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Utah Data Center Background

The Utah Data Center, code-named Bumblehive, is the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (IC CNCI) data center designed to support the Intelligence Community's efforts to monitor, strengthen and protect the nation. Our Utah "mission data repository" is designed to cope with the vast increases in digital data that have accompanied the rise of the global network.

NSA is the executive agent for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and is the lead agency at the center.

The 1.5 billion-dollar one million square-foot Bluffdale / Camp Williams LEED Silver facility houses a 100,000 sq-ft mission critical Tier III data center. The remaining 900,000 SF is used for technical support and administrative space. Our massive twenty building complex also includes water treatment facilities, chiller plants, electric substation, fire pump house, warehouse, vehicle inspection facility, visitor control center, and sixty diesel-fueled emergency standby generators and fuel facility for a 3-day 100% power backup capability.

As proof of our genuine concern for privacy protection, we recently gave permission for several privacy groups to fly their little blimp over our massive data center. We would like to thank these airborne privacy pioneers for the stunning photo below of our impressive facility. By allowing harmless publicity stunts like these, we can have our data and store it too.

In recent months, numerous Top Secret documents have been leaked to the media relating to surveillance activities carried out by our Intelligence Community. In an effort to increase transparency, a new website called "IC OFF THE RECORD" was created to provide the American People immediate, ongoing and direct access to these unauthorized leaks.

Visit the IC OFF THE RECORD website

In February 2012, Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert revealed that the Utah Data Center would be the "first facility in the world expected to gather and house a yottabyte". Since then, conflicting media reports have also estimated our storage capacity in terms of zettabytes and exabytes. While the actual capacity is classified for NATIONAL SECURITY REASONS, we can say this: The Utah Data Center was built with future expansion in mind and the ultimate capacity will definitely be "alottabytes"!

The steady rise in available computer power and the development of novel computer platforms will enable us to easily turn the huge volume of incoming data into an asset to be exploited, for the good of the nation.

Learn more about the domestic surveillance data we process and store in the Utah Data Center. Also, view our strategy for using the PRISM data collection program, nationwide intercept stations, and the "Boundless Informant" mapping tool to gather and track this data.

The Utah Data Center is powered by the massively parallel Cray XC30 supercomputer which is capable of scaling high performance computing (HPC) workloads of more than 100 petaflops or 100,000 trillion calculations each second.

Code-named "Cascade", this behemoth was developed in conjunction with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to meet the demanding needs of the Intelligence Community.

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm is used worldwide to encrypt electronic data on hard drives, email systems, and web browsers. Computer experts have estimated it would take longer than the age of the universe to break the code using a trial-and-error brute force attack with today's computing technology.

In 2004, the NSA launched a plan to use the Multiprogram Research Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to build a classified supercomputer designed specifically for cryptanalysis targeting the AES algorithm. Our classified NSA Oak Ridge facility made a stunning breakthrough that is leading us on a path towards building the first exaflop machine (1 quintillion instructions per second) by 2018. Since the capability to break the AES-256 encryption key within an actionable time period may still be decades away, our Utah facility is sized to store all encrypted (and thereby suspicious) data for safekeeping.

We are pleased to announce that as of 8/31/2014, the Utah Data Center is 100% complete. Here is a nice collection of wintry photos taken in early 2014:

Aerial view of the Utah Data Center - 2014

Chiller plant and generator plant

Administration building and our four data halls

Utah Data Center Administration building

Visitor Control Center

Our massive cooling systems at work

Water tanks for our chiller plant

Are you interested in a career in Domestic Surveillance? Check out our Utah Data Center jobs page for exciting employment opportunities.

It takes a large dedicated team to keep a data center up and running. Here are just some of the positions staffed by contractors at the UDC:

We are Americans first, last, and always. We treasure the U.S. Constitution and understand that a spirited debate is often a necessary precursor to acceptance.

The site plan below shows the location of the administration building, chiller plant, data halls, generators, fuel storage tanks, storage warehouse, power substations, visitor control center, and vehicle inspection facility. View the full-size Utah Data Center Site Plan

Aerial front view of the Utah Data Center under construction - March 2012

Close-up view of a data hall and the Administration building - March 2012

Aerial view of the UDC construction site - July 2012

Last two data halls still under construction - July 2012

Chiller plant, generator plant, and tank storage under construction - July 2012

Close-up view of completed data hall and Administration building - June 2013

Four completed data halls and the Administration building - June 2013

Completed chiller/generator plants and fuel tanks - June 2013

Close-up view of the cooling units - June 2013

Storage warehouse, canine kennel, and sprinkler system water tank - June 2013

Vehicle cargo inspection facility

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NSA Utah Data Center - Serving Our Nation's Intelligence ...