http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-08/nsas-utah-spy-supercenter-crippled-power-surges
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/08/2013 09:12 -0400
Posted By Shane Harris
http://rt.com/news/brazil-snowden-leaks-greenwald-959/
NSA's Utah Spy Supercenter Crippled By Power Surges
Long before Edward Snowden's whistleblowing revelations hit the world and the Obama administration's approval ratings like a ton of bricks, we ran a story in March 2012 which exposed the NSA's unprecedented domestic espionage project, codenamed Stellar Wind, and specifically the $1.4+ billion data center spy facility located in Bluffdale, Utah, which spans more than one million square feet, uses 65 megawatts of energy (enough to power a city of more than 20,000), and can store exabytes or even zettabytes of data (a zettabyte is 100 million times larger than all the printed material in the Library of Congress), consisting of every single electronic communication in the world, whether captured with a warrant or not. Yet despite all signs to the contrary, Uber-generalKeith Alexander and his spy army are only human, and as the WSJ reports, the NSA's Bluffdale data center - whose interior may not be modeled for the bridge of the Starship Enterprise - has been hobbled by chronic electrical surges as a result of at least 10 electrical meltdowns in the past 13 months.
The facility above is where everyone's back up phone records and emails are stored.
Such meltdowns have prevented the NSA from using computers at its new Utah data-storage center which then supposedly means that not every single US conversation using electronic media or airwaves in the past year has been saved for posterity and the amusement of the NSA's superspooks.
This being the NSA, of course, not even a blown fuse is quite the same as it would be in the normal world: "One project official described the electrical troubles—so-called arc fault failures—as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box." These failures create fiery explosions, melt metal and cause circuits to fail, the official said. The causes remain under investigation, and there is disagreement whether proposed fixes will work, according to officials and project documents. One Utah project official said the NSA planned this week to turn on some of its computers there."
More from the WSJ on this latest example of what even the most organized and efficient of government agencies ends up with when left to its non-private sector resources:
Without a reliable electrical system to run computers and keep them cool, the NSA's global surveillance data systems can't function. The NSA chose Bluffdale, Utah, to house the data center largely because of the abundance of cheap electricity. It continuously uses 65 megawatts, which could power a small city of at least 20,000, at a cost of more than $1 million a month, according to project officials and documents.Utah is the largest of several new NSA data centers, including a nearly $900 million facility at its Fort Meade, Md., headquarters and a smaller one in San Antonio. The first of four data facilities at the Utah center was originally scheduled to open in October 2012, according to project documents. The data-center delays show that the NSA's ability to use its powerful capabilities is undercut by logistical headaches. Documents and interviews paint a picture of a project that cut corners to speed building.Backup generators have failed numerous tests, according to project documents, and officials disagree about whether the cause is understood. There are also disagreements among government officials and contractors over the adequacy of the electrical control systems, a project official said, and the cooling systems also remain untested.The Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the data center's construction. Chief of Construction Operations, Norbert Suter said, "the cause of the electrical issues was identified by the team, and is currently being corrected by the contractor." He said the Corps would ensure the center is "completely reliable" before handing it over to the NSA.But another government assessment concluded the contractor's proposed solutions fall short and the causes of eight of the failures haven't been conclusively determined. "We did not find any indication that the proposed equipment modification measures will be effective in preventing future incidents," said a report last week by special investigators from the Army Corps of Engineers known as a Tiger Team.The architectural firm KlingStubbins designed the electrical system. The firm is a subcontractor to a joint venture of three companies: Balfour Beatty Construction, DPR Construction and Big-D Construction Corp. A KlingStubbins official referred questions to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Tsk tsk: this is what happens when you use taxpayer dollars to pay the lowest bidder - you can't even build an efficient totalitarian superstate!
