Reuters, the global news and information agency, told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut. The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week.
Reuters withdrew the doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph after several news blogs said it had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more smoke. Reuters has strict standards of accuracy that bar the manipulation of images in ways that mislead the viewer. "The photographer has denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image, saying that he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under," said Moira Whittle, the head of public relations for Reuters.
How do you get dust marks on digital images? What are the bad lighting conditions that effect Photoshop? A cheap monitor?
"This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him," Whittle said in a statement issued in London.
Hajj worked for Reuters as a non-staff freelance, or contributing photographer, from 1993 until 2003 and again since April 2005. He was among several photographers from the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs critical of the mainstream media's coverage of the Middle East conflict. Reuters and other news organisations reviewed those images and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"Reuters drops freelance Lebanese photographer over image." Hires his cousins in his place.
What are the bad lighting conditions that effect Photoshop?
Over at Protein Wisdom they suggested that the power went out and his laptop battery drained, so he had to do his Photoshopping by candlelight. I buy it.
I got a theory: The original image was shot by an Associated Press photographer. Hajj was supposed to get a shot of the carnage, but he was hung over or had to go to a beheading or something, and never made it. So he figures that since these pictures all look alike anyway, he'll just alter a colleague's picture a bit, hand it in as his own, and no one will be the wiser.
OR, he and his colleague had a bet:
AP guy: My editors are the most clueless bastards the world has ever seen.
Hajj: No way, dude. Mine are barely sentient.
AP guy: Oh yeah? If you locked my editors in an airtight room, the CO content would go down, if you get my drift.
Hajj: Er, no. But I propose a contest. We'll take turns filing ludicrous fakes. First one to get fired wins.
AP guy: You're on, dude. You first.
#8
Anyone think this is the only photo he 'shopped? Anyone? Bueller?
If Roooters had any integrity (hah) they'd do an audit of each and every photo he's sent them. Better yet, they'd put each one on the net at one website and invite bloggers and photo experts to take a look.
The key problem: Roooters, Aaay-Peee, Agencie Frog Pressé, etc, are all relying on stringers to bring them news annd photos from war zones. It's not safe to venture from the hotel bar, so the stringers do their jobs. Think Hajj had an agenda? Think he saw this as a golden opportunity?
The problem won't get better until 'war correspondents' go to war.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2006 10:19 Comments ||
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#9
Anyone think this is the only photo he 'shopped? Anyone? Bueller?
No. Take a gander here. Try not to choke on your coffee as you read it.
There was another one, a photo of flames behind a row of buildings, but I can't find it now. It looked as if the buildings in the foreground were photoshopped in to make a very arty shot.
#12
Now Reuters has withdrawn all of Hajj's pictures from its database, after that jet picture was exposed. I did a google image search on his name earlier this morning, and what came up were mostly soccer pictures.
#14
Garsh, you'd think that Reuters would want to protect its credibility by prosecuting Hajj for fraud (selling falsified documents) and making sure his journalistic credentials were revoked. Anyone wanna bet that Hajj shows up on al-Jazeera's staff?
Afghanistan's president swore in the chief justice and five other judges of the country's new Supreme Court during a ceremony at the presidential palace, a statement said on Sunday. President Hamid Karzai presided over the ceremony, days after the country's fledgling parliament approved his nominees amid calls for wide-ranging reforms to stamp out corruption and political interference in the judiciary.
The parliamentary approval came as a relief for US-backed Karzai, who has already had one nominee for the Supreme Court's top job rejected. US-educated Abdul Salam Hazami, once deputy head of the commission that drew up Afghanistan's new constitution, became chief justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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how long till some savage bastard of the Lions of Islam cut the throats of these judges i wonder under the brave banner of Islam.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:30 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) The powerful Islamists in Somalia has again condemned on Sunday the transitional federal government based in Baidoa town for not being responsible on Somali people after it sought solution from Somalis enemy (Ethiopia). The leader of consultative council of Islamic Courts Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is now in Somalia Galgadud central region, criticized the arrival of Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin in Baidoa as illegal and not justice for solving the current political crisis among the government.
He blamed the TFG of taking orders from Addis Ababa which he says has great influence in the movement of President Abdullahi Yusuf. The government in Baidoa belongs to Ethiopia and the arrival of the Ethiopian official in Somalia Baidoa town indicates that Addis Ababa government dedicates the transitional federal government to what ever they do, Sheikh Aweys said adding Ethiopia over looks the government to fulfill its interests in Somalia.
Sheikh Hassan Aweys has also warned the constant intervention by Ethiopian troops in Somalia sending again a strong massage to the world community to hold back Ethiopia from Somalia. He said if the world powers do not confirm the withdrawal of Ethiopian soldiers from our country things would change drastically and this will led more bloodshed in horn of Africa and create more crises inside Ethiopia.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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Vile George Galloway celebrated the Israeli farm deaths yesterday gloating they were getting a bloody good hiding. His sickening outburst came in an astonishing rant on Sky TV News.
The MP shouted throughout the live interview before blowing his top as images of the Hezbollah strike at Kfar Giladi were shown. Galloway was shown alongside the pictures in a split-screen. He beamed: They seem to be getting a bloody good hiding on the other half of the screen. Stunned presenter Anna Botting rebuked him. But Respect MP Galloway, 51, fired back: You do not give a damn. You believe Israeli blood is more valuable than the blood of the Lebanese.
