Replica Enterprise bridge used to sell surveillance to Congress, Boing Boing
“A long, fascinating profile of NSA “cowboy” Gen. Keith Alexander in Foreign Policy reveals that the top spook is fan of science fiction movies and built his old command room to look like the bridge of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He sold members of Congress by letting them sit in the big chair and “play Picard.”
– Video of top NSA spook Gen’l Alexander’s Starship Enterprise clone/Information Dominance Center, Boing Boing
– The NSA showed off its ‘information dominance’ from the bridge of the Starship ‘Enterprise’ (with actual photos), The Verge

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...

9 replies on “Too Bad NASA is Not NSA”

  1. I remember the outrage when a few IRS employees dressed up as sci fi characters for a skit. This is far worse.
    (edited/corrected)

      1. Agreed. But when I was in the aerospace industry, there were strict rules on lobbying – who could do it, what type of funds could be used, and the dire penalties if the rules were broken. Lobbying dollars had to come out of profits. Contracts specifically stated no contractual funds could be used for that purpose. This is also true in academia and in the non-profit world. Where did the funds come from for this person to specifically use it to influence Congresspeople?

        And is Paramount ok with their copyrighted stuff being used in this way?

  3. Current joke is congress says, “What? You are complaining about budgets when we increased your funding after you shortened your name, and also gave you authority to do whatever you want? Oh, that NSA, we thought you were NASA.”

  4. This is perfect, why not have the configuration be set in something that lends to a hopeful outlook, if only the activities could all be as somewhat noble as Star Trek NXG hoped to be. There were lots of valuable lessons in the TV series as well. Considering most viewing rooms are set up for a small number of people, why on earth would you want people facing each other at a table, most of these set designers thought long and hard about the configuration and design, often much more than the standard contractor who gives you a blank concrete room with some access ports. If you sit in those chairs you don’t have to turn your head far to talk to each other, and you’re not invading each others personal space, plus there’s no room for distracting electronic gadgets, no table to set them on or hide them under. It’s designed for a society that actually sits down to focus and work, we could only hope to be such a society.

  5. While there seems to be some blatant ripoff here, I say, so what? Being one of those Sci-Fi fans who gets into looking at stuff like blueprints and reading “The Making of…” books, there are plenty of examples of many Sci-Fi shows who looked to (or in some cases, had consultations with) the Military and how they configured (or imagined how they would configure) areas in a Command/Control setting. Here’s an example — there was a show that wanted their bridge set to look different. Going on an idea from the producer, they consulted the Navy on how to configure a bridge on a long/narrow area, with the thinking of “make it look like a futuristic version of a Submarine.” They made that design first and shot around it, instead of making a camera-friendly environment.

    As far as I’m concerned, this is simply an example of styles and ideas coming around full circle. I’m cool with that.

  6. Well I need to know if that is an actual photo or Keith, did you stick the seal up on the roof of an existing Star Trek image? I assume the latter, but would be good to have it clear.

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