Posted on 06/01/2009 7:10:19 AM PDT by Crazieman
This part happens all the time: A construction crew putting up an office building in the heart of Tysons Corner a few years ago hit a fiber optic cable no one knew was there.
This part doesn't: Within moments, three black sport-utility vehicles drove up, a half-dozen men in suits jumped out and one said, "You just hit our line."
Whose line, you may ask? The guys in suits didn't say, recalled Aaron Georgelas, whose company, the Georgelas Group, was developing the Greensboro Corporate Center on Spring Hill Road. But Georgelas assumed that he was dealing with the federal government and that the cable in question was "black" wire -- a secure communications line used for some of the nation's most secretive intelligence-gathering operations.
"The construction manager was shocked," Georgelas recalled. "He had never seen a line get cut and people show up within seconds. Usually you've got to figure out whose line it is. To garner that kind of response that quickly was amazing."
Black wire is one of the looming perils of the massive construction that has come to Tysons, where miles and miles of secure lines are thought to serve such nearby agencies as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center and, a few miles away in McLean, the Central Intelligence Agency. After decades spent cutting through red tape to begin work on a Metrorail extension and the widening of the Capital Beltway, crews are now stirring up tons of dirt where the black lines are located.
"Yeah, we heard about the black SUVs," said Paul Goguen, the engineer in charge of relocating electric, gas, water, sewer, cable, telephone and other communications lines to make way for Metro through Tysons. "We were warned that if they were hit, the company responsible would show up before you even had a chance to make a phone call."
(Excerpt) Read more at www.washingtonpost.com ...
It’s amazing that the Feds can be so competent in some areas, yet so incompetent in others.
Obama will put even national security back on his own level:
Don’t fool yourself. The fed is competent at everything it does. But, in some areas (especially social services), competence could lead to success and success leads to loss of dependents and eventually loss of budget. The goal of all social services is to increase the number of people dependent on it.
So, the measure of competence in some areas is how ineffective they can be. And they are very good at that.
I prefered the Jesse Ventura / Alex Trebek Men In Black on The X-Files. :)
Apparently, knowing that construction is in progress near your 'black wire' after "decades spent cutting through red tape" isn't part of that competence. \smirk
Electronic transmissions are easy to tap; fiber optic is another matter. There is no field around it. Any lost light sets up a problem with the receivers immediately.
Gotta be FEMA!
Gotta be FEMA!
A device on my line went bad and needed replaced.
Took the phone company a few days to get permission to unweld the steel cover on the wire guide. A fire team of Infantry accompanied them while they did their work.
The DC area has an incredible number of secure lines.
Interesting.
Thanks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.