The National Security Agency is running out of power at its Fort Meade, Md., complex, causing it to delay installation of new computer equipment and implement power conservation measures.

TheBaltimore Sun reported that NSA has already turned up the computers’ air conditioning by two degrees and has requested funding to bring in additional power capacity.

But the funding may not come in time, as Baltimore Gas & Electric may need up to two years to build a new power substation to deliver additional power to NSA headquarters.

At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges at the Fort Meade headquarters, hampering the work of intelligence analysts and damaging equipment, they said. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency, paralyzing the intelligence operation, erasing crucial intelligence data and causing irreparable damage to computer systems — all detrimental to the fight against terrorism.

Estimates on how long the agency has to stave off such an overload vary from just two months to less than two years. NSA officials “claim they will not be able to operate more than a month or two longer unless something is done,” said a former senior NSA official familiar with the problem, who spoke on condition of anonymity. — Baltimore Sun

Power surges and outages, which many inside the agency believe are inevitable now that NSA consumes as much power as the entire city of Annapolis, may reduce NSA’s processing capacity or bring down its entire computer infrastructure.

NSA continues to request more money to get the needed infrastructure built, but the money always seems to wind up diverted to the so-called war on terror.

It seems no one in Congress realizes that all those extra computers that NSA needs to spy on America with actually have to be powered. Perhaps they think electricity grows on trees.

Ryan Singel ofWired News points out that you can help NSA reduce its power usage by not using encryption and by forwarding a copy of your e-mail messages directly to NSA for analysis, so that they don’t have to use quite so much electricity spying on you.

• Turn off any encryption, at least until September brings cooler weather to the East Coast.
• Make overseas calls at non-peak hours.
• Directly CC: sniffmypackets@nsa.gov for only the most essential terrorist plotting emails
• Try to avoid, in conversation or written communications, any non-relevant uses of the phrases ‘jihad,’ ‘pipe bomb’ and ‘this country is run by incompetent, ideological nincompoops’

— 27B Stroke 6

I have a better idea. Since the government apparently believes we’re all a threat to security (that is, the politicians’ security) just go to your nearest FBI office and turn yourself in. Be sure to bring your computer’s hard drive with you.