Last night Labour MP Stephen Pound said: This man sinks to the depths then goes even further. It is insensitive. Galloway sparked outrage in May when he claimed an assassination of Tony Blair would be morally justified.
#1
Hey suprised Sky News didnt wheel out keith graves thier 'expert' (lol) on the mid east. Him and Galloway would get on extremely well i'm sure. Skys as bad as Al-Beeb these days folks, cancel it if you got it and if you havnt got it then do not get it unless you wanna be swamped with PC, terrorist pandering dick wads who even bother to interview c**ts like gallaway.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:38 Comments ||
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#2
More like a bit of fecal material that refuses to flush.
#4
A c**nt of the highest order. The very pinnacle of c**ntdom. C**nt extraordinaire.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/07/2006 8:38 Comments ||
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#5
"Insensitive"? Aw C'mon Mr. Pound. A learned British Gentleman should be able to come up wth a much more effective insult than that. Galloway needs a length of rope and a short drop.
Reuters withdrew all 920 photographs by a freelance Lebanese photographer from its database on Monday after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hizbollah.
How about staging - looked into that yet, guys?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/07/2006 14:22 ||
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They only pulled the photos because they didn't want to deal with them being exposed one after another. Easier to take them all down, examine them (as they should have done long ago) and rerelease the cleared ones quietly.
#3
It's not a leap to assume that Reuters hires the kind of people it feels comfortable with -- that's fine, every company does that. That logic, though, quickly leads to realizing that Reuters may have a similar mindset -- and while they don't necessarily use photoshop, they nevertheless view and report the news through their own biased lenses.
The sad thing is that they don't see it, won't admit it and of course, won't change.
Similar to the recent report proving BBC bias -- and the BBC minimizing (and probably discounting) it.
#6
rjschwarz, they won't touch any of the 920, anymore, not even with 9 ft pole. If they tried after they were pulled...there is simply too many watching eyes.
Of course, there are people (bloggers, etc.) That would go through Al-Rooter archives one pic by one pic and . This is just a beginning. AP would be next.
#4
Fox was showing the video this morning. Those ar outgoing. They also had the correct Lebanon to Israel trajectory, not the Israel to Lebanon as was reported by some bugwits.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 13:16 Comments ||
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Peace activist Cindy Sheehan is returning to Crawford, TX for her second summer in hopes of meeting with President Bush - and this time she's staying. Sheehan recently purchased five acres near the presidential ranch with insurance money she received after her oldest son, Casey, died fighting in Iraq in 2004.
Sheehan recently purchased five acres near the presidential ranch with insurance money she received after her oldest son, Casey, died fighting in Iraq...
Cindy also says she will march towards the President's ranch to the roadblocks manned by the Secret Service. She believes during the next few weeks, other protesters will join the other fifty already camped out in the soaring temperatures. "We needed to either rent a bigger property or buy something," explains Sheehan, "and we were having trouble finding something to rent. So, I decided to buy something. And when we don't need Camp Casey anymore, when the troops are home, and after we use it as a peace camp, I'm going to donate the property to the town of Crawford to use as a park."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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Here's hoping that Fred never runs out of hotties for the morning paper and resorts to THIS....
Cookie tossing in 5, 4, 3,...
#2
The really sad part of this -- for those of us who live in the area -- well, we get too much coverage of the minute to minute happenings than I really want to process through my brain.
But the other side? Look to the skies. Lots and lots of those jet contrails showing up. They just seem to suddenly begin to appear, and I smile, knowing W is in town... and we got some folks above, keeping eyes open. I smile and from inside my car, wave to them and send a silent "Thank you, glad you are in the neighborhood. You want a glass of ice tea?"
Make sure the tin foil is tight, this is a bumpy ride With Howie Kurtz and Tom Ricks:
KURTZ: Tom Ricks, "The New York Times" reported the other day, quote, "Israel is now fighting to win the battle of perceptions," which to me says the battle of headlines. And, in fact, an Israeli cabinet minister was quoted, not by name, as saying, "That the narrative at the end, is part of the problem." I'm starting to hear echoes of Iraq. That couldn't possibly be Olmert, could it?
RICKS: Echoes of Iraq, yes. But also the Israelis are very sophisticated in their handling of the media. They consider it part of the battlefield, officially. The word "narrative" always comes up with conversations with Israeli national security officials. They consider shaping the narrative, the battle for the narrative, to be key as part of any war fighting. So they see the media as part of the battlefield. And, in fact, there's some belief from our very objective reporters that they have occasionally targeted the media.
KURTZ: Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other?
THOMAS RICKS: I think it will be. But I think civilian casualties are also part of the battlefield play for both sides here. One of the things that is going on, according to some U.S. military analysts, is that Israel purposely has left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon. Sort of a longer term Coventry decision.
KURTZ: Hold on, you're suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of it's fire power, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here?
RICKS: Yes, that's what military analysts have told me.
KURTZ: That's an extraordinary testament to the notion that having people on your own side killed actually works to your benefit in that nobody wants to see your own citizens killed but it works to your benefit in terms of the battle of perceptions here.
