NSA wants $896.5 million to construct new supercomputing complex

The government might be cutting corners left and right, but that hasn’t stopped the NSA from requesting nearly $900 million to assist enhance its supercomputing capabilities. Based on budget documents released by the Department of Defense yesterday, the NSA is asking to build an immense new High Performance Computing Center in Maryland, designed to harness various supercomputing muscle within an energy efficient framework. As with many other data centers, the NSA’s $896.5 million complex would feature raised floors, chilled water systems and advanced alarm mechanisms, however would also need about 60 megawatts of power — the same quantity that powers Microsoft’s gargantuan, 700,000 square-foot data center in Chicago. In keeping with the DoD, however, the NSA would use that juice judiciously, within the hopes of conserving enough water, energy and building materials to procure LEED Silver certification. Another chunk of the funding, not surprisingly, would go toward fortifying the ability. The NSA is hoping to pour greater than $35 million into building security and perimeter control, which might include a cargo inspection facility, advanced surveillance, and systems designed to detect any radiological, nuclear, or chemical threats. If all goes to plot, construction would wrap up by December 2015.