The NSA's New Spy Facilities are 7 Times Bigger Than the Pentagon
The NSA's New Spy Facilities are 7 Times Bigger Than the Pentagon
Exclusive Research & Development Intelligence
He works at one of the three-letter intelligence agencies and oversees construction of a $1.2 billion surveillance data center in Utah that is 15 times the size of MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and Jets. Long Island native Harvey Davis, a top National Security Agency official, needs that commanding presence. His role is to supervise infrastructure construction worldwide for NSA, which is part of the Defense Department. That involves tending to logistics, military installations, as well as power, space and cooling for all NSA data centers.
In May, crews broke ground on a $792 million computing center at the agencys headquarters near Baltimore that will complement the Utah site. Together the Utah center and Marylands 28-acre computer farm span 228 acresmore than seven times the size of the Pentagon.
During an interview with Government Executive in June, amid the uproar over leaked details of NSAs domestic espionage activities, Davis describes the 200-acre Utah facility as very transparent: Only brick and mortar. A data center just provides energy and chills machines, he says.
About 6,500 contractors, along with more than 150 Army Corps of Engineers and NSA workers, including some with special needs, are assigned to the project. Davis perks up when he talks about the hundreds of individuals with disabilities he has steered into NSA.
But ask him why the facility is so big and whats inside, and he is less forthcoming. I think were crossing into content. Its big because its required to be big, says Davis, a 30-year veteran of the spy agency.
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2013/07/nsas-big-dig/67406/