Transparency.

NSA Utah Data Center

Background

The Utah Data Center, code-named Bumblehive, is the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (IC CNCI) data center designed to support the Intelligence Community’s efforts to monitor, strengthen and protect the nation. NSA is the executive agent for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and will be the lead agency at the center.

The steady rise in available computer power and the development of novel computer platforms will enable us to easily turn the huge volume of incoming data into an asset to be exploited, for the good of the nation.



The Utah Data Center is currently under construction and is expected to open in October 2013. Our 1.5 billion-dollar one million square-foot Bluffdale / Camp Williams facility will house a 100,000 sq-ft mission critical data center. The remaining 900,000 SF will be used for technical support and administrative space. Other supporting facilities include water treatment facilities, chiller plant, power substations, vehicle inspection facility, visitor control center, and sixty diesel-fueled emergency standby generators and fuel facility for a 3-day 100% power backup capability.

Utah Data Center Site Plan

The site plan below shows the location of the administration building, chiller plant, data halls, generators, fuel storage tanks, storage warehouse, power substations, visitor control center, and vehicle inspection facility. View the full-size Utah Data Center Site Plan.



Utah Data Center Construction Photos:
March 2012 - June 2013


NSA Utah Data Center building

< snipped a string of construction site photos too time consuming for this post >

Utah Data Center Technical Specifications
Data Storage Capacity

The storage capacity of the Utah Data Center will be measured in “zettabytes”. What exactly is a zettabyte? There are a thousand gigabytes in a terabyte; a thousand terabytes in a petabyte; a thousand petabytes in an exabyte; and a thousand exabytes in a zettabyte. Some of our employees like to refer to them as “alottabytes”.

Learn more about the domestic surveillance data we plan to process and store in the Utah Data Center. Also, view our strategy for using the PRISM data collection program, nationwide intercept stations, and the “Boundless Informant” mapping tool to gather and track this data.



Code-Breaking Supercomputer Platform
Titan supercomputer

In October 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory launched the Titan Supercomputer, which is capable of churning through more than 20,000 trillion calculations each second or 20 petaflops. (1 petaflop = 1 quadrillion instructions per second).

Our Target: 256-bit AES

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm is used worldwide to encrypt electronic data on hard drives, email systems, and web browsers. The AES 256-bit encryption key is the standard for top-secret US government communications. Computer experts have estimated it would take longer than the age of the universe to break the code using a trial-and-error brute force attack with today’s computing technology.

In 2004, the NSA launched a plan to use the Multiprogram Research Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to build a classified supercomputer designed specifically for cryptanalysis targeting the AES algorithm. Recently, our classified NSA Oak Ridge facility made a stunning breakthrough that is leading us on a path towards building the first exaflop machine (1 quintillion instructions per second) by 2018. This will give us the capability to break the AES encryption key within an actionable time period and allow us to read and process stored encrypted domestic data as well as foreign diplomatic and military communications.


Visitor control center

Construction Status

We’re using a Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule to track the cost and resource data for over 26,000 activities. The project initially required over a million cubic yards of earthwork and nearly seven miles of new roadways. The massive twenty-building complex is being completed in three phases. The first phase was completed last Fall and includes the first of four data halls (Data Center Module DCM 1); the Administration Building; Data Center Loading and Storage; Chiller Plant #1 and storage tanks; Generator Plant #1 with fuel system storage; Visitor Control Center; Vehicle Cargo Inspection Facility; kennel; perimeter warehouse; and fire pump building.

The second phase, completed early in 2013 includes the second data hall (DCM 2) along with Generator Plant #2 with fuel system storage.

The final phase is scheduled to be completed by October 2013 and includes the remaining two data halls (DCM 3 and 4); Generator Plants 3 and 4 with fuel system storage; and Chiller Plant #2 and storage tanks. Because of the national security implications of an on-time opening of this critical facility, the NSA has already begun the installation of classified equipment in the first two data halls (DCM 1 and 2).

