I attended AU grad school 97-2000. On Nebraska there was a Naval facility between the corner and a television station on that side of the street. Perhaps they're using the naval base for Homeland Security these days.

Thanks PJ...it's a very interesting site, whatever it is. I've been told by sources that it is DHS HQS, which makes little sense to me. But it's a sizeable facility -- and very interested that it just doesn't appear on maps I've found...but is available by satellite. I hope to learn more soon.

Steve Clemons

Is this supposed to be some kind of scandal? Oooo, I can see their tennis courts!

Seriously, while there are probably some facilities that shouldn't be online, what are terrorists going to do with these satellite maps? Plot some kind of special-forces style assault on the grounds? Please. We should be trying to move away from this terrorists-could-strike-at-any-moment hysteria.

Mike S -- I'm not advocating that these facilities not be seen by satellite, or on a map. I'm simply "interested" that the facility is available using one approach, and not another. I'm not an advocate of high fear hyperventilation, but that said -- this interested me. I posted the anomaly...that's all it is.

best,
Steve Clemons

Someone who lives in the neighborhood might enlighten us as to whether there is access to the property; warnings, razor wire, etc. As I recall, the NBC studios used to be in that area, right?

Hey Steve, reader PJ is right, that facility is the Naval District of Washington's 'Nebraska Avenue Complex'... and yes, DHS does occupy space in a couple of those buildings. It's not exactly outright newsworthy though, just a secure facility inside DC that has available space for DHS's burgeoning beurocracy.

the facility is secured w/ fences and the only access point is through a guard station. Admittance by official passes only.

in fact, Matt Brzezinski at MotherJones.com wrote this article about the facility in Sept. '04:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/09/08_400.html

Steve,
Thanks for clarifying. It did seem out of character to join the crowd that believes Google Maps & Google Earth hurt national security. For a while the Capitol Building and House and Senate office buildings were blurred out--I mean, WTF. (Someone, I think it was the old Wonkette, suggested John Ashcroft had the Capitol blurred because from above it looks like a nipple.)

On a related note, DHS is eyeing the old St. Elizabeth's Hospital site in Anacostia (west of MLK Ave, as the east side has the current St. Elisabeth's) for their permanent HQ. There was a Post article about this a few weeks ago, but I don't know how to find it online. Among other pluses and minuses, it has spectacular views of downtown DC.

Anacostia residents would appreciate that whatever the ultimate function of this property, that it have some connection to the community. They fear that if the Department of Homeland Security moves in, in the name of security they'll get a walled compound with no connection to the community. To be fair, that's what it is now. But have you been by the Naval Observatory? (That's where Cheney lives.) Now that's fortified. And blurred on Google Maps.

Thanks No One in Particular and Mike S -- very interesting material from Matt Brzezinski. I find this satellite stuff fascinating. It kind of goes with outlawing train-spotting, which I hear has happened though that may be more urban legend than anything. This was just a fun thing to post -- nothing cosmic...just got interested in the area that was unmarked both on Google Maps.

Interesting what you can learn from others once you post a pic and and address.

All the best -- more later,

Steve Clemons

I remember from when I worked for the Department of the Navy back in the early-to-mid 1990s that the Nebraska Avenue facility was the headquarters of the Naval Security Group at that time -- the Navy command which was in charge of communications security and cryptology. The existence of the facility wasn't classified, but they didn't exactly advertise its presence. NAVSECGRU moved to Fort Meade in 1995, and was later merged into the Navy Information Operations Command in Norfolk.

Speaking of Google imagery, if you download the Google Earth software, and use the tilt function, you can get a pretty good approximation of a helicopter-level flight over Baghdad. Kinda spooky...

I agree with Greg Priddy, back in the 70s and 80s it was a pretty secure Naval communications fascility, with (at least) double barbed wire fencing (I used to go to the the Naval chapel there with my family). NBC is right next to this site so you could ask someone there. Maybe it is now the HQ for Homeland Security.

The DC area is fun because it is full of these sorts of sites.

just curious, but does anyone know -- beyond "blurring" certain shots -- how much does google interfere with what is available by their satellite shots on EITHER google maps or earth?
And how does one get updated satellite shots?

I love both tools, but every time I run Earth and look at the satellite shot of my house, my car is always parked on the same on-street spot and the greenery is always in the same state of repair (its still dead grey winter in Boston but the satellite shot shows us with green grass and some green on the trees). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I'm far from looking at recent satellite shots.
Do I have to affirmitively download a new set of shots everytime I run it? And to what degree does Google interfere with the satellite imagery that we get? Surely the feds have SOME level of control on what they can make available to the general public?

dwg, good question. I was actually wondering (almost) the same thing and you mentioning it actually drove me to try to find out. Like you, the satellite images of my house are also at least a year old.

According to this report:
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3495111
the majority of Google's satellite imagery comes from Keyhole (whom Google acquired in October 2004)... the article states:

"Keyhole continuously updates its database with the average age of imagery ranging from 18 to 24 months. Imagery can vary in age from as new as 2-3 months to as old as 2-3 years."

hope that helps.

no idea about the blurring part though.

Maybe the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (formerly NIMA) has a Google Satellite Imagery Blurring and Generally Annoying Image Interference Department or something.

