Will the NSA's Lights Go Out?

While the Bush administration is busy wasting money on things like the Pentagon's experimental insect army in its attempt to perhaps fulfill that old curse of 'may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits' as a rather crude way of fighting the Great War on Terrorism, the NSA is worried about the fact that a huge power outage could strike and cripple its facility in Maryland because it has not been upgraded - despite the fact that they knew this was coming for years on end.

Maybe Rummy can figure out a way to make those fleas run the turbines like little hamsters endlessly running on those tiny metal wheels?

Agency officials anticipated the problem nearly a decade ago as they looked ahead at the technology needs of the agency, sources said, but it was never made a priority, and now the agency's ability to keep its operations going is threatened. The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment, including two new supercomputers, for fear of blowing out the electrical infrastructure, they said.

At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges at the Fort Meade headquarters, hampering the work of intelligence analysts and damaging equipment, they said. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency, paralyzing the intelligence operation, erasing crucial intelligence data and causing irreparable damage to computer systems -- all detrimental to the fight against terrorism.
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The NSA is Baltimore Gas & Electric's largest customer, using as much electricity as the city of Annapolis, according to James Bamford, an intelligence expert and author of two comprehensive books on the agency.

Think about that, North Easteners, the next time your city officials tell you to cut back on using your air conditioners when it's hot enough to cook bacon and eggs on your sidewalk while they proudly announce that they're also doing everything they possibly can to keep your bacon and egg frying butts safe from terrorists.