Secret Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

We held a closed-press ribbon cutting ceremony and tour on May 30th, 2013 in celebration of the completion of the exterior building construction. We invited our most loyal partners at the local, state, and federal level who have had the vision and fortitude to enable us to build this powerful Intelligence Community data center “for the good of the Nation”. We are on track to open in October!



What’s Being Said About the Utah Data Center on Twitter

We are Americans first, last, and always. We treasure the U.S. Constitution and understand that a spirited debate is often a necessary precursor to acceptance.

Tweets about “NSA Utah”

Google Streetview of Utah Data Center

Take a virtual drive along the road below to view the construction site of our new data center. Position your mouse at various points along the road and click to travel there. To rotate your view, use the map controls or click and drag with your mouse. Click on the upper right corner to view it full-screen.

[seemslikeadream]

THANKS ^^^^^

WikiLeaks ‏@wikileaks 5m
#wikileaks #spyfiles A comprehensive map of internet and phone surveillance companies
https://www.wikileaks.org/spyfiles/map/#embed

[seemslikeadream]

What the NSA Does With the Data It Isn't Allowed to Keep
The rules surrounding what information must be destroyed remain shrouded in secrecy. By what right?
CONOR FRIEDERSDORFJUN 21 2013, 7:30 AM ET

In the latest scoop on NSA surveillance at The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald and James Ball post two different documents leaked to them by Edward Snowden. One concerns "minimization procedures."

Kevin Drum explains what the phrase means:

The NSA isn't allowed to spy on Americans, but the nature of modern communication doesn't always make it obvious whether a phone call or email is foreign or domestic. This means that in the course of its normal business of spying on foreigners, NSA will inevitably collect information it shouldn't have. Certain rules, called "minimization procedures," define what NSA is required to do when it discovers that it has inadvertently captured a U.S. person in its surveillance dragnet.
At this point, it's far too charitable to assume that the NSA is collecting this information "inadvertently," and misleading to say that "the NSA isn't allowed to spy on Americans," but that isn't a criticism of Drum, who raises similar points later in his post. (Summarizing NSA documents sometimes requires briefly adopting NSA conceits to explain theoretical rules and procedures. Just don't forget: there are times that the NSA spies on Americans without a warrant, and it constantly collects domestic communications knowing it isn't supposed to have some of it.)

So what happens to the communications that the government isn't supposed to have? When they're accurately identified as such -- often that's an NSA analyst judgment call -- the relevant data is supposed to be destroyed forever. But there are exceptions, when the NSA can keep and store the purely domestic communications of American citizens, and even forward them onto the FBI.

Here's how The Guardian puts it:

...the Fisa court-approved policies allow the NSA to:

• Keep data that could potentially contain details of US persons for up to five years;

• Retain and make use of "inadvertently acquired" domestic communications if they contain usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, are encrypted, or are believed to contain any information relevant to cybersecurity;

• Preserve "foreign intelligence information" contained within attorney-client communications;

• Access the content of communications gathered from "U.S. based machine[s]" or phone numbers in order to establish if targets are located in the US, for the purposes of ceasing further surveillance.

The broad scope of the court orders, and the nature of the procedures set out in the documents, appear to clash with assurances from President Obama and senior intelligence officials that the NSA could not access Americans' call or email information without warrants.

At a minimum, this makes President Obama's recent public statements look highly misleading, if not outright lies. Says Drum, after parsing the minimization procedure document, "The minimization procedures are fairly strict, but they do allow retention and dissemination of domestic data--without a warrant--under quite a few circumstances. 'Threat of harm' is pretty broad, as is 'criminal activity.' The latter, in fact, seems like a loophole the size of a Mack truck. It suggests that NSA could have a significant incentive to 'inadvertently' hoover up as much domestic information as possible so it can search for evidence of criminal activity to hand over to the FBI." Several other objections come to mind, but I presume that, in coming days, we're going to understand these procedures better than we do now, so let's put that line of inquiry on hold.

