Leaders to offer details on 'spy center'

(Deseret News) State and federal leaders apparently are ready to officially confirm and give some details about a new $1.9 billion "spy center" at Camp Williams.

Gov. Gary Herbert, members of Utah's congressional delegation and U.S. Deputy Director of National Intelligence Glenn Gaffney have scheduled a joint news conference Friday at the state Capitol "to announce a major project at Camp Williams," according to a news release.

But the secret has been out for months.

In July, the Deseret News and other media reported plans — based on congressional funding requests — by the super-secretive National Security Agency to build a huge data center at Camp Williams. Essentially, it will house supercomputers to help spy on communications.

Many spy novels, especially those by Tom Clancy, have described how the NSA and its satellites and supercomputers can listen for key words or certain voices in cell phone, radio, computer and other communications worldwide that may reveal terrorist plans and movements.

Funding requests to Congress said the center would sit on 120 acres at Camp Williams and would deliver "responsive, reliable, effective and expert signals-intelligence and information-assurance products and services" to enable "network-warfare operations to gain a decisive information advantage."

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