RICKS: Exactly. It helps you with the moral high ground problem, because you know your operations in Lebanon are going to be killing civilians as well.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 9:41 Comments ||
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Surely Israel is not that good...not only have they completely infiltrated the entire top leadership of Hizb'Allah, but they secretly replaced all of Beirut's coffee with Folgers' Crystals®!
#1
Are they less vulnerable than the old passports? Perfection will never be achieved, but a stepchange improvement is worth doing. I think I'll get on with renewing our passports anyway.
#2
Good call TW. Other countries are starting to look hard, read delay, the old style passports if they are worn. The last thing anyone wants is to get delayed trying to leave a country.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 10:22 Comments ||
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The government of Iraq is secretly holding a Baathist cabal of military officers it claims attempted a coup against Prime Minister al-Maliki. The plotters were rounded up July 5 with the help of American military authorities after the Iraqi government's security warning center sent word to Mr. Maliki, who was in Kuwait on his first official visit as head of state, two highly placed Iraqi sources said. The prime minister quickly canceled a scheduled trip to Amman, Jordan, and returned to Baghdad to attend to the matter. At the time, Mr. Maliki's staff told reporters that the prime minister was cutting his trip short because of Iraq's "security situation."
In an interview last night, an adviser to Mr. Maliki and a member of parliament in Baghdad, Mithal al-Alusi, said a coup attempt indeed took place last month. He said the mutinous attempt to replace the elected government of Iraq was organized by military officers loyal to Saddam Hussein. "The Baathists were trying to have this coup, and people have been arrested and it has been stopped. There have been a lot of rumors as to who is behind this," Mr. Alusi said, referring to speculation that the plot may have involved a former interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, whose men worked with the CIA in 1995 to oust Saddam in a military coup.
#1
Ah, remember the critics who said we shouldn't have disbursed the old Iraqi army? Guess we needed even more old Baathis officer. Think they will shut up? Nah.
On Sunday evening, ambulances rolled in non-stop to three Haifa hospitals, after a fatal rocket barrage hit the city slightly before 8 p.m. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded after two rockets one in the lower city and one in Wadi Nisnas crashed into buildings.
Following the attack, city hospitals declared a mass casualty event and began receiving the injured. One woman arrived in critical condition, with Magen David Adom crews attempting to resuscitate her.
Dozens of residents, mainly Israeli Arabs, congregated at the entrances to the Rambam Medical Center seeking to check on their loved ones injured in the attack. Some of those present condemned Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Shadi Mzawin and his sister, who arrived at the hospital to visit their sister, said: "How can it be that with all its might Israel is incapable of eliminating Hizbullah and finish it once and for all? How can it be that with al this force he succeeds to do this for us?"
Shadi, whose grandmother and grandfather were also injured in the attack, said police officers positions at the entrance to the emergency room refused him entrance because he swore at them. "Half of my family and my neighborhood are here inside and they are not allowing me in although I am injured. I don't understand that. Do I have no rights? I am a citizen too and I pay taxes grandma and grandpa are here and they are not letting me see them," said Shadi who was lightly injured in the legs.
Shadi expressed anger at the government for the lack of shelters in the neighborhood. "I live in Wadi Nisnas and we have no shelters, we hardly have where to live, we have no where to go, we have nowhere to go, and our shelter is the toilet. There are no shelters at all. I hope Nasrallah gets a rocket between the legs for what he is doing to me here, for harming grandma and grandpa."
#5
From what I've been able to gather, while Arab Israelis may feel discriminated against, and certainly as a group they are poorer and less well educated, nonetheless they are terrified at the idea of being turned over to Palestinian control.
#6
Some of those present condemned Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Shadi Mzawin and his sister, who arrived at the hospital to visit their sister, said: "How can it be that with all its might Israel is incapable of eliminating Hizbullah and finish it once and for all? How can it be that with al this force he succeeds to do this for us?"
Mzawin should ask himself why is it that Arab culture has so obsessed itself in Semitic genocide instead of seeking peaceful coexistence like the remaining civilized world. Talk about a "blame the victim" mentality. I suppose that it works so well with Arabic women that they merely extend it to the Jews as well.
It is hardly Israel's fault that psycho thugs like Nasrallah are indiscriminate about where missile launches are pointed. In fact, indiscriminate hatred can be blamed for much of what is going on.
Sunday's deadly Katyusha attacks in Kfar Giladi and Haifa could change the way Israel relates to the US-French draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for a cessation of hostilities, senior diplomatic officials said Sunday evening. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to hold meetings deep into the night with the top security-brass to discuss the ramifications of Sunday's attacks, and whether to widen the scope of the present operations. "This may change everything," one senior official said.
The attacks may re-open discussions in the government and in the IDF on whether to launch a final push to the Litani River. Over the last few days, divisions have emerged between Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, with Peretz favoring a push to the Litani, and at one point late last week instructing the army to draw up plans, but Olmert arguing that it would not be necessary since the missiles could continue to be launched from further north of the river.
Olmert prevailed, and the issue was not even raised at a meeting of the Forum of Seven, Olmert's kitchen cabinet, that met Saturday night. However, government officials said, the recent events could change matters.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Personally, I do hope that the IDF will be permitted by Olmert to reach the Litani.
I dont understand the strange argument of Olmert, replying to Peretz that he opposes this move because the Hezbonuts would still be able to fire missiles from the other bank of the Litani.