A significant point remains:

Why are these particular details highly classified state secrets? It's an abuse of the system -- a scandal in itself. What the NSA does with information it collects but isn't allowed to have isn't something that needs to be decided secretly and kept secret by self-interested national security bureaucrats.

The information doesn't threaten national security at all. In fact, it's an appropriate subject of public scrutiny and debate. To take just one example, should the NSA get to keep "information on criminal activity" unrelated to terrorism? I can see the arguments for and against. But it makes no sense to suggest that knowing the rule currently used or debating it publicly threatens national security. And all sorts of other things that ought to be publicly debated have been and remain classified too, so the NSA can do as it pleases. It would still be secret if not for Snowden, who, whatever else you think of him, may well have given up his freedom to tell us.

[Allegro]

Here’s your original post, KeenInsight. I wanted that video in this thread, too.
Thank You.


^ Whistleblowers | Jesselyn Raddack, National Security Director for the Government Accountability Project, and Thomas Drake, former NSA senior executive

[Allegro]

RESOURCE

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NSA Building $860 Million Data Center in Maryland
Data Center Knowledge | Rich Miller, June 6th, 2013

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.

Scheduled for completion in 2016, the center’s mission will be to protect national security networks and providing U.S. authorities with intelligence and warnings about cyber threats. The project is part 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.

“With this new state-of-the-art computing center, Maryland and the NSA will continue to protect America from cyber terrorists, spies, and thugs,” said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee and senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “Maryland is the global epicenter of cybersecurity, leading the way in finding cyber-tech solutions that make our country safer, and creating cyber-warrior jobs that make our economy stronger.”

RELATED POSTS:

NSA Utah Data Center Facing Unexpected Energy Taxes
More on the NSA Utah Data Center
NSA Plans $1.6 Billion Utah Data Center
NSA Plans San Antonio Data Center
NSA Maxes Out Baltimore Power Grid

About Rich Miller

Rich Miller is the founder and editor-in-chief of Data Center Knowledge, and has been reporting on the data center sector since 2000. He has tracked the growing impact of high-density computing on the power and cooling of data centers, and the resulting push for improved energy efficiency in these facilities.

[seemslikeadream]

The NSA's metastasised intelligence-industrial complex is ripe for abuse
Where oversight and accountability have failed, Snowden's leaks have opened up a vital public debate on our rights and privacy

Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 June 2013 08.00 EDT
Jump to comments (11)

By September 2013, the NSA's new data centre will employ around 200 technicians, occupying 1m sq ft and use 65 megawatts of power. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP
Let's be absolutely clear about the news that the NSA collects massive amounts of information on US citizens – from emails, to telephone calls, to videos, under the Prism program and other Fisa court orders: this story has nothing to do with Edward Snowden. As interesting as his flight to Hong Kong might be, the pole-dancing girlfriend, and interviews from undisclosed locations, his fate is just a sideshow to the essential issues of national security versus constitutional guarantees of privacy, which his disclosures have surfaced in sharp relief.

Snowden will be hunted relentlessly and, when finally found, with glee, brought back to the US in handcuffs and severely punished. (If Private Bradley Manning's obscene conditions while incarcerated are any indication, it won't be pleasant for Snowden either, even while awaiting trial.) Snowden has already been the object of scorn and derision from the Washington establishment and mainstream media, but, once again, the focus is misplaced on the transiently shiny object. The relevant issue should be: what exactly is the US government doing in the people's name to "keep us safe" from terrorists?

Prism and other NSA data-mining programs might indeed be very effective in hunting and capturing actual terrorists, but we don't have enough information as a society to make that decision. Despite laudable efforts led by Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall to bring this to the public's attention that were continually thwarted by the administration because everything about this program was deemed "too secret", Congress could not even exercise its oversight responsibilities. The intelligence community and their friends on the Hill do not have a right to interpret our rights absent such a discussion.

