Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency (124 page)

Carter (July 17, 1980). 578
"It's double that today": interview with an NSA official.

580  SSA's cryptanalytic: Army
Security Agency, Top Secret/Ultra report, "The Achievement of the Signal
Security Agency in World War II" (February 20, 1945), p. 16.

581  "The author
believes": NSA, I. T. Pendergrass, "Cryptanalytic Use of High-Speed
Digital Computing Machines" (1946), pp. 1—2.

581   "We had the biggest
collection": NSA, Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr. Howard
Campaigne (June 29, 1983), pp. 75, 89.

582  "A copy of this report
hit my desk": Sam Snyder, "Sam and Ray and Abner,"
The
Phoenician
(a publication of the Phoenix Society, the association of NSA
retirees) (Winter 1995-1996), pp. 13-14.

582 "We chose the name":
ibid.

582  "From then on":
NSA, Tom Johnson, "The Plan to Save NSA" (undated NSA brochure issued
upon the death of Dr. Louis Tordella), pp. 7—8.

583  PACE 10: NSA, "The
Decent Book" (January 1996), p. 25.

583 "Dammit, I want you
fellows": NSA, "Influence of U.S. Cryptologic Organizations on the
Digital Computer Industry" (May 1977), pp. 1—28.

583 "After the ideas of
Harvest": NSA, Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr. Howard
Campaigne (June 29, 1983), p. 62.

583  "We were always
surprised": ibid., pp. 73—74, 76.

584  "In the late
sixties": ibid., pp. 74, 88, 95.

584 to less than 4 percent: NSA,
Top Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Lieutenant General Kenneth A.
Minihan (March 8, 1999), p. 3.

584  "What the
research-and-development people": NSA, Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral
History of Dr. Howard Campaigne (June 29, 1983), pp. 83-84.

585  "There is no such
thing": ibid., p. 104.

585 "All those committee
chairs were very friendly in those days": NSA, Arthur Levenson quoted in
"Louis Tordella: As Colleagues Remember Him,"
Cryp-tolog
(Spring
1996), p. 13.

585 "We didn't have any in
those days": Cecil Corry quoted in ibid.

585  "We had in the
past": NSA, Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr. Howard
Campaigne (June 29, 1983), p. 73.

586  "As the computers
became": NSA, Top Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr. Solomon
Kullback (August 26, 1982), p. 136.

586 "The idea ... was to
have": NSA, Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr. Howard
Campaigne (June 29, 1983), p. 62. 586 "He didn't interfere with us":
ibid., p. 85.

586  "IBM regarded it
as": ibid., p. 62.

587  "It was clear to
us": ibid., p. 64.

587  "You save enough":
NSA, Top Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr. Solomon Kullback
(August 26 1982), p. 129.

588  not only: Details of Harvest
are from NSA, "HARVEST: NSA's Ultra High-Speed Computer,"
Cryptologic
Milestones
(November 1968), pp. 1—4.

588 "there was little
purpose": White House, Top Secret/Eyes Only memorandum, "Discussion
at the 378th Meeting of the National Security Council, August 27, 1958"
(August 28, 1958), p. 2. (DDEL, Ann Whitman Files, NSC, Box 10). See also CIA,
Top Secret/Eider memorandum, Huntington D. Sheldon to Andrew J. Goodpaster
(January 19, 1959) (DDEL, Office of Staff Secretary, Intelligence, Box 15).

588  CRITICOMM: NSA, "The
SIGINT Communications System,"
Cryptologic Milestones
(September
1965), pp. 1—4; Tom Johnson, "The Plan to Save NSA."

589  Rye: NSA, "Remote-Access
Computer Systems,"
Cryptologic Milestones
(August 1965), pp. 1-4.

589 "It's beautiful, but it
doesn't work": NSA, Top Secret/Comint Channels Only, Oral History of Dr.
Solomon Kullback (August 26, 1982) (comment by Robert D. Farley, pp. 133-34).

589  "The Soviet Union could
achieve": White House, Top Secret/Noforn, "Report of the Computer
Panel of the President's Science Advisory Committee" (September 11, 1959),
p. 3.

590  "expensive love
seat": interview with an NSA official.

590  "is to 
supercomputers":  Phillip Elmer-DeWitt,  "Fast  and  Smart,"  
Time,
March 28, 1988, pp. 54-57.

591   "I work when I'm at
home": ibid., p. 57.

