[TLI]

It's got a "Visitor Center!"
How bad can it be?

WELCOME TO THE VISITORS CENTER!

Smile for the group photo...

.

[Cheerio]

I have been inside the visitor offices of NSA in Ft. Meade, MD. If you walk past a certain point in the corridor without the appropriate badge, the flashing red light goes on and sirens start blasting. That point in the corridor corner was well marked with floor-to-ceiling barber pole style signs and plenty of cameras and monitors showing your picture. My colleague was there on a different trip and was with a group that had just broken up from a meeting. One of the attendees had to make a restroom stop, so she left her brief case sit outside the restroom on the floor while the other folk watched it for her. By the time she came out the bomb squad was there and she was taken into "custody" until NSA could be all sorted out (how they thought a bomb could have been spirited past the building entry frisking point and briefcase examination could not be answered).

One could not even bring up the subject about whether there was sub basements or not (where the surveillance work was underway).