The shock and surprise that Snowden exposed these secrets is hard to understand when over 1.4 million Americans hold "top secret" security clearances. When that many have access to sensitive information, is it really so difficult to envision a leak?

We are now dealing with a vast intelligence-industrial complex that is largely unaccountable to its citizens. This alarming, unchecked growth of the intelligence sector and the increasingly heavy reliance on subcontractors to carry out core intelligence tasks – now estimated to account for approximately 60% of the intelligence budget – have intensified since the 9/11 attacks and what was, arguably, our regrettable over-reaction to them.

The roots of this trend go back at least as far as the Reagan era, when the political right became obsessed with limiting government and denigrating those who worked for the public sector. It began a wave of privatization – because everything was held to be more "cost-efficient" when done by the private sector – and that only deepened with the political polarization following the election of 2000. As it turns out, the promises of cheaper, more efficient services were hollow, but inertia carried the day.

Today, the intelligence sector is so immense that no one person can manage, or even comprehend, its reach. When an operation in the field goes south, who would we prefer to try and correct the damage: a government employee whose loyalty belongs to his country (despite a modest salary), or the subcontractor who wants to ensure that his much fatter paycheck keeps coming?

Early polls of Americans about their privacy concerns that the government might be collecting metadata from phone calls and emails indicates that there is little alarm; there appears to be, in fact, an acceptance of or resignation to these practices. To date, there is no proof that the government has used this information to pursue and harass US citizens based on their political views. There are no J Edgar Hoover-like "enemy lists" … yet. But it is not so difficult to envision a scenario where any of us has a link, via a friend of a friend, to someone on the terrorist watchlist. What then? You may have no idea who this person is, but a supercomputer in Fort Meade (or, soon, at the Utah Data Center near Salt Lake City) will have made this connection. And then you could have some explaining to do to an over-zealous prosecutor.

On this spying business, officials from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to self-important senators are, in effect, telling Americans not to worry: it's not that big a deal, and "trust us" because they're keeping US citizens safe. This position must be turned on its head and opened up to a genuine discussion about the necessary, dynamic tension between security and privacy. As it now stands, these programs are ripe for abuse unless we establish ground rules and barriers between authentic national security interests and potential political chicanery.

The irony of former Vice-President Dick Cheney wringing his hands over the release of classified information is hard to watch. Cheney calls Snowden a traitor. Snowden may not be a hero, but the fact is that we owe him a debt of gratitude for finally bringing this question into the public square for the robust discussion it deserves.

[seemslikeadream]

Search warrant forced Goodle to hand over Wikileaks Volunteer's Data to Feds
According to the court records released this week on web, The Justice Department used a secret search warrant to obtain the entire contents of a Gmail account used by a former Wikileaks volunteers in Iceland.

Smari McCarthy and Herbert Snorrason, are the two Icelandid freedom of information activists, who managed the secure chat rooms of Wikileaks in 2010, and that is the reason the government demanded his records from Google.

According to the documents, Google was told by the Justice Department that they were prohibited from disclosing to either Snorrason or McCarthy any information about the investigation until indicated.

But later last week, U.S. District Court Judge issued an order allowing Google to notify Snorrason about the warrant and to provided a redacted copy of the warrant.

The search warrant was issued under seal on October 14, 2011 by the Alexandria, Virginia federal judge overseeing the Wilileaks grand jury investigation there. Snorrason says he received notification from Google via email on Tuesday.

The Warrant allowed Feds to get the contents of all e-mails associated with the account, including stored or preserved copies of e-mails sent of and from the account, draft e-mails, deleted e-mails, the source and destination addresses associated with esach e-mail, the date and time at which each e-mail was sen, and the size and length of each e-mail.

......

more

[2012 Countdown]

"There Is NO Threat To America When I Talk To My Mother!" Alan Grayson


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... UxSw#at=85

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Grayson on the House floor. Good speech.

