Titanpointe: The NSA’s Spy Hub in New York, Hidden in Plain Sight

 

THEY CALLED IT Project X. It was an unusually audacious, highly sensitive assignment: to build a massive skyscraper, capable of withstanding an atomic blast, in the middle of New York City. It would have no windows, 29 floors with three basement levels, and enough food to last 1,500 people two weeks in the event of a catastrophe.

But the building’s primary purpose would not be to protect humans from toxic radiation amid nuclear war. Rather, the fortified skyscraper would safeguard powerful computers, cables, and switchboards. It would house one of the most important telecommunications hubs in the United States — the world’s largest center for processing long-distance phone calls, operated by the New York Telephone Company, a subsidiary of AT&T.

The building was designed by the architectural firm John Carl Warnecke & Associates, whose grand vision was to create a communication nerve center like a “20th century fortress, with spears and arrows replaced by protons and neutrons laying quiet siege to an army of machines within.”

America’s nuclear defences rely on floppy discs and 1970s computers, according to audit

Nothing new per se in this article other than the announcement of upgrades, finally. However, it’s likely too little, too late. Alarm bells went off over this issue years ago as detailed in previous posts:

America’s Nuclear Arsenal Is Still Controlled By Antique Computers With Floppy Disks

Russia’s nuclear weapon arsenal surpasses US

 

America’s nuclear force still uses floppy disks designed in the 1970s to coordinate some of its functions, according to a watchdog report released on Wednesday.

The report by the Government Accountability Office points to a number of worryingly outdated “legacy systems” still in use across the US government that are in desperate need of upgrading.

A Pentagon command and control system – responsible for US nuclear forces, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and tanker support aircraft – runs on an IBM Series/1 computer and uses 8-inch floppy disks, the report says.

The Battle to Keep the Establishment in Power

That is the last time a Republican presidential convention opened without the nominee having been decided in the primaries was 1976 and the fight was between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. There were efforts by the establishment to stop two people they regarded as outsiders before – Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Ronald Reagan in 1976. It is looking much more difficult for Trump to nail down enough delegates to beat the Republicans at their own corrupt rules. We are more likely headed to a rigged convention and this is highly playing into the hands of the precise thing the Republicans better not do. They are sacrificing the nation for personal perks. It is not that Trump is the savior; hardly. But he would be at least a check against  these people.

China hoarding gold to challenge U.S. dollar?

The People’s Bank of China has not formally disclosed any changes to its gold holdings in years, but it’s believed that the central bank is purchasing gold to diversify its reserve holdings. In 2009, China announced that it boosted its gold reserves by 454 tonnes via acquiring gold quietly over the previous five years. That represented an impressive 76 percent increase in gold reserves. Today, China still shows that it holds 1,054.1 tonnes in reserves, but it’s speculated by analysts to actually have around 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes.Some market participants also believe China is building up its gold reserves to challenge the U.S. dollar, which is currently the world’s reserve currency. A few years ago, China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said, “International supervision over the issue of U.S. dollars should be introduced and a new, stable and secured global reserve currency may also be an option to avert a catastrophe caused by any single country.”