Just like the “Big Boards” at the North American Air Defense command center and in the Pentagon’s “War Room,” the National Security Agency also maintains a “big board” inside its National Security Operations Center at Fort Meade, Maryland. These boards are also found inside each of NSA’s regional security operations centers at NSA Georgia in Fort Gordon, NSA Texas in San Antonio, and NSA Hawaii, in Kunia on Oahu.
While one might expect to see various maps showing crisis zones around the world on NSA’s “big boards,” they would be sadly disappointed. What is found on the big board’s are live streams of the broadcasts of Fox News and CNN.
While General Keith Alexander argued to Congress to avoid passing restrictions on NSA’s collection of meta-data of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, NSA operations center watch standers are more aware of the details of the George Zimmerman case and the birth of young Prince George of England than they are of the latest disposition of the Chinese naval fleet or the latest phone call made by the hundreds of “Al Qaeda” number twos.
While NSA and Alexander claim they require total access to the nation’s and the world’s communications to fight terrorists and other bogeyman, the likes of Wolf Blitzer, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Piers Morgan are found peering down on NSA watch standers from the big screens in the NSA operational centers.
One other thing about the live broadcasts into the NSA operations centers. NSA insiders report that the live TV feeds adversely affect premium bandwidth for other NSA mission-critical systems, such as those that carry taped or live video from operational situations and simulated training events from around the world.
But never mind, the Egyptian situation in the Sinai can wait, NSA personnel must have the latest information on Anthony Weiner’s tallywhacker tweets.
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
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NSA’s “Big Board”—you won’t believe what’s on it
Posted on July 30, 2013 by Wayne Madsen
Just like the “Big Boards” at the North American Air Defense command center and in the Pentagon’s “War Room,” the National Security Agency also maintains a “big board” inside its National Security Operations Center at Fort Meade, Maryland. These boards are also found inside each of NSA’s regional security operations centers at NSA Georgia in Fort Gordon, NSA Texas in San Antonio, and NSA Hawaii, in Kunia on Oahu.
While one might expect to see various maps showing crisis zones around the world on NSA’s “big boards,” they would be sadly disappointed. What is found on the big board’s are live streams of the broadcasts of Fox News and CNN.
While General Keith Alexander argued to Congress to avoid passing restrictions on NSA’s collection of meta-data of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, NSA operations center watch standers are more aware of the details of the George Zimmerman case and the birth of young Prince George of England than they are of the latest disposition of the Chinese naval fleet or the latest phone call made by the hundreds of “Al Qaeda” number twos.
While NSA and Alexander claim they require total access to the nation’s and the world’s communications to fight terrorists and other bogeyman, the likes of Wolf Blitzer, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Piers Morgan are found peering down on NSA watch standers from the big screens in the NSA operational centers.
One other thing about the live broadcasts into the NSA operations centers. NSA insiders report that the live TV feeds adversely affect premium bandwidth for other NSA mission-critical systems, such as those that carry taped or live video from operational situations and simulated training events from around the world.
But never mind, the Egyptian situation in the Sinai can wait, NSA personnel must have the latest information on Anthony Weiner’s tallywhacker tweets.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2013 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).