591  Engineering Research
Associates: See Erwin Tomash and Arnold A. Cohen, "The Birth of an ERA:
Engineering Research Associates, Inc., 1946—1955,"
Annals of the
History of Computing,
vol. 1, no. 2 (October 1979), pp. 83—96.

592  Butterfly processor ... about
1 million: "New Computer,"
Aviation Week
(April 15, 1985), p.
13.

592  Details on the CRAY-2:.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt, "A Sleek, Superpowered Machine,"
Time,
June
17, 1985, p. 53.

593  "we   should   be   at  
100   billion   gigaflops":   IBM   vice   president   Irving
Wladawsky-Berger quoted in Eimer-Dewitt, "Fast and Smart," p. 58.

593  Ncube: "Faster Than a
Speeding Chip,"
Newsweek,
March 28, 1988, p. 63.

594  ETA 10: "Filter
Center,"
Aviation Week
(July 13, 1987), p. 147; "Fast Computer
in a Small Package,"
Insight
(July 18, 1988), p. 54.

594 all of humanity: William B.
Scott, "Los Alamos Carries Research Beyond All Physical Boundaries,"
Aviation
Week
(July 25, 1988), p. 36.

594 minutes of a Department of
Defense study group: Keith Bradsher, "Industries Seek Protection as Vital
to U.S. Security,"
New York Times,
January 19, 1993.

595 "U.S. firms would be most
fortunate": David E. Sanger, "A High Tech Lead in

Danger,"
New York Times,
December
18, 1988. 595 National Semiconductor: "Electronic Intelligence,"
Aviation
Week
(April 19,

1989), p. 86. 595 20,000 square
feet: NSA, "Microelectronics Completes the Circuit,"
NSAN

(November 1989), p. 8.

595  "If a hostile
agent": William D. Marbach, "Developments to Watch,"
Business
Week
(April 3, 1989), p. 110.

596  CRAY 3: John Markoff, "A
Computer Star's New Advance,"
New York Times,
February 17, 1994.

597  ETA Systems: Charles J.
Murray,
The Supermen
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997), p. 196.

597 the outer frame for the SS-1:
ibid., p. 211. 597 Details on Frostberg: NSA, NSA Museum.

597 the agency awarded: William M.
Bulkeley, "Technology: Cray Computer Gets U.S. Pact,"
Wall Street
Journal,
August 18, 1994.

597  "the world's
ultimate": John Markoff, "A Spy Agency Gives Contract to Cray
Computer,"
New York Times,
August 18, 1994.

598  Splash 2: NSA, "A New
Direction in High Performance Computing,"
NSA Technical Fact Sheet
(1993).

598  "start from a clean
sheet of paper": Murray,
The Supermen,
p. 219.

599  meterological centers in
Australia, Canada, England: John Markoff, "Cray Said to Have Lost Sale
Because Offer Was Inferior,"
New York Times,
August 28, 1997.

599 "Simply put, Cray
Research lost": ibid.

After the contract was awarded to
NEC, Cray Research accused the Japanese company of "dumping" its
computer in the United States. Political pressure was also exercised in favor
of Cray, and in 1997 the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled unanimously
against NEC, saying, in essence, that the Japanese were selling four machines
for the price of one.

599 "The rules changed when
it became clear": Alexander Wolfe and Loring Wirbel, "Quirky Cray
Hailed for Vision, Tenacity,"
Electronic Engineering Times
(October
14, 1996), p. 1.

599  "In the days
before": ibid.

600  "There are no other
major players left standing": Steve Alexander, "SGI Will Buy Cray
Research: Supercomputer Firm Has Price Tag of $736 Million,"
Minneapolis
Star Tribune,
February 27, 1996.

600 "We don't have a lot of
innovative architects": John Markoff, "A Maverick Builds

a New Supercomputer in a PC
World,"
New York Times,
February 9, 1998. 600 "Burton's
folly": ibid. 600 "Most people": ibid.

600  "Burton Smith is the
last": ibid.

601  "The question was":
Jaikumar Vrjayan, "SGI Results Worse Than Expected; McCracken Out, Layoffs
Planned,"
Computerworld
(November 3, 1997), p. 3.

601 Its stock had plunged:
"Silicon Graphics Will Spin Off Cray, Cut Up to 3,000 Jobs in
Restructuring,"
Minneapolis Star Tribune,
August 11, 1999.

601   "The United States is
committed": "U.S. Government to Support SGI Vector
Supercomputer,"
Mainframe Computing
(November 1, 1999).

