quote:

---

The super-secretive National Security Agency is about to build a huge, $1.9 billion data center at Camp Williams, Utah, to help spy on communications worldwide.

The planned work there is so sensitive and classified that Utah's congressional delegation is declining to talk about it, saying it doesn't want to accidentally step over any lines about what can and cannot be disclosed.

But some interesting details are revealed in unclassified budget-request documents that the NSA sent to Congress.

... the center's mission will be to deliver "responsive, reliable, effective and expert signals-intelligence and information-assurance products and services" to enable "network-warfare operations to gain a decisive information advantage for the nation and our allies under all circumstances."

In other words, it will help with spying on communications.

---

When completed, the facility will require at least 65 megawatts of power and cost $1.93bn, according to news reports. The 120-acre data center will be located in Utah's Camp Williams, which borders Salt Lake and Tooele counties. Two major power corridors already run through the spot, a major reason the NSA chose it.

The articles came around the same time The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use NSA assistance is screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks. The plan is controversial because of the NSA's involvement in warrantless wiretapping of US citizens.