[Allegro]

Presently, some 500 supercomputers exist planet wide, and we can easily presume computer space is or will be used for any industrial complex. If something exists that has yet to be measured, then it will be, and probably archived for years along with the balance of data. Also, see computer performance measured in FLoating-point Operations Per Second or FLOPS.

We humans are something to behold. Who would’ve thought I’d be fascinated by researching such things. One just doesn’t know for sure.

the empire seeks ‘Unified Command and Control’ of the Global Information Grid & sees the internet as a tool of warfare and strategic control.

^ The pdf, from which the Foreword has been personally retyped, can be found at the above linked page. Thanks, parel. The paper might refer to Internet, as we think of it; but more, the paper summarizes numerous needs that can be managed within an assumed net or grid comprised of colossal amounts of computer space. There are keywords at the bottom of this post.

_________________

Department of Defense
NetOps Strategic Vision | December, 2008
Department of Defense
Chief Information Officer
The Pentagon - Washington, D.C.

Foreword

The Department of Defense (DoD) is transforming its military to a net-enabled, agile force that can deal with uncertain and changing environments. We are pursuing effective Net-Centric Operations, in part, by evolving the Department’s Global Information Grid (GIG) to facilitate widespread sharing of trusted information and rapid adaptation of forces to changing mission needs. The GIG will provide a supportive information environment wherein every user can obtain the information needed when and where it is needed, even in unanticipated situations. A key to fully achieving this potential is a robust set of DoD-wide NetOps capabilities: the operational, organizational, and technical capabilities for operating and defending the GIG. NetOps will make the GIG a more effective weapon to meet changing mission needs and to support operations in the cyberspace domain. NetOps will provide efficient and dynamic allocation of GIG resources and protect the GIG’s information environment to enable trust in its use and in the information it contains.

Achieving our vision of a dynamic, visible, and managed network environment will be a challenge. It will require major improvement sin share GIG situational awareness and significant changes in the overarching approach for GIG command and control (C2). But the rewards are great, since our envisioned NetOps capability will provide GIG users, particularly those on the tactical edge, timely information to effectively and efficiently apply all GIG resources in support of multi-mission demands.

This NetOps Strategic Vision builds on the underlying tenets of net-centricity and other Net-Centric strategies. It outlines a vision that transforms NetOps capabilities into a force multiplier by enabling warfighters, business and intelligence users and decision makers to fully employ the power of the GIG. This Strategic Vision seeks to establish a Net-Centric NetOps capability for dynamically operating and defending the GIG as a unified, agile enterprise that provides responsive support to multiple simultaneous missions. This new unified NetOps capability is based on these goals:
⋅ Share GIG Situational Awareness,
⋅ Unify GIG Command and Control, and
⋅ Institutionalize NetOps.

Realizing this vision will require a cohesive effort by the entire NetOps community and the customers they support.

John G. Grimes
Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Networks and Information Integration/
DoD Chief Information Officer

_________________
Noted keywords in the pdf are not limited to: situational awareness, mission, cyberspace, defense, grid, global, infrastructure, information, investment, initiatives, acquisition, system, service developers, network, computer, data, operation, operational, strategic, satellite communications management, electromagnetic spectrum management, computing infrastructure management, warfighters, tactic, technique, technology, procedure, configuration management, synchronization, Army, Marine, Navy.

Other keywords of note are aerospace, airspace, astropolitics, national priority, national security, Responsive Space, Launch Vehicles, Scorpius, Microcosm, SUSTAIN, USMC, USAF, Fulton Recovery System, FRS, Vertical Takeoff and Landing, VTOL, Delta-V, Hypersonic, Saanger, Space Shuttle, STS, C-130, C-17, C-5, Parasail, Recovery Aircraft, Specific Impulse, Exodus, Sprite, Wake Turbulence, Double-Ply Parachute, Gas Bag, Political, Policy and Economic Issues, Space Pearl Harbor, Rumsfield Space Commission Report, Space Weapons Systems, Outer Space Treaty, OST, SpaceX, Falcon, Virgin Galactic, SS-2, Suborbital Space Tourism, Rapid Orbital Launch, DC-X, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV

[Allegro]

RESOURCE

More on GIG | DISA

DISA is located in Fort Meade, Maryland. Wait. NSA is located in Fort Meade. And, FWIW, the word satellite shows up 30 times on that DISA wiki page. Highlights mine, below.