602  Tera Computer acquired Cray
Research from SGI: "Tera Computer Company to Acquire Supercomputer Pioneer
Cray from SGI,"
Business Wire
(March 2,2000).

602 One report said: Steve
Alexander, "Struggling Firm Buys Struggling Cray Research,"
Minneapolis
Star Tribune,
March 3, 2000.

602 upgrade a CRAY T3E-1200
supercomputer: "Cray Inc. Lands $18.5 Million U.S. Army Contract for One
of World's Most Powerful Supercomputers,"
Business Wire
(May 10,
2000).

602  Tordella Supercomputer
Facility:  NSA, Dedication brochure  (October 29, 1996), p. 4; NSA, Tom Johnson
and Jerome Taylor, "Tordella Supercomputer Facility Transition
Begins,"
NSAN
(January 1997), p. 4.

603  RS/6000 SP: Daniel Verton,
"IBM Upgrades SP Server,"
Federal Computer-Week
(February 8,
1999).

603 Automated Cartridge System:
NSA, "The Docent Book," p. 26.

603  robotic arm: ibid.

604  5 trillion pages of text:
John Mintz, "The Secret's Out: Covert E-Systems Inc. Covets Commercial
Sales,"
Washington Post,
October 24, 1994.

604 Supercomputer Research Center:
NSA, "Questions and Answers with Regard

to the Supercomputer Research
Center," pp. 1—5. 604 According to Lieutenant General Lincoln D. Faurer:
Rudolph A. Pyatt, Jr.,

"R&D Center Set for
P.G.,"
Washington Post,
November 28, 1984. 604 10,000 times faster:
ibid. 604 $12 million on a twenty-acre site: "Cray Inc. Lands $18.5
Million U.S. Army

Contract."

604  part of the Institute: For
further details, see James Bamford,
The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America's
Most Secret Agency
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982), pp. 342-43.

605  "That one piece of
equipment": NSA, "NSA Research Institute,"
Cryptologic
Milestones
(March 1965), p. 2.

605 IDA-C3I: General Accounting
Office, "Federally Funded R&D Centers: Information on the Size and Scope
of DOD-Sponsored Centers" (April 1996), p. 24,

605  Laboratory for Physical
Sciences: NSA, Lois G. Brown, "The Laboratory for Physical Sciences,"
NSAN
(November 1996), p. 6.

606  "We don't know":
Jayson T. Blair, "Spy Agency Toils Quietly on Campus,"
Washington
Post,
July 10, 1997.

606 magnetic microscopy: NSA,
"Applications of Magnetic Microscopy to Magnetic Recording,"
NSA
Technical Fact Sheet
(1999).

606 synthetic diamonds: NSA,
"NSA Pioneers New Diamond-Based Technology,"
NSAN (November
1999),
p. 4.

606 Project Oceanarium: Fredrick
Thomas Martin,
Top Secret Intranet
(Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice
Hall, 1999), p. 275.

606  microscopic magnets: John
Markoff, "Tiny Magnets May Bring Computing Breakthrough,"
New York
Times,
January 27, 1997.

607  "A spy could
remove": Charles C. Mann, "The Mole in the Machine,"
New York
Times Magazine
(July 25, 1999).

607  drive-controlled disk
sanitization device: NSA, "Drive Controlled Disk Saniti-zation,"
NSA
Technology Fact Sheet
(1999).

608  femtoseconds: a femtosecond
is one millionth of a nanosecond.

608 Blue Gene: Justin Gillis,
"IBM to Put Genetics on Fast Track,"
Washington Post,
June 5,
2000; Steve Lohr, "IBM Plans Supercomputer That Works at Speed of
Life,"
New York Times,
December 6, 1999.

608 "It will suck down":
Gillis, "IBM to Put Genetics on Fast Track."

608  "It is the greatest play
box": Richard Lardner, "The Secret's Out,"
Government
Executive
(August 1998), p. 24.

609  seventy of them would fit:
The SPL reduced the feature size (the smallest dimension of any feature of an
ASIC, typically the transistor gate length) of an ASIC to 0.5 micron.

609 size of a small suitcase: NSA,
"NSA Pioneers New Diamond-Based Technology." 609 fit into a cube six
inches on a side: ibid.

609  about $4 million a year: Tom
Siegfried, "Computers Poised for a Quantum Leap,"
Dallas Morning
News,
March 16, 1998.