Does the NSA Need More Electricity?

An anonymous reader writes "The Baltimore sun (NSA watchers can't live without it) reports that the NSA worries about overloading the Baltimore energy grid if it were to install new computing capacity at it's Fort Meade HQ. This includes two multi million dollar supercomputers. Some systems are reportedly not getting the cooling they need. The temperature in NSA buildings is raised two degrees to conserve energy, according to the article. The NSA is Baltimore Gas and Electric`s (BGE) biggest customer the sun reports. Former NSA employees fear that a power outage at Fort Meade would have worse consequences than the 2000 "information overload" related outage. The NSA does apparently not have the backup power generation capacity to power the whole facility during power outages. Some point a finger at a new mall build in the area, but a BGE spokesman says the mall is "fairly easily accommodated". Some sources say the problem was identified in the late 90`s. But "keeping the lights on" wasn't a priority. A $4 million computer upgrade to the system that allocates power was postponed for budgetary reasons. (the NSA budged is estimated at $8 Billion) The article reports that the budget documents for listening posts around the world report similar infrastructural problems, in the budgets for 07 as well as previous years. It should be noted that the huge "groundbreaker" IT infrastructure upgrade program is reportedly over budget and late, but not yet fully operational."

Comments

I've heard that after suddens pangs of conscience

[portmapper]

there is surplus electricity available from Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.

No way

[dattaway]

No Such Agency needs that kind of power.

Budged?

[The_Shadows]

"the NSA budged is estimated at $8 Billion"

It costs $8 billion dollars to get the NSA to budge? Give me half that and I'll poke them with a stick until they move.

Re:Obvious solution

[Salgak1]

Do you have ANY idea of the paperwork we have to fill out when we kill someone ??

Instead, the current preferred technique is to strap the. . .person in question. . into a chair, clamp their eyes open, and start playing episodes of "Barney and Friends". Even in the most resistant of cases, no more than 8-10 hours is required, and the subject is now a brainless, drooling, utterly mindless specimen perfectly suited for janitorial duties or corporate management. . .

Re:waste

[jez9999]

Tubes are less susceptible to EMP than microchips

Excellent. That means the internets should keep flowing reliably in the case of a nuclear war!

Re:The NSA is a spy organization, but do we need i

[3seas]

funny how "anonymous coward" supports not hiding.

Funny how the real parent, noit hiding behind anonymous exposes some facts and gets rated flaim bait.

And this proves what? That the original parent is correct!

Hmm. Bankrupt the US by overloading the NSA?

[ArghBlarg]

Just like the US did to the USSR in the late 80s, perhaps the nations of the world could bankrupt the USA by flooding the world communication channels with heavily encrypted traffic. The NSA would keep demanding more and more computers and power, draining the nation of its resources.