2013-03-20
Amazon and CIA ink cloud deal
From the newspaper Federal Computer Week:
In a move sure to send ripples through the federal IT community, FCW has learned that the CIA has agreed to a cloud computing contract with electronic commerce giant Amazon, worth up to $600 million over 10 years.
Amazon Web Services will help the intelligence agency build a private cloud infrastructure that helps the agency keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner not possible under the CIA’s previous cloud efforts, sources told FCW.
via infoneer-pulse, notational
Who Has John’s Gait?
CIA CTO: you can be 100% identified by your gait. Which can be measured by 3-axis accelerometer, like in your phone or Fitbit. #dataconf
— jonathanstray (@jonathanstray) March 20, 2013
CIA CTO Ira Galt at GigaOM’s Structure:Data event, quoted by Jonathan Stray (via Shanley, who posted something similar).
2012-04-21
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The suit for A-12 and SR-71 pilots. From the CIA’s Breaking Through Technology page:
Two Lockheed subcontractors, the David Clark Company and the Firewel Corporation, developed a full-pressure suit and oxygen supply system based on ones created for pilots of the X-15 rocket aircraft. The aluminized suit and breathing apparatus would protect the pilot from heat radiated from the 400 degree F. windshield and the effects of depressurization and extreme cold encountered during a high-altitude bail-out. The S‑901 suits were custom-made and cost $30,000 in the mid-1960s.
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Surface temperature at various points on the A-12 (the predecessor to the SR-71), from the CIA’s Breaking Through Technological Barriers page, part of their A-12 monograph.
(It’s a shame it’s in Fahrenheit not Celsius or kelvin, but ah well.)
