Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

theintercept.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 80 posts

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#71

Post by PeterCorless »

jcrawfordor wrote: post #52

I dislike this article whenever it comes up in that it conflates the NSA activity at the site (TITANPOINTE) with the building in a very confusing way. The building is not an NSA building, it is an AT&T building. The NSA is a tenant, along with many other organizations who use the building for meet-me and internet exchange purposes. It's absolutely true that the NSA has a concerning relationship with AT&T that has evi…

So... Like, yeah. What's really kind of stupid, to me, is that The Intercept think this facility is unique in any way, shape, or form for the Cold War. Like, it's totally on average.

Anyone here think the USSR Ministry of Communications, KGB and FSB were lacking any of this? Anyone believe Putin has just simply put away all the evesdropping gear?

Anyone believe the Chinese were not then and are not doing this right now?

I mean, we know that the UAE put spyware on Khashoggi's fiance's phone just months before his death. Anyone here think they stopped at just this one journalist and his beloved? [Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/21/uae-agency-placed-...]

Or that any of the other major powers down to the lowest level tinpot dictators on the planet were not or are not now operating monitoring gear at their own access points to major trunk phone and networking lines?

While yes, in the US we take our civil liberties incredibly to heart, I worry far more about the people in far more sketch countries in the world, where the wrong call to the wrong person gets you disappeared the same day.

Find me the building where this is going on in Syria. Find me where in China this sort of operation is going on. Or the UAE. Or KSA. Because guaranteed, if this freaks you out in midtown Manhattan, what's going on in those countries will turn your stomach.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#72

Post by TechnoTimeStop »

jrockway wrote: post #62
bastardoperator wrote: post #26

I just assume every MMR in every data center/building is an NSA hub.

I always found it very awkward working in 111 8th Ave and seeing "National Security Agency" on the building directory. It's like we weren't even pretending what was going on there. (My greatest enjoyment, however, was that Level 3 was on the 3rd floor.)

No post body was provided.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#73

Post by _kbh_ »

nonameiguess wrote: post #45
LatteLazy wrote: post #25

Off topic but... If I ran an NSA secret spy hub, it wouldn't be called Titanpointe. It would be called something less ridiculous and more mundane like "John's Computer Services". I'd be embarrassed when a name like that kept appearing on documents or for brought up in meetings.

My wife was working for the NRO's agency-private data center for applications that couldn't be hosted atop Amazon's cloud service in C2S, and it somehow ended up with the initials "RC" which nobody really knew what it meant, so they either called it "Rodeo Clown" or "Rogue Central," depending on who you asked. When they had a renaming contest put to a vote, I can't remember what actually won, but #2 was "Totally Not…

> There's a reason 80% of the NRO mission patches are wizards and dragons.

Probably because they are established intelligence iconography. It goes further than that though, lightning bolts and crows are also common and all have specific meaning. Now the original imagery may have been chosen because it was chosen by geeks but its used nowadays because it has meaning.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#74

Post by samhw »

Spooky23 wrote: post #65
jcrawfordor wrote: post #52

I dislike this article whenever it comes up in that it conflates the NSA activity at the site (TITANPOINTE) with the building in a very confusing way. The building is not an NSA building, it is an AT&T building. The NSA is a tenant, along with many other organizations who use the building for meet-me and internet exchange purposes. It's absolutely true that the NSA has a concerning relationship with AT&T that has evi…

It’s an intercept piece, so there’s always the drama and eye roll associated with them. That said, how many cages or suites are leased by an intelligence agency isn’t really germane… the fact that they are or were there at all is the news. The square footage is particularly irrelevant as the building and “condo” owners are known to perform various tasks for intelligence services. Where that building is located and wh…

> It’s an intercept piece, so there’s always the drama and eye roll associated with them.