The first arc fault failure at the Utah plant was on Aug. 9, 2012, according to project documents. Since then, the center has had nine more failures, most recently on Sept. 25. Each incident caused as much as $100,000 in damage, according to a project official. It took six months for investigators to determine the causes of two of the failures. In the months that followed, the contractors employed more than 30 independent experts that conducted 160 tests over 50,000 man-hours, according to project documents.This summer, the Army Corps of Engineers dispatched its Tiger Team, officials said. In an initial report, the team said the cause of the failures remained unknown in all but two instances. The team said the government has incomplete information about the design of the electrical system that could pose new problems if settings need to change on circuit breakers. The report concluded that efforts to "fast track" the Utah project bypassed regular quality controls in design and construction.Contractors have started installing devices that insulate the power system from a failure and would reduce damage to the electrical machinery. But the fix wouldn't prevent the failures, according to project documents and current and former officials.Contractor representatives wrote last month to NSA officials to acknowledge the failures and describe their plan to ensure there is reliable electricity for computers. The representatives said they didn't know the true source of the failures but proposed remedies they believed would work. With those measures and others in place, they said, they had "high confidence that the electrical systems will perform as required by the contract."A couple of weeks later, on Sept. 23, the contractors reported they had uncovered the "root cause" of the electrical failures, citing a "consensus" among 30 investigators, which didn't include government officials. Their proposed solution was the same device they had already begun installing.
Wait, we know: it's the Syrians.
So for those who have no choice but to live in a totalitarian banana republic, may we suggest at least laughing about it. We present the Domestic Surveillance Directorate.
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/08/hostile_takeover_now_the_nsa_wants_to_watch_wall_streets_networks_too#.UlRgiop6OjQ.twitter
Posted By Shane Harris 
Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - 3:32 PM 
Share
You might think that Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, would be looking to lower his agency's profile after a stream of embarrassing leaks about its surveillanceactivities. Instead, he's doubling down, asking for new powers to secure the U.S. financial industry -- and using some rather suspect arguments to support his demands.
In public remarks in Washington on Tuesday, Alexander said that eventually, and likely in the midst of a crisis, policymakers will have to decide under what conditions the NSA can take action to stop a major cyberattack on U.S. businesses or critical sectors of the economy.
"That's where we're going to end up at some point," he said. Using the financial services sector as an example, Alexander said, "You have to have the rules set up so you can defend Wall Street."
Drawing an analogy to how the military detects an incoming missile with radar and other sensors, Alexander imagined the NSA being able to spot "a cyberpacket that's about to destroy Wall Street." In an ideal world, he said, the agency would be getting real-time information from the banks themselves, as well as from the NSA's traditional channels of intelligence, and have the power to take action before a cyberattack caused major damage.
The analogy was a stretch.
For starters, what's a "cyberpacket"? Presumably Alexander meant a sophisticated computer worm or virus designed to disrupt a computer or destroy the data inside it. (Maybe like the one his agency reportedly helped design to destroy centrifuges in an Iranian nuclear facility.) But the idea that a single, tiny packet could wipe out Wall Street is laughable. That's like saying a paintball can take out a tank.
Could a hacker really take out Wall Street in one fell cyberswoop? Current and former intelligence officials have warned that a determined adversary could manipulate or erase electronic data in the computers of banks, clearinghouses, or stock exchanges, undermining confidence in the banking system and triggering a nationwide economic panic. The damage might be severe, but presumably temporary.
Alexander seemed to suggest it would be permanent or long-lasting. The general is one of the most technologically knowledgeable officials in the intelligence community. So should we conclude that Wall Street really is at risk of a catastrophic cyberattack? Or that Alexander is engaging in a little old-fashioned fear-mongering to drum up support for his policies?
Under current authorities, Alexander said, the NSA has permission to act to defend networks. But any offensive actions must be approved by the secretary of defense and the president. Alexander didn't explicitly call for new offensive authorities. But if U.S. banks were under a major cyberattack, the NSA would almost certainly have to take some offensive action to repel it, such as trying to shut down the source of the attack.
If the NSA is only allowed to act after an attack has occurred, "that doesn't make sense," Alexander said. "So we need that capability" to act before the damage is done.
Alexander spoke in an onstage interview hosted by Politico and Raytheon, the defense and intelligence contractor.
This is not the first time Alexander has proposed using the NSA to beef up financial security in the United States. Two years ago, in a meeting with financial company executives, Alexander proposed a more aggressive form of NSA-led defense, in which the agency would install monitoring equipment on the networks of banks. The executives resisted that proposal, which they felt overstepped the NSA's legal authorities and might violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on warrantless surveillance if the monitoring were performed without a court order.
In his remarks on Tuesday, Alexander also said that a pilot program to share information about malware and malicious hackers with defense contractors, so that they can better defend themselves against cyberintrusions, should be expanded to other critical industries. The Defense Industrial Base initiative is led by the Homeland Security Department, but most of the threat reporting and analysis that's given to companies comes from the NSA.