As most of the rockets fired by the Hezboschmucks have a range of 17 km (correct me if I am wrong), reaching the Litani, which is mostly 20 km far from Israel northern border, would put an end to the firing of those rockets on Israel. There would still be the permanent danger of the syrian missiles that have been fired on Haifa, Afula and Hadera, but, then, the IAF would have less targets to search and destroy, and would be able to concentrate its fire on those remaining missile launchers.
So, I hope Peretz will prevail. I criticized him some days ago, but I was wrong: it seems that it's Olmert who is slowing down, not Peretz.
#2
They have fired some from Bekaa Valley locations well beyond Litani. Also, IDF generals, not this shithead schmuck Peretz are afraid of a large Israeli unit being trapped, cut off and killed if they penetrate too far. Supply lines are vulnerable. Elaborate traps and ambushes have already been executed and Israelis can't get wounded out in timely fashion. So, maybe they don't want a spearhead column penetrating so deeply just yet.
But then, I hope Olmert will give the IDF time to expand carefully but strongly till the Litani, even if this needs 2 or 3 weeks more.
Wouldn't it be a disaster to allow a part of Hezbonuts infrastructure to remain between Israel and the Litani ?
Anyway, what proof do we have that the UN will REALLY send a strong enough international force with the right to fight, and the will to dismantle Hezboschmuck, and to stop Syrian and Iranian weapons to enter Lebanon ?
Israel shall protect itself, and not rely on the UN.
#4
what proof do we have that the UN will REALLY send a strong enough international force with the right to fight, and the will to dismantle Hezboschmuck, and to stop Syrian and Iranian weapons to enter Lebanon?
I think it safe to take as an article of faith as basic as one's belief/non-belief in the existence of God that the UN will not send a strong enough force to do any of those things, and actually any force they do send will be counterproductive rather than helpful.
#5
I have complete faith that the UN will flounder and never really get any resolution out the door, let alone UN troops into Leb. Israel will have all the time it needs to get this job done, I for one hope they go slow and steady. Once complete, they will call the UN and ask for help with the humanitarian mission.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 8:35 Comments ||
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#6
If the United NAtions cannot take a stand clearly against PRIVATE religious militias, that is going to send a bad message.
Where are all the "international lawyers" on this subject?
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
08/07/2006 11:32 Comments ||
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Posted in Ops as this is as much an Op in the Soddy War on Civilization as any ordnance. And possibly more lethal.
The vast number of unemployed Moro residents in the country will have new opportunities at employment once giant food companies adapt the Muslims halal practices in food production.
"Or else."
Sheikh Salih D. Musa, an Islamic scholar from this city and concurrently the secretary-general of National Halal Fatwa Council, said he was hopeful that unemployment, a plague among Moro Muslim communities, would be reduced when the country gets its slice in supplying halal-certified products to the Middle Eastern countries. The council would be the certifying body for halal foods and Musa disclosed that one of the policies in certifying halal products was requiring companies that there must be Muslim workers in the supply and production divisions of food companies to monitor that no haram components would be mixed or added in the process. Halal means permissible or lawful, and its opposite is haram, which literally means unlawful or forbidden.
It's always either-or for this crowd, ain't it?
Musa has scored the continued discrimination against the Moro saying that it is a fact that employers are reluctant to accept Muslims to work in their companies out of distrust and prejudice. However, should they want their products to be certified Halal, they should hire Muslim workers. he stressed.
"Really, it would be for the best. Trust me on this."
#3
There are some problems here. The poverty and disease on the Moro islands is frightening. Every time I go there I wonder why more are not fighting. The Phil government is flat broken and corrupt. They could care less about the southern islands and send very little federal money there. Marcos also set a violent course here, purges-relocations-land grabs etc... What does get there is taken by the corrupt political officials and to some extent the military. About four years ago I outfitted a clinic with meds and other supplies and before I even left the site the military was there taking it all, for safe storage I was told. When I told the guy to get fucked and to put it back I was met with some not so friendly troops and the Phil LTC told me it was a dangerous island and I might not get out of here. Events like this, not uncommon either, gave the Soddies opportunity to come in and influence the people and turn them even further against the government. The good news in all this is the US military is there providing advise and after the first year of rooting out the asses, like the one I met, the Phil military is straight and honest as long as we are there. Once we leave, all bets are off. Bottom line with the Moros is the Soddies are going to win this one with humanitarian aid and infrastructure. With the aid comes influence, they have a jump on us with that one and the Moros.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 9:21 Comments ||
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#4
Pan, I totally understand what terrible conditions the Moros live in and under. It is truly shameful. But you know, I know, and the readers of Rantburg know that even if Moro becomes the (bad pun warning) Mecca of halal meat, the vast majority of Moro families will continue to live in squalor. Their wimminz will veil, their sons sent off to madari and weapons training with JI, the daughters sent to Soddiland as playthings. Another generation or so and we'll see some high-quality seething, even with the newfound "prosperity" that will be carefully granted to just the right tribesmen. Sigh.
#5
S, agreed. What needs to happen is for the PI to take an active roll in their country, never gonna happen. First step is to throw out the Senate and redesign the Senate to actually represent a geographic area and the people, they are voted "at large" right now meaning Manila. Then send in the military to protect the mines and pinapple fields. With development and employment the living conditions will improve. The muzzie influence only lights the fires of hate down there and needs to go away. But then the Phils always seem to snatch defeat out of the hands of victory.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 14:32 Comments ||
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The National Security Agency is running out of juice.