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DISA EUROPE FIELD COMMAND
Sign up to receive DISA Europe email updates

MISSION

Operate and defend the Global Information Grid (GIG) by providing assured net-centric enterprise services and infrastructure for the European, Central and African Combatant Commands, mission partners and coalition partners.

VISION

A regional field command of highly trained professionals enabling information dominance.

EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS

As a forward deployed element of the Defense Information Systems Agency in Washington, D.C., DISA Europe is a vital combat support element to the forward deployed commander of the United States European Command (USEUCOM). DISA Europe is based on foreign soil and is the single voice of DISA in theater. DISA Europe manages the European portion of the GIG, provides information systems and services to operational components throughout NATO and supports U.S. interests in more than 100 countries in Europe, Africa, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. The mission areas outlined on this site provide a framework to identify DISA Europe resources or to learn more about our capabilities.

Plans and Programs Integration Division (EU2)

⋅ Provides liaisons to DISA Europe customers
⋅ Provides planning and integration support
⋅ Supports strategic planning initiatives

Operations Division (EU3)

⋅ Theater NetOps Center (TNC) provides operational management, ensuring viability and security of the Defense Information System Network (DISN), which includes but is not limited to NIPRNet, SIPRNet, DISN Asynchronous Transfer Mode Service (DATMS), DISN Core, Defense Switch Network (DSN), DRSN, and commercial and military satellites.
⋅ Quality Assurance/Performance Evaluation (QA/PE) conducts performance evaluations and assistance visits throughout EUCOM and CENTCOM areas of responsibility
⋅ Satellite communication (SATCOM) expands the reach of the network and delivers communication capabilities anytime, anywhere, and in any environment.
⋅ Contingency exercise (CONEX) plans and coordinates reach-back Defense Information Systems Network services, through the Gateway Access Request and Gateway Access Authorization process, in support of deployed DoD users.
⋅ Certified Network Defense Service Provider (CNDSP) provides 24 x 7 world class network defense services to DoD, EUCOM, CENTCOM, AFRICOM, SOCOM, and NATO.

Communications Support Division (EU5)
⋅ Defense Message System (DMS)
⋅ DISN Video Services (DVS)
⋅ Coalition Networks
⋅ Command and Control (C2) Applications
⋅ Defense Switched Network (DSN)
⋅ Defense Red Switch Network (DRSN)
⋅ Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services
⋅ Voice over Secure Internet Protocol (VoSIP)

Transport Network Services Division (EU7)
⋅ Provides engineering implementation services, and sustainment services

NATO Field Office
⋅ Ensures U.S. interests are considered in all NATO planning and design efforts to facilitate U.S. and NATO C4ISR interoperability

[seemslikeadream]

A GCHQ facility at Menwith Hill in northern England: "Worse than the United States"

[Allegro]

RESOURCE

I finally found my first and only post specifically about Lockheed Martin, and the web pages linked in the original below no longer show up.

These tags are favorites, and might not show in the following posted original: aerospace, airspace, grid, infrastructure, global, surveillance, satellite. These references are not necessarily pertinent to Lockheed Martin: Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), which includes NSA; Air and Space Operations Center; Air Force Command and Control Integration Center.