"I would expand it far beyond" the defense industrial base, Alexander said, to include the main Internet service providers that carry much of the nation's Internet traffic.
Alexander acknowledged that the NSA had lost some public trust and that it might not be easy to persuade lawmakers that the agency's powers should be expanded, rather than curtailed. But he repeated earlier statements, made in public and before Congress, that public reaction to the NSA's surveillance mission is based on "sensationalized" and misinformed press accounts of NSA documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden.
Alexander said he is open to some modifications of existing surveillance programs, particularly one that collects all telephone records in the United States and stores them at the NSA for up to five years. Alexander said he would be comfortable storing the data somewhere else or requiring more reports on how the data is used, but that the NSA's surveillance work should not end. "I think the authorities should stay intact," he said.
Alexander noted that the NSA is hiring for a new official to oversee privacy and civil liberties matters and that 67 people have applied for it. But he worried that the continuing government shutdown, which has caught federal employees in the middle of a political fight, might deter people from coming to work for the government.
"The most damage is to the morale of the [NSA] workforce," Alexander said of the shutdown. The general extolled the expertise and dedication of NSA employees and said it is unfair to ask people living paycheck to paycheck to forgo their salary indefinitely. "We're making it hard for them to stay with the government, and that's wrong. That's absolutely wrong," Alexander said.
And, he cautioned, future NSA recruits may be taking note. "How do you get good people to come into government when you treat them like that?" Alexander asked.
Despite the dire mood in Washington, Alexander managed some levity. When questions shifted from the shutdown to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, the general quipped, "Shutdown Snowden? I'm with you on that one."
Brazilian lawmakers press Greenwald for greater detail on Snowden's NSA leaks
Published time: October 10, 2013 02:19
Brazilian lawmakers indicated that, in lieu of direct teleconferences with Edward Snowden to gain further insight into allegations of NSA spying in their country, they may seek to seize documents now held by American journalist Glenn Greenwald.
On Wednesday Greenwald spoke to Brazilian senators currently investigating evidence of US as well as British and Canadian espionage in the Latin American country.
The legislators are part of a probe into potential foreign surveillance -- the Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito, or CPI -- called into action by President Dilma Rousseff in the wake of initial news reports alleging that even the president’s online communication had been intercepted.
Greenwald, who appeared along with his partner David Miranda, a Brazilian national, broached several topics during the hearing, including the possibility of granting asylum to NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden.
So far, Brazil has been vague as to whether it would seriously consider extending Snowden, who is currently residing in Russia, an offer of political asylum.
"There are many nations saying, 'We're glad to be learning all this information,' but almost nobody wants to protect the person responsible for letting the world discover it," Greenwald told the panel.
In the meantime, Brazilian legislators seem eager to find out the extent of foreign surveillance on the country in greater detail.
To that end, the country’s government -- specifically, the CPI inquiry -- is now seeking to establish teleconferencing sessions with Snowden.
Asked by the commission to turn over documents obtained through the whistleblower Greenwald refused, citing the need for a separation between journalism and government. His partner, Miranda, also cited that divulging the documents would constitute an “act of treason” and prevent Greenwald from entering the US again.
One Brazilian Senator, Ricardo Ferraço, went so far as to suggest that the government commission seek the authority of the country’s courts to seize documents now held by Greenwald if such communication with Snowden proved unfeasible.
Unlike allegations of NSA surveillance in the US, coverage of the agency’s activities in Brazil have taken on a broader scope, and in particular centered on the country’s economy.
Greenwald himself has shaped the narrative of Snowden’s disclosures through his testimony to Brazil’s government, as well as his work with the O Globo newspaper and Rede Globo’s news television.
In August, the journalist told Brazil’s government that alleged American espionage in Brazil was centered on gaining economic advantages rather than on any national security concerns.
"We now have several denunciations that show that the spy program is not about terrorism. It is about increasing the power of the American government," Greenwald told senators on Wednesday, speaking in Portuguese.
In the most recent report last Sunday, Greenwald said on Globo network television that Canadian spies had targeted Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry, intercepting the metadata of phone calls and emails passing through the ministry.
The impact of the steady stream of surveillance allegations on Brazil has been swift. Last month Petrobras announced that it would be investing $9.5 billion over the next five years to heighten its data security.
Meanwhile, Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo announced that the country’s government was pursuing legislation requiring domestic data exchanges to use locally made equipment.
No comments:
Post a Comment