The demand for electricity to operate its expanding intelligence systems has left the high-tech eavesdropping agency on the verge of exceeding its power supply, the lifeblood of its sprawling 350-acre Fort Meade headquarters, according to current and former intelligence officials.
Agency officials anticipated the problem nearly a decade ago as they looked ahead at the technology needs of the agency, sources said, but it was never made a priority, and now the agency's ability to keep its operations going is threatened. The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment, including two new supercomputers, for fear of blowing out the electrical infrastructure, they said.
At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges at the Fort Meade headquarters, hampering the work of intelligence analysts and damaging equipment, they said. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency, paralyzing the intelligence operation, erasing crucial intelligence data and causing irreparable damage to computer systems -- all detrimental to the fight against terrorism.
Estimates on how long the agency has to stave off such an overload vary from just two months to less than two years. NSA officials "claim they will not be able to operate more than a month or two longer unless something is done," said a former senior NSA official familiar with the problem, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Agency leaders, meanwhile, are scrambling for stopgap measures to buy time while they develop a sustainable plan. Limitations of the electrical infrastructure in the main NSA complex and the substation serving the agency, along with growing demand in the region, prevent an immediate fix, according to current and former government officials.
"If there's a major power failure out there, any backup systems would be inadequate to power the whole facility," said Michael Jacobs, who headed the NSA's information assurance division until 2002.
"It's obviously worrisome, particularly on days like today," he said in an interview during last week's barrage of triple-digit temperatures.
William Nolte, a former NSA executive who spent decades with the agency, said power disruptions would severely hamper the agency.
"You've got an awfully big computer plant and a lot of precision equipment, and I don't think they would handle power surges and the like really well," he said. "Even re-calibrating equipment would be really time consuming -- with lost opportunities and lost up-time."
Power surges can also wipe out analysts' hard drives, said Matthew Aid, a former NSA analyst who is writing a multivolume history of the agency. The information on those hard drives is so valuable that many NSA employees remove them from their computers and lock them in a safe when they leave each day, he said.
A half-dozen current and former government officials knowledgeable about the energy problem discussed it with The Sun on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment on specifics about the NSA's power needs or what is being done to address them, saying that even private companies consider such information proprietary.
In a statement to The Sun, he said that "as new technologies become available, the demand for power increases and NSA must determine the best and most economical way to use our existing power and bring on additional capacity."
Biggest BGE customer
The NSA is Baltimore Gas & Electric's largest customer, using as much electricity as the city of Annapolis, according to James Bamford, an intelligence expert and author of two comprehensive books on the agency.
BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy acknowledged a power company project to deal with the rising energy demand at the NSA, but she referred questions about it to the NSA.
The agency got a taste of the potential for trouble Jan. 24, 2000, when an information overload, rather than a power shortage, caused the NSA's first-ever network crash. It took the agency 3 1/2 days to resume operations, but with a power outage it could take considerably longer to get the NSA humming again.
The 2000 shutdown rendered the agency's headquarters "brain-dead," as then-NSA Director Gen. Michael V. Hayden told CBS's 60 Minutes in 2002.
"I don't want to trivialize this. This was really bad," Hayden said. "We were dark. Our ability to process information was gone."
As an immediate fallback measure, the NSA sent its incoming data to its counterpart in Great Britain, which stepped up efforts to process the NSA's information along with its own, said Bamford.
The agency came under intense criticism from members of Congress after the crash, and the incident rapidly accelerated efforts to modernize the agency.
One former NSA official familiar with the electricity problem noted a sense of deja vu six years later.
"To think that this was not a priority probably tells you more about the extent to which NSA has actually transformed," the former official said. "In the end, if you don't have power, you can't do [anything]."
Already some equipment is not being sufficiently cooled, and agency leaders have forgone plugging in some new machinery, current and former government officials said. The power shortage will also delay the installation of two new, multimillion-dollar supercomputers, they said.
To begin to alleviate pressure on the electrical grid, the NSA is considering buying additional generators and shutting down so-called "legacy" computer systems that are decades old and not considered crucial to the agency's operations, said three current and former government officials familiar with the situation.
"It's a temporary fix," one former senior NSA official said.
On Wednesday, the same day that The Sun inquired about the power issue with the NSA's public affairs office, the agency sent word to Capitol Hill about its energy conservation efforts.
"They have told us they have been shutting down all non-essential uses of power to help out BG&E," said one congressional aide, adding that the NSA is also raising the temperature in its buildings two degrees to conserve.
The information was presented in the context that the NSA was making these changes "to be a good corporate citizen," the aide said.
Contractors on at least one high-priority, power-intensive NSA project that is located off the headquarters campus, have upgraded their electrical infrastructure to ensure power for their project, according to two former agency officials. That lone upgrade, a fraction of the agency's total demand, took four months.
Longer-term solutions being considered would move some operations to off-campus facilities with more electrical capacity, current and former officials said.
Adding more capacity to the substation feeding NSA is an obvious answer, but constraints on that particular facility make an expansion difficult, they said. BGE's Foy declined to discuss specifics about the substation. She said it takes 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years to design, procure equipment, obtain permits, and build a new one.
