Fiery Explosions Rock NSA Data Center

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by tulianr, Oct 9, 2013.


  1. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    Trouble in spying paradise.

    Massive electrical surges at a data-storage facility for the National Security Agency led to the destruction of hugely expensive machinery and delayed its opening for a year, officials revealed Tuesday.

    In the past 10 months alone, the facility has experienced 13 electrical surges, which officials describe as “a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box.” The melting metal that results from the fiery explosions causes the circuits to fail and prevents NSA workers from using the computers.

    A spokeswoman for the NSA insists, despite no clear culprit for the explosions, that the issues “have been mitigated.”

    Fiery Explosions Rock NSA Data Center - The Daily Beast
     
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  2. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    The building meant to be at the center of the agency's spying operation has been plagued by electrical meltdowns that have destroyed valuable machinery and delayed its opening by more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

    At more than 1.2 million square feet over 247 acres, the facility is one of the Pentagon's biggest construction projects and is believed to be even bigger than Google's biggest data center—but the NSA can't store anything there if the electrical system is on the fritz.

    The contractors involved have been unable to pinpoint the problem causing what one official describes as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box," although the Army Corps of Engineers' Tiger Teams blames the meltdown on the fast-tracking of the project, which bypassed the usual safety and quality controls. "The problem, and we all know it, is that they put the appliances too close together," an insider tells Forbes. "They used wiring that’s not adequate to the task. We all talked about the fact that it wasn’t going to work."


    Meltdowns Plague NSA's Giant New Data Center - Fast-tracking blamed for spy center's faulty wiring
     
  3. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    I won't get arrested for treason for LMAO about this, will I?
     
  4. AmericanRedoubt1776

    AmericanRedoubt1776 American Redoubt: Idaho-Montana-Wyoming Site Supporter+

  5. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    Somebody forgot to check the code books.
     
  6. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Hard to find a Top Secret Code Word Clearance Electrical Inspector these days.... They are all out on Furlough....
     
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  7. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    There electrical issues do not surprise me at all. They have so many travelling electricians on this project, as guys flocked to the project from around the country, due to lack of employment in their local markets. It currently takes about a year and a half for a union electrician in our market to get a call-out... What that means is you have a great influx of unknown tradesmen, many that may not meet the training & skill level that they need... to be a good electrician.

    With a federal project, the local electrical license and permit requirements are out the door typically. Allowing riff-raff to work on a job and sometimes create havoc/bad installations, if the crew foreman is not paying attention. On a fed project, quality control is always suspect with fast paced work, as it is performed without the quality control safe-guards in the design, you would typically see on a normal project.
     
  8. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    At a work-related water systems class in July, the instructor talked about one 'certified/licensed' electrician who thought AC and DC motors were interchangeable...
     
  9. Airtime

    Airtime Monkey+++

    On the flip side, is it possible some patriot electricians knew exactly what they were doing?

    Just thunkin...
    AT
     
  10. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    This was a simple calculation error. This is a math problem common on any state test for Master Electricians.

    "How can we find short circuit current manually, without using any software in multistory building project for panels and breakers etc."

    Had they designed this Bldg using a COOPER Bussman information on line for Short Circuit Calculation from the NEC we would not be discussing this.

    http://www1.cooperbussmann.com/pdf/8744b1f2-9436-426d-a924-5c4e9d57d93c.pdf#!

    Just simple math and people that know their trade.

    Read it and weep.
     
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  11. C.T.Horner

    C.T.Horner Monkey

    “Massive electrical surges at a data-storage facility for the National Security Agency led to the destruction of hugely expensive machinery and delayed its opening for a year, officials revealed Tuesday.”

    Translation:

    Super secrete spy center is crippled and cannot function for a year!

    Reality:

    If true they would never tell anybody, so what is really going on. Just look to the near past and the answer is simple they are getting a lot of bad press now and it would be better if they could slip quietly away.

    Wow what a coincidence, the place is broken and they can’t spy for a year.

    I ain’t buying it. Just sayin.

    CT
     
  12. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    New, they will just use the backup. There are 2.
     
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  13. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    Right, even WALMART has mirrored Data Centers. Both with UPS.
     
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  14. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Personally, I read this with a very wide grin on my fuzzy face...
     
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  15. VisuTrac

    VisuTrac Ваша мать носит военные ботинки Site Supporter+++

    I'm glad they are using the lowest bidder for their contracts in this case.
     
  16. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Sometimes you do get what you pay for.. To our benefit may I add...
     
  17. Silversnake

    Silversnake Silverback

    "Go ahead and do whatever you want on the internet while they can't spy on you..."

    Kind of like when the second Death Star wasn't yet operational?

    trap.

    I'm with Admiral Akbar's assessment on this.
     
    CaboWabo5150, oldawg, tulianr and 7 others like this.
  18. NWPilgrim

    NWPilgrim Monkey++

    Is this typical government incompetence to contract out complex projects? Or are there perhaps some electricians on the job who would prefer NOT to see the data farm Beast born alive?
    :D
     
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  19. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    I am no engineer.. Frankly I would think it was just shoddy workmanship and pressure to complete the project..
     
  20. gunbunny

    gunbunny Never Trust A Bunny

    STUXNET part II maybe?
     
    tulianr likes this.
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