NSA is Working on a Computer System That Can Predict What People Are Thinking; Construction of Massive New NSA Data Center Began in January 2011

The NSA Is Building An Artificial Intelligence System That Can Read Minds

The National Security Agency (NSA) is developing a tool that George Orwell's Thought Police might have found useful: an artificial intelligence system designed to gain insight into what people are thinking. - James Bamford, The New Thought Police: The NSA Wants to Know How You Think—Maybe Even What You Think, NOVA, January 1, 2009

July 18, 2011

Business Insider - The NSA is working on a computer system that can predict what people are thinking.

"Think of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the most memorable character, HAL 9000, having a conversation with David. We are essentially building this system. We are building HAL. The system can answer the question, 'What does X think about Y?'"

These are the words of an unnamed researcher who discussed an amazing artificial intelligence system she was building at the NSA.

It sounds like something right out of science fiction -- a system that can literally read thoughts like a magician.

It's called "Aquaint" (Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence), and PBS's James Bamford takes a stab at explaining how it works:

"As more and more data is collected -- through phone calls, credit card receipts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, GPS tracks, cell phone geolocation, Internet searches, Amazon book purchases, even E-Z Pass toll records -- it may one day be possible to know not just where people are and what they are doing, but what and how they think."

Whether it works or not, we know that it's so intrusive that at least one researcher has quit over the idea of placing such a powerful system in the hands of the an agency with little to no accountability.

At its best, the system could become a a valuable tool used for national security and beating Watson at Jeopardy. At its worst, it sounds like something from Orwell's 1984.

The National Security Agency's eavesdropping on phone calls, e-mails, and other communications skyrocketed after 9/11. But that was only the beginning of its high-tech invasiveness, as Bamford reports. Above, NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and National Security Agency hosted a joint groundbreaking ceremony for the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (CNCI) Data Center on January 6, 2011, at Camp Williams in Utah. Construction of the $1.2 billion Data Center is scheduled to be completed in October 2013. "This will bring 5,000 to 10,000 new jobs during its construction and development phase," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said on Wednesday. "Once completed, it will support 100 to 200 permanent high-paid [federal] employees." [Source]

NSA Begins Construction of Massive Utah Data Center

January 7, 2011 - Utah Data Center site layout from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brief.