Post-9/11 needs
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the NSA has ramped up its operations, and the electricity needed to sustain major projects -- such as the warrantless surveillance program and technology modernization programs -- has increased sharply.
The computer systems supporting these programs demand far more wattage per square foot than their predecessors and still more energy to cool them.
Area development like the Arundel Mills Mall has contributed to the problem by putting additional strain on the local electrical grid, according to two sources familiar with the issue. Joe Bunch, BGE's director of strategic customer engineering, said, however, that the mall's demand "was fairly easily accommodated."
Demand in the Baltimore-Washington region has been growing, and the regional operator for Maryland and 12 other states has been studying the installation of up to $10 billion in new power lines to deliver more and cheaper electricity to this region.
"We've seen a lot of growth in Anne Arundel County as a whole but particularly in the north and northwest area of the county," said Bunch, who agreed to talk about trends in the area but not the NSA's specific demand. Much of that growth is because of the surge of high-tech jobs in the area from the NSA and government contractors, he said.
He said BGE is working to meet the demand by building new substations in the area. One was built about a year ago, and another is scheduled to be built in two to three years, he said.
"We have adequate capacity" now, he said, but upgrades like the new substation are being planned to stave off future strains on the electrical grid.
The NSA's problem was identified in the late 1990s and could have been fixed by now -- and for much less money -- had keeping the lights on been a priority, current and former officials said.
"It fits into a long, long pattern of crisis-of-the-day management as opposed to investing in the future," said one former government official familiar with the NSA's electricity shortfall.
Electrical infrastructure maintenance and upgrades have been a casualty of the fight against terrorism, according to unclassified budget documents.
Upgrades delayed
Even as the NSA's budget has ballooned after 9/11, the agency has put off basic utility upgrades such as a $4 million computer system to manage the allocation of power at the NSA -- a sliver of the NSA's estimated $8 billion budget.
"Due to budget constraint [sic] and other development [sic] in the fight against terrorism," a 2007 budget document reads, the system was never fully implemented.
Without this system, the document stated, the NSA "may experience difficulties in meeting its power requirement to support critical war fighting missions."
Neglect of infrastructure at the NSA has been a chronic problem, often fraught with bureaucratic politics, former agency officials said.
Fort Meade is not the only NSA outpost facing limitations on its ability to upgrade electrical infrastructure. Listening posts around the world, such as Menwith Hill in Britain and Bad Aibling in Germany, are ailing.
The NSA's largest listening station, Menwith Hill, has an "aging infrastructure that cannot support the people or equipment" there, according to a budget document for 2007.
It is faced with "concrete foundations that are crumbling," an "electrical infrastructure that is not in compliance with current codes," and a weakened infrastructure that poses a safety hazard, the document said.
Identical language appeared in the previous year's budget documents.
With agency operations facing an imminent threat, facilities issues are front and center. "It's a big deal," said one former senior NSA official. "They're all talking about it, anyway. That's progress."
#1
Lets wait till it's a crisis and get congress to fund it rather than do it right.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 13:36 Comments ||
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#2
Well - they are mothballing NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain so -- they have lots of un-interuptable power... move some of the operation there until Fort Meade is fixed.
No question of it being secure!
#5
They can set up a remote site if they want to and run jobs from there. And now that Intel has the new big-boy on the block that takes a lot less power to do a lot more work than anything else out there. Out with the old, in with the new! Don't forget to wipe the hard drives before you auction them off, though!
#12
Its not just the harddrives. In a server there are lots of parts that have NVRAM that *can* have info written to it if someone really knows what they are doing. Some of these parts can cost upwards of 20K and the big boys refuse to return them when broken unless the server venders can guarantee the NVRAM is wiped absolutely clean.
Its kind of eye-opening to see the level of secrecy and realize that its probably not simple paranoia. Makes those movies where they use usb thumb drives to get data out of the CIA look niave.
#13
Easily solved. Cut all power to Senate and House. Divert to Ft. Meade. Not only will we never miss them, we'll only wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
#15
You dont wipe secret hard drives.
You crush them and burn them.
As one computer expert said, "The only way to prevent someone from recovering any data off of your hard drive is to remove the the disk and hammer it repeatedly."
Sounds like the NSA needs to import a submarine or carrier reactor to meet its ampacity shortfall.
#16
The trend in CPUs, even the new intel big boys, is more power consumption not less. The reason the new intels appear less consumptive is because of multi-cpu comparisons to n-core comparison - not an apple to apple comparison.
But my friends, it is not just the ICs that are burning the juice, it is the cooling for all of these massive heat generators (CPUs, Memory, BIOSes, disks, etc) running ... that is where the real drain is, cooling these massive computing centers.
#17
As an interesting sidenote: When installing a Cray II, you first brought in three phase 480VAC and then connected that to another independent electrical generator which was able to provide much more stable power delivery than the utilities could supply. Very finnicky power regulation requirements were needed to ensure peak performance.
#19
I know that with phone equipment, the grid power is rectified and floated on a battery bank. Then that bank is inverted and fed to the phone equipment. That way, power is always stable.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/07/2006 22:05 Comments ||
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#20
We use active online-ups(es) backed up by generators. None of the switching ups can hang in our environment. Essentialy, all power is fed through the ups(es) which condition it and clean it up.
