The Salt Lake Tribune has published an excellent overview of the NSA's many data storage facilities and installations in the United States. The piece goes into some depth regarding the technical specifications required to power and operate such an extensive, global surveillance architecture. It also includes this fascinating detail, presumably referencing FBI and CIA access to NSA's huge troves of data:
The NSA also has pioneered so-called "cloud-centric’’ technology to let outside agencies reach remotely into its enormous data pools. And the agency has spent years matching its computer architectures and systems with those of other intelligence gatherers — including those managing U.S. reconnaissance and geospatial satellite imagery — to ease information flows."The key is architecture,’’ NSA’s director of technology Lonny Anderson said in a 2011 interview. "There’s no doubt in my mind that when we connect architectures, we’ll never look back."
In related developments, the Washington Post published more PRISM slides on June 29, 2013. The slide below shows that data queried by NSA analysts from the major telecom and internet communications providers passes through FBI's Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) before being warehoused in the NSA's many collections deposits.
I don't know about you, but if I thought that my surveillance program was ethical and met democratic standards, I wouldn't call a part of it TRAFFICTHIEF.
The newly published slides also point to NSA's ability to intercept and monitor communications in real time. (See C under 'Content Type' in the purple box.)
See the Washington Post's story here.