Piles of dirt and construction debris - that's about all visitors see. Even county building inspectors are escorted to and from the site. The addition to the underground communications hub at Suffolk Road and Route 140, the state highway linking Carroll and Baltimore counties, will allow the NSA to consolidate all of its secure communications systems in Finksburg. Those systems can be used to send a secure fax, transfer a sensitive computer file or hold a private video conference. A secure telephone can even be paired with a cellular radio to create a portable device small enough to hide in a briefcase.
Military operations are a lot like a sports event.
This technology is a vital part of our defense. Certainly, it's not as exciting as breaking a Japanese code, but depending on the operation, it can be the most important part of our game plan. Today, nearly 300,000 secure phones are in use. Military officials, diplomats and spies all rely on the gadgets. They're not a status symbol.