Given they managed to betray a source's identity through a photocopied document, I'm not terribly surprised that they aren't big fans of intelligence.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#75

Post by 0xdeadb00f »

ginko wrote: post #7
yodon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fifty story windowless concrete building that's genuinely attractive. Not at all what I expected to discover on the Wikipedia page.

How is it attractive? It looks extremely oppressive. I remember coming by that building while walking through Manhattan by chance and thinking this must be some government surveillance center or something.

It looks oppressive yes but in an attractive, clean, minimalist way.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#76

Post by kingcharles »

dylan604 wrote: post #54
kingcharles wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A jail I was held in has tinted glass windows all the way around it to make it look like a modern office building, but behind the glass... 99% wall.

That's probably more to help limit the NIMBYism. Otherwise, why bother with the expense?

Yep - it was absolutely for the NIMBYs. It was built, like many pretrial facilities, in the centre of a town, surrounded by housing.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#77

Post by ww520 »

jcrawfordor wrote: post #47
ww520 wrote: post #44

I was hiking in a trail along the Pacific coast in the Bay Area and came upon an abandon missile launch site. There were a barrack, observation post, communication poles, and clearly underground missile silos. Not sure whether there're still missiles buried underground. It's pretty close to residential area, too. Very interesting. It's probably from the Cold War. Nowadays missiles are mobile.

Nike Hercules, it was an urban-scale air defense system widely deployed on the coasts against potential Soviet bombers. While there had been plans to upgrade Nike to Nike Zeus and later Nike X, which were nuclear and anti-ballistic missile systems, these were cancelled for various reasons and the Nike system went out of service in the '80s. The launch complex vaults, in which the missiles were stored, have mostly sin…

That’s excellent historic facts. It’s amazing to mention something puzzling and got detailed information and perspectives here. Thanks!

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#78

Post by gregw2 »

LatteLazy wrote: post #25

Off topic but... If I ran an NSA secret spy hub, it wouldn't be called Titanpointe. It would be called something less ridiculous and more mundane like "John's Computer Services". I'd be embarrassed when a name like that kept appearing on documents or for brought up in meetings.

My theory is that the keywords used make it easier for the authority to search for when the keyword has been used/disclosed. There is counterintelligence value that is lost if the name of the secret blends in too much.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#79

Post by pxmpxm »

yodon wrote: post #6
adolph wrote: post #2

33 Thomas Street (formerly the AT&T Long Lines Building) is a 550-foot-tall (170 m) windowless skyscraper in Tribeca, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It stands on the east side of Church Street, between Thomas Street and Worth Street. The building is an example of the Brutalist architectural style. It is a telephone exchange or wire center building which contained three major 4ESS switches used for interexchange (lon…

A fifty story windowless concrete building that's genuinely attractive. Not at all what I expected to discover on the Wikipedia page.

This has been educational for me as well - I happen to have a clear view of the building from the coffee area of our office and have been wondering for quite some time now what that neo-brutalist looking thing actually is.

Vaguely reminiscence of the the St Mary of Nazareth hospital in Chicago, actually: https://chicagomodern.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/resurrection-...

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#80

Post by redanddead »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #67
redanddead wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I know that some people prefer brutalist architecture, there's definitely a case to be made about the design of a building meant to house communications in a free nation that prides itself with the first amendment, you would think they would make it transparent or all-glass and even go out of their way to make the corners of the building see through. Maybe something like Mies Van der Rohe's Westmount Square…

That would be the Dirksen Courthouse and Federal Plaza https://www.gsa.gov/historic-buildings/everett-m-dirksen-us-... You can see right through it: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8784431,-87.6293035,3a,37.5y... The real gem of the Federal Plaza is actually the post office building. When you walk inside you have the feeling of a floating ceiling with no columns (there are well-hidden columns).

Wow what a gorgeous building! Thank you for showing it to me!

My girlfriend has a thing for architecture and is always talking to me about this stuff.

Really cool, how do you know so much about architecture?

Post reply on HN