DoJ to Snowden: Hope your 15 minutes were worth it, pal

[Viking]

Not sure which thread this goes in. The new NSA center in Utah uses per day the same amount of water as it takes to frack one well.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25978926&nid=148

New Utah NSA center requires 1.7M gallons of water daily to operate

More secrets, more water? The NSA data center in Bluffdale could require as many as 1.7 million gallons of water per day to operate and keep computers cool.

Initial reported estimates suggested the center would use 1,200 gallons per minute, but more recent estimates suggest the usage could be closer to half that amount.

"Our planning is anywhere from 1,000 acre-feet per year to 2,000 acre-feet per year, and that represents - if it was 1,000 acre-feet per year, that would be about 1 percent of our total demand," said Jordan Valley River Conservancy District assistant general manager and chief engineer Alan Packard.

Packard said that amount of water - while large - could be easily accommodated and was on par with industrial operations such as soft drink bottling plants.

"At build-out, it will be several years before the data center uses that amount of water, so we have the opportunity to prepare for that through both conservation and developing new supplies," Packard said.

Packard said the district was actively working to develop the new supplies - including those at the Southwest Groundwater Project, the Central Utah Project and additional groundwater development in the Salt Lake valley.

"It's no more than we were already planning," Packard said. "Our normal activities are designed to accommodate this kind of demand on our system."

Bluffdale City manager Mark Reid described the NSA project and the new water and electrical infrastructure around it as a significant benefit to the city.

Reid said Bluffdale otherwise wouldn't have had the resources to improve the land all the way to the south end of the city limits. Instead, the government funded $7 million in infrastructure to the data center, and an additional $5 million in infrastructure back from the site that will allow a third of the water used at the facility to be recycled.

The water would be used at the city park and on some of the city's lawns, Reid said.

Reid said the city was now pursuing other technology business to relocate to the south end of Bluffdale.

"We're looking to try and combine with Salt Lake County to make that a jobs area," Reid said.

Upon hearing the initial estimates of the NSA center's water use, some residents were skeptical.

"We live in a desert and so it seems like an excess," said Barbara Ericksmoen. "Am I concerned about it? On the fence."

Terry Keddington said he didn't see a problem with the water use or the growth.

"Compared to what it was when I moved out here 30 years ago, it's just grow, grow, grow," Keddington said. "It doesn't surprise me that it's going to grow a little bit more."

[Admiral Yi]

Maybe you should start a Grand Unified Fracking Thread.

[Eddie Teach]

Fracking just uses up too much water.

[Viking]

Fracking just uses up too much water.

[Eddie Teach]

Yes, I know I should eat more chicken.

[Savonarola]

Fugitive Edward Snowden applies for asylum in Russia

Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, officials say.

The Federal Migration Service confirmed he had completed the relevant paperwork at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where he has been for the past three weeks.

Mr Snowden is wanted by the US for leaking details of government surveillance programmes.

He has no travel documents, so has been unable to take up asylum offers from a number of Latin American states.

"He reached the conclusion that he needs to write an application for temporary asylum, and this procedure has just been done," said Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer with strong links with the Kremlin who helped Mr Snowden with the paperwork.

"For now he is not going to go anywhere. For now he plans to stay in Russia," he said.

Meanwhile the White House reiterated its position that the fugitive should be expelled and face trial in the US.

"Mr Snowden should not be allowed to engage in further international travel except as necessary to return to the United State," spokesman Jay Carney said.

"He is not a human rights activist. He is not a dissident. He's accused of leaking classified information."

'Not Putin's decision'

Mr Kucherena said the fugitive had stated in the application that he faced possible torture and execution if he returned to the US.

If his application is accepted, he will be free to work and move freely in Russia, said the lawyer.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Mr Kucherena as saying he had asked Mr Snowden whether he would observe a request from President Vladimir Putin to not harm US interests if he is able to leave the airport.

"He replied: 'I will observe this condition'," Mr Kucherena told the agency.

Officials said Mr Snowden might be moved to an airport facility for accommodating refugees while his application was being processed, which should take no more than three months.

A presidential spokesman told Interfax that Mr Putin had not yet responded to the asylum request, and that the decision on whether it would be granted was not his to make.

But although the Russian government insists the decision will be made by a relatively junior official, the person in charge will be in no doubt what his boss would like him to do, says the BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow.


President Putin is clearly aware of the sensitivities involved, and the issue risks overshadowing talks with US President Barack Obama who is due to visit Russia in September, our correspondent adds.

Mr Snowden arrived in Russia on 23 June, having left Hong Kong, from where he had issued his leaks to the media.

He held a news conference at the airport on 12 July, where he said he was seeking asylum in Russia.

He has sent requests for political asylum to at least 21 countries, most of which have turned down his request. However, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated they could take him in.

But he is unable to leave the transit zone as he currently has no asylum documents or Russian visa, and the US has revoked his passport.

Some European countries are likely to close their airspace to any plane suspected of carrying the fugitive.

Mr Snowden's leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents has led to revelations that the National Security Agency is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.

The documents have also indicated that both the UK and French intelligence agencies allegedly run similarly vast data collection operations, and the US has been eavesdropping on official EU communications.

Further analysis from the BEEB:

Daniel Sandford

BBC News, Moscow

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there is a chance to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum and then move him on to Latin America before September, that may be the best route for Russia.

But if that proves impossible, President Vladimir Putin will have to make a decision - does he continue to rub salt into America's wounds, or does he encourage Edward Snowden to leave quickly by making it clear that the asylum request is not going to work out.

What is still unclear is the extent to which the Russian intelligence agencies have been able to pump Edward Snowden for information, or even for the secret files themselves.

If they still want the information, there may be a trade-off involved - he gives the Russians what they desire and gets to leave the airport, and they decide that a poorer relationship with the US is the price they will have to pay for Mr Snowden's secrets.

"Mr. Snowden's Secrets" sounds like the title for a period piece drama on Masterpiece Theater.   

[Sheilbh]

Making sure the Americans, French, British etc. don't spy on us wholesale anymore.

That's for those countries to decide. Why they'd choose to defang their intelligence services is beyond me. They're spies. Their job is to spy. From my understanding the only countries the UK doesn't spy on are the Americans, Aus, NZ and Canada because of how close relations are between the respective agencies. Much as I love the DGSE it doesn't mean we should stop snooping on France.

I like how Snowden has now changed from moral crusader to "don't fuck with me bros, you'll be sorry."

Socially awkward geeks do seem to be to America what alcoholic, homosexual Communists are to Britain. It's like we've got a blindspot to them

[DGuller]

 

[Eddie Teach]

He didn't say one couldn't belong to both groups.

[DGuller]

 

[Admiral Yi]

Guller doesn't drink that much.

[Razgovory]

Guller doesn't drink that much.

I don't get it.

[Eddie Teach]

Maybe not compared with other Russians.

[Admiral Yi]

I don't get it.

The implication is he's a socially awkward homosexual Communist geek.

[Eddie Teach]

He's Russian, therefore he's an alcoholic and a communist.
He fantasizes about Obama, therefore he's a homosexual and a communist.

He may not actually be a socially awkward geek, though.