Air & Space Operations Weapon System Integrator (AOC WSI)
— Lockheed Martin

Modernizing Command & Control Centers Worldwide [highlights mine]


An Air and Space Operations Center can plan and execute thousands of sorties a day, coordinating joint air forces as diverse as F-16 fighters, refueling tankers, and attack helicopters into an integrated air campaign. As the primary systems used by Joint Force Air Component Commanders to exercise command and control of air and space power worldwide, an AOC is a highly complex operation, with up to 48 discrete systems that support diverse missions. Originally, each system within the AOC was built to meet a specific mission and as such, they are supported by different systems, operating procedures and personnel requirements. Lockheed Martin is working to fuse information across disciplines and to evolve the centers around the world into a standardized, seamless, integrated enterprise.

In September 2006, the United States Air Force selected an industry team led by Lockheed Martin to be the Air and Space Operations Center Weapon System Integrator (AOC WSI). Under this multi-year contract, the team will work with the Air Force to standardize, modernize, sustain and transform the more than 20 AOCs worldwide into interoperable net-centric weapon systems that will provide commanders real-time, common operational views of the global battlefield. These include the centers located in regions such as the Middle East and East Asia from which the general who oversees all U.S., allied and coalition aircraft in a theater of operations can execute an air campaign and direct space support and information operations activities. They also include those centers that are used to protect the homeland and support specialized missions, as well as those utilized for training, testing and technical support or serving in backup roles.

Lockheed Martin leads a team that includes Raytheon, SAIC, Dynamics Research Corporation, Intelligent Software Solutions, Gestalt and Computer Sciences Corporation. Lockheed Martin’s team will:

. Standardize the AOC enterprise to a common hardware and software baseline and manage the program as a true weapon system
. Integrate the 48 existing AOC systems and applications, adding machine to machine interfaces that will provide greater automation of tasks, faster access to ISR data, enhanced battle damage assessment capabilities and greater reach into the space, ground and maritime arenas
. Revolutionize the AOC enterprise by executing a strategic roadmap to transform the AOC into a fast, flexible, net-centric cornerstone of the C2 constellation

Lockheed Martin IS&GS
700 North Frederick Avenue
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
(301) 240-7500

Noted. Lockheed Martin Corporation Web Site User Agreement and Disclaimers

[Bruce Dazzling]

On Tuesday, surveillance cameras in the center of the city of Utrecht were decorated with colorful party hats to celebrate the 110th birthday of George Orwell, Dutch art duo Front404 explained on their website.
June 28, 2013 at 2:10pm EDT
Buzzfeed

[Allegro]

[Allegro]

RESOURCE

Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) WIKI NOTES

Bundesnachrichtendienst (German pronunciation: [ˌbʊndəsˈnaːχʁɪçtnˌdiːnst]; English: Federal Intelligence Service; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinated to the Chancellor’s Office. Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin (planned to be centralised in Berlin by 2014). The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries. In 2005, the BND employed around 6,050 people, 10% of them Bundeswehr soldiers; those are officially employed by the “Amt für Militärkunde” (Office for Military Sciences). The annual budget of the BND for 2009 was €460,000,000.[1]

The BND acts as an early warning system to alert the German government to threats to German interests from abroad. It depends heavily on wiretapping and electronic surveillance of international communications. It collects and evaluates information on a variety of areas such as international non-state terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and illegal transfer of technology, organized crime, weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and information warfare. As Germany’s only overseas intelligence service, the BND gathers both military and civil intelligence. While the Kommando Strategische Aufklärung (KSA, Strategic Reconnaissance Command) of the Bundeswehr also fulfills this mission, but is not an intelligence service. There is close cooperation between the BND and the KSA.

The domestic secret service counterparts of the BND are the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV) and 16 counterparts at the state level Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution); there is also a separate military intelligence organisation, the Militärischer Abschirmdienst (lit. military shielding service, MAD).

The BND is a successor to the Gehlen Organization. The most central figure in its history was Reinhard Gehlen, its first president.

_________________
As of June 2013, Germany has two supercomputers listed in the top500. They are Forschungszentrum Jülich and Leibniz-Rechenzentrum.