We have AC aluminum welders and what not, very harsh environment for systems. Have to do all we can for clean and reliable power.
Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Sunday that his country would not freeze uranium enrichment, and would instead intensify its nuclear program. Larijani rejected the UN resolution passed last week that calls on Iran to suspend enrichment activity by August 31 or face sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
No surprise here - iff this were a narrow-scope Jessica Simpson movie, means they wanna go from being the blue-collar "Dukes of Hazard", i.e. "white trash" or less of Global Monotheism, to being Boss Hogg/Big Boss in town.
#4
So is this the response to the formal proposal?
I thought they were going to reveal something on August 22, and they have previoulsy said they'd need until August 31st to 'study' the proposal.
Good cop, bad cop?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/07/2006 6:28 Comments ||
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#5
And the West will stand by Gawping and muttering bad things about the iranians until we get nuked, just great, fckin great eh. :(
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:29 Comments ||
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#6
They aren't going to nuke Great Britain, Shep. We'll be a muslim nation in 5 years...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/07/2006 11:15 Comments ||
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#7
Whats with the holdup on Iran? In our face with the nukes. Chatting with NKor. Supplying Hez and Syria. F-ing around with us in Iraq. Harboring and sponsiring terrorists. Threatening to withhold oil. How many reasons do we need? Unfortunately, I fear we will need in excess of 3,000.
#8
I, too, fear you are right, Intrinsicpilot. The need for Iran's leadership to be decapitated or dismantled is so glaring that a person must be brain-dead to ignore it. That we are forced to sit around waiting for yet one more devastating atrocity is simply criminal. Why the current administration is not playing up Iran's incessant exacerbation of Middle East tensions utterly confounds me. Ahmadinejad has done all but beg for us to bomb the crap out of them. We really need to take this psycho nutjob at his word and begin demolishing Iran's military and (if needed) economic infrastructure.
The United States and France ran into strong opposition from Lebanon and the Arab world Sunday in their drive for speedy adoption of a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the escalating Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, primarily over the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Washington and Paris had hoped to put the draft in final form for a Security Council vote Monday. But they delayed action after Lebanon and Qatar, the council's only Arab member, proposed many amendments to the U.S.-French draft resolution first and foremost demanding Israel pull its forces out of Lebanon once hostilities end.
The council was scheduled to meet Monday morning when the U.S. and France are likely to present a revised text, taking into account some of the Arab concerns, with a view to a possible Security Council vote on Tuesday, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations have been closed. "The most important thing for us is to obtain the agreement of the Lebanese government (and) the Arab world," France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on France-Info radio.
Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahoud proposed an amendment to the U.S.-French draft that would have Israel would immediately hand over the ground it held when fighting ended to U.N. peacekeepers. Within 72 hours, the peacekeepers would assist the Lebanese armed forces to deploy throughout southern Lebanon to the U.N.-drawn boundary with Israel known as the Blue Line.
Mahoud also urged the council to amend the text to call for Israel to immediately hand over the Chebaa Farms area, which it seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, "to U.N. custody" until the border is marked. Lebanon claims the area but the United Nations determined that it is Syrian, and that Syria and Israel should negotiate its fate. Hezbollah uses the Chebaa Farms to claim that Israeli forces still occupy Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The United States and France ran into strong opposition from Lebanon and the Arab world Sunday in their drive for speedy adoption of a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the escalating Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, primarily over the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
#5
Amen to that. I'm getting awfully sick of the coverage of "civilians" killed in Lebanon. I notice in many of the reports, they show apartment buildings with the sides blown off. Many of the apartments are relatively undisturbed, except for the missing wall. You can see the TV, the furniture, the decor, and one other little detail: A large portrait of Nasrallah hanging on the wall. These people are the enemy, plain and simple. Israel's naive notion that they would somehow blame the Hezzies and support the strikes is nonsense. They ARE Hezbollah. Maybe not the 'military' wing, but Hezbollah nonetheless.
#9
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Monday that one person was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla, not 40 as he had earlier reported.
The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed, Reuters quoted Siniora as saying. They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people ... thank God they have been saved.
Siniora had earlier told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut that the attack was a horrific massacre ... in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing.
Oh yeah, but some ppl only shed tears but has no shame about blathering BS. A "Shame Culture"(indeed!)that breeds liars.
#10
The Arabs are habituated to their allies in the UN forcing a losing cease fire on Israel, and that is what they are negotiating for again this time. Only things have changed, and I do not believe this time they will get what they consider the inevitable. It will be a salutory learning experience for all parties.
#11
Yep, #10, they have gotten very damn used to bullying for concessions via the "imternational community" ; nice to see them finding out that everyday's not a Sunday.
Syria's foreign minister yesterday offered to join militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel and said a regional war would be "most welcome" as more than 30 people in Israel and Lebanon were killed on one of the worst days since the conflict began. But as the attempts at diplomacy continued, Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, defiantly trumpeted his country's support for Hezbollah and warned that Syria was ready for "the possibility of a regional war if the Israeli aggression continues. If you wish, I'm ready to be a soldier at the disposal of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah [the Hezbollah leader]," he said.
"Hassan, we will defend you with our blood!"
