The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is scheduled to begin work this week on a $1.2 billion data center at Camp Williams in Salt Lake City, Utah, that will house a National Security Agency cybersecurity intelligence center.
The 1.5-million-square-foot facility, known as the Utah Data Center, will house an NSA facility that will gather intelligence about cybersecurity threats to federal government networks. Construction on the center is scheduled to begin on Thursday.
The center will consist of 100,000 square feet of raised floor data center space and more than 900,000 square feet of technical support and administrative space, according to a USACE release. Support facilities include an electrical substation, a vehicle inspection facility and visitor control center, fuel storage, water storage and a chiller plant.
The NSA center is being built as part of the White House’s Comprehensive National Security Initiative (CNSI), which is designed to improve cybersecurity efforts to protect federal computer networks.
The CNSI has the following goals:
- To establish a front line of defense against immediate cybersecurity threats by creating or enhancing shared situational awareness of network vulnerabilities, threats, and events within the federal government and acting to reduce current vulnerabilities and prevent intrusions.
- To defend against the full spectrum of cybersecurity threats by enhancing counterintelligence capabilities and increasing the security of the supply chain for key information technologies.
- To strengthen the future cybersecurity environment by expanding cyber education; coordinating and redirecting research and development efforts across the federal government; and working to define and develop strategies to deter hostile or malicious activity in cyberspace.
