Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Army's "Information Dominance Center" Designed to Look Like the Bridge of The Enterprise

Well, specifically the Enterprise-D.

Daily Mail Online is reporting that when NSA Director Keith Alexander was the head of Army's Intelligence and Security Command, he had the "Information Dominance Center" he ran the show from designed to look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation.  That's right, folks...that's the kind of trust we can give for people that are the stewards of our tax dollars.

Pic from Daily Mail article
The room is decked out in chrome and stainless steel.  It is divided into control stations you could just see Commander Data sitting at.  It has a huge monitor on the room's forward wall.  And, perhaps most importantly, it has a very obvious Captain's chair that is the center and focal point of the entire room.

Now, don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that the design couldn't have merits, and that the similarities between that design and the bridge of the Enterprise could possibly be coincidental.

Oh, wait...

Designed by a Hollywood set designer to mimic the famous ship's bridge...

Okay.  Wow.  That seems a bit much.  But, just because you're hiring a Hollywood set designer to design
Pic from Daily Mail article
the Army Intelligence and Security Command's "Information Dominance Center" doesn't mean it was a total waste, right?  I mean, the design and some designer couldn't have real-world advantages, couldn't it?  I mean, it's not like you went COMPLETELY over the top.

Oh, wait...

Just like in the Star Trek series, the doors to the so-called Information Dominance Center made a 'whoosh' noise as they opened.

You mean they added sound effects?  Now that's just being silly.  Thankfully the irresponsibility ended there.  It's not like they played Star Trek with other government officials or anything.

Oh, wait...

Lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in the leather 'captain's chair' in the center of the room...
Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard.

This is just disgraceful.  Don't forget, folks, this is something that YOU paid for.  Things like this should be reserved for movie studios, or theme parks, or super rich people that want to add a bridge or a Bat Cave or a secret passage in their house.  This kind of thing has no business being a part of our government's expenditures.

But, alas, they are something our government spends money on.  Why?  Because our government has become so ridiculously huge that what oversight there is has no chance to really look over everything.  And that equates to government agencies getting blank checks written to them and saying, "now spend it wisely."

It's so huge and so sad that when I saw this article, I wasn't really all that surprised.  And even worse, voters will keep electing the same people that make this happen.

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