"If Israel attacks Syria by any means, on the ground, in the air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately"
Walid Muallem, Syrian foreign minister
He was speaking after crossing into neighbouring Lebanon in the first visit by a senior Syrian official since Damascus - under international and Lebanese pressure - ended a 29-year military presence there last year. Asked if he feared the conflict in Lebanon could spill over into a regional war, Mr Muallem said: "Most welcome. If Israel attacks Syria by any means, on the ground, in the air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately," he added. Mr Muallem also lashed out at the draft UN resolution, describing it as a prescription "for the continuation of the war". He said: "It's not fair for Lebanon, therefore it's a plan for the possibility of the eruption of civil war in Lebanon and nobody, nobody, nobody has anything to gain from that happening, except Israel."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had the following statement for the press: " ..... ."
#4
ISRAEL AMBASSADOR ON FOX > neither Syria or Iran see any borders between their nations and Lebanon = Israel: IOW, Lebanon doesn't exist as sovereign or independent as far as Damascus andor Tehran is concerned. Where IRAN PER SE is concerned, this view potentially also applies to Syria per se, as well as Jordan per se, pragmatically once Israel surreally goes down for the count. By the ambassador's scope Israel is already fighting against Syria and Iran.
#6
The elephant in the room remains seated until November and not a moment later.
Time is running out on Syria and Iran. The twelfth Imam will hatch soon and all hell will break loose. Stay tuned.
#10
I think this says Assad is not in control, fearing for his life. He may want to negotiate for protection...get the list for Mossad and we'll arrange a nice vacation spot on the Mediterranean.
#14
"If Israel attacks Syria by any means, on the ground, in the air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately..."
Really? Kidnap a couple Syrian soldiers and see if Syria is willing to play by the same rules they demand of Israel--complete military restraint. (Course you'd have to find the Syrian soldiers when they're not in women's clothing.)
#16
Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem said: "If you wish, I'm ready to be a soldier at the disposal of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah"
Bill Clinton once said: "The Israelis know that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan River, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die."
(He didn't mention Syrians, so he would luck out here.)
Do you suppose Walid Muallem is more or less sincere than former President Clinton?
Lebanon officially asked Sunday for changes to a draft UN resolution agreed to by the United States and France that calls for a "full cessation of hostilities" in the Middle East conflict. In Israel, the normally talkative cabinet was tight-lipped, though reportedly pleased with the plan. The draft measure, presented to the UN Security Council on Saturday and reviewed by an expert-level meeting of the council Sunday, calls for an immediate cessation of attacks by Hezbollah and of offensive military operations by Israel. It asks the current United Nations peacekeeping force to monitor the border area and lays out a plan for a permanent cease-fire and political settlement. But it does not call for a prisoner exchange or require Israel to withdraw immediately from Lebanon, which raised dissent among council members.
The Israeli cabinet, meanwhile, held a daylong session in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly told ministers not to discuss the matter publicly until it was completed. However, the Israeli media, citing unidentified government officials, said the government was generally pleased with the plan. Israel's justice minister, Haim Ramon, said that Israel would press ahead with its attacks and that its forces would stay in southern Lebanon until an international force arrived. "We must continue the fighting, continue to hit whoever we can hit from Hezbollah," he told army radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Reuters, the global news and information agency, told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut. The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week.
Afghanistan's president swore in the chief justice and five other judges of the country's new Supreme Court during a ceremony at the presidential palace, a statement said on Sunday. President Hamid Karzai presided over the ceremony, days after the country's fledgling parliament approved his nominees amid calls for wide-ranging reforms to stamp out corruption and political interference in the judiciary. 
(SomaliNet) The powerful Islamists in Somalia has again condemned on Sunday the transitional federal government based in Baidoa town for not being responsible on Somali people after it sought solution from Somalis enemy (Ethiopia). The leader of consultative council of Islamic Courts 
Vile George Galloway celebrated the Israeli farm deaths yesterday gloating they were getting a bloody good hiding. His sickening outburst came in an astonishing rant on Sky TV News.
Peace activist 
The government of Iraq is secretly holding a Baathist cabal of military officers it claims attempted a coup against Prime Minister al-Maliki. The plotters were rounded up July 5 with the help of American military authorities after the Iraqi government's security warning center sent word to Mr. Maliki, who was in Kuwait on his first official visit as head of state, two highly placed Iraqi sources said. The prime minister quickly canceled a scheduled trip to Amman, Jordan, and returned to Baghdad to attend to the matter. At the time, Mr. Maliki's staff told reporters that the prime minister was cutting his trip short because of Iraq's "security situation."
On Sunday evening, ambulances rolled in non-stop to three Haifa hospitals, after a fatal rocket barrage hit the city slightly before 8 p.m. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded after two rockets one in the lower city and one in Wadi Nisnas crashed into buildings.
Sunday's deadly Katyusha attacks in Kfar Giladi and Haifa could change the way Israel relates to the US-French draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for a cessation of hostilities, senior diplomatic officials said Sunday evening. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to hold meetings deep into the night with the top security-brass to discuss the ramifications of Sunday's attacks, and whether to widen the scope of the present operations. "This may change everything," one senior official said. 
Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Sunday that his country would not freeze uranium enrichment, and would instead intensify its nuclear program. Larijani rejected the UN resolution passed last week that calls on Iran to suspend enrichment activity by August 31 or face sanctions.