As to timeliness of Google Earth, they still have a filbert orchard in Creswell, Oregon, that had been replaced by home-building last summer. They still have Russian names for places in Estonia, although in Roman letters, not Cyrillic. More here.

The angled photo is obviously a mathematical transformation of the overhead--pretty standard stuff, now. It's obvious because you can't see any height to the buildings, and the cars on the road and the shadows from the trees are the same. So there's no additional information.

I find this satellite stuff fascinating. It kind of goes with outlawing train-spotting, which I hear has happened though that may be more urban legend than anything.

Steve, it's more than urban legend, but less than a ban. Don Phillips had a few articles in the Washington Post about the subject before he took the Post buyout in early 2005. Check LEXIS or the Post archive.

NJ Transit finally backed off several different attempts to ban photography on its platforms. Numerous overzealous local or railroad police (larger railroads have their own forces of sworn officers) have detained law-abiding citizens - I recall one in Texas, and a particularly well-reported one in Chicago that resulted in a "clarification" of METRA policy explicitly authorizing photography.

Getting back to Google: there is a clear pattern of obscuring "valuable" sites. I've noticed hatched lines over railroad yards and military facilities, for example. But this could be applied before Google gets the images.

The maps may simply be an error of omission. If you compare the information available in Delorme's Street Atlas to Microsoft's Streets and Trips, the contrast is stark (Delorme provides far more). But Google's map database is missing much of what you can find in Delorme.

In summary, it could be deliberate, or it could be GIGO.

JAC

Steve,
There's all sorts of intel and crypto offices at the Nebraska ave location. It houses many components of COMNAVSECGRU and a number of less sensitive agencies including:
* Naval Strategic Systems Programs,
* Navy International Programs Office,
* Naval Computer and Telecommunications Command,
* Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Civilian Personnel and Equal Opportunity,
* Human Resources Operations Center,
* Human Resources Service Center,
? Director Communications Security Material System,
* Naval Center for Cost Analysis, and the
* Navy Component Task Force-Computer Network Defense.

I don't believe, Steve, that it also houses DHS HQ, but I could be wrong. It may have some DHS components. Because it has excellent commo facilities for untra-sensitive communications, as well as top level Crypto and SCIF capabilites, it might well be home to some DHS intel offices that need this kind of infrastructure.

JohnStuart

Steve,
I was wrong. If you want to send a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security you send it to:

The Honorable Michael Chertoff
Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
3801 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20528

Most of that intel stuff I mentioned in my earlier post is still there, too. But this is the DHS HQ.

John Stuart

We could just set up a look-out, order a pizza delivered to "Department of Homeland Security HQ" and watch where the delivery truck goes.

Steve,

I don't see anything amiss with that map. It doesn't identify the facility, but it's a road map, so that's not its purpose. And there aren't any missing roads - all of the apparent roads on their are driveways and surface roads.

I just thought to look this up in the ADC Metro Washington Street Map Book, which is avialable in many supermarkets (I bought it when I got lost on my way to a party in Silver Spring.) I bought it by accident but highly recommend it. It's really great and up-to-date--watch out for the maps AAA gives you--they have real problems.

Anyway, this ADC map has interior roads for the site, and it is labeled as the "US Navel Security Sta" (Station) and "US Dept of Homeland Security."

Oh yeah, if DHS does move to the old St. Elizabeth's site, the go-to joke is "Department of Homeland Security moves headquarters to abandoned asylum."

It's obviously DHS HQ. The empty parking lot is a dead giveaway.

Steve,
Did you discover this on your own? I was kind of surprised at what levels of the government this was getting around. Be interesting to find out if they were fans of yours.

I used to live in the neighborhood, and still visit there regularly in the summer (softball in Glover Park, quite the community event.) So I drive through Ward Circle a lot(that's the official name of the circle where Mass Ave and Nebraska Ave meet). The Southeast side of the circle, which is the area in question, contains the National Presbytarian center, NBC studios, and the Naval facility. There's no secret that DHS is at the naval facility, they even announced it with a press release when they moved there. They said they were going there because there was empty space (and room for parked cars), communications equipment, and security.

As for the rest of the neighborhood, AU is taking over lots of buildings and adding new ones. They may yet squeeze out the government/media stuff on Nebraska Ave.

This is one of those things that you wonder why anyone who lived in the DC area was not aware of, both wrt to Homeland Security being at the old Naval Communications Facility and things being missing on maps. It actually is no big deal, and yes, they blur out a lot of places, like the Vice President's residence on Mass Ave. surprisingly, they don't appear to have blurred out Ft. Meade.

BTW, don't bother mailing ANYTHING to Homeland Security. They send all the stuff to Ohio for irradiation and it takes a month. That includes FedEX

Except pizza. That's the brilliance of it.

Except pizza. That's the brilliance of it.

Steve - for some very interesting information on recent security problems at the Nebraska Avenue Complex (where DHS does indeed have its headquarters), go to www.eyeonwackenhut.com

The Associated Press and NBC news recently carried stories about whistleblowers' allegations of shoddy security at the site.

Well, Page 7 of this document confirms that the Navy moved out in 2004/5 to provide the space for DHS.

So you would expect it to be listed on Google Maps as either a Navy installation or as the DHS. There seems to be no hard and fast rule for labelling either military or government installations. Washington Navy Yard, down the road, is clearly marked but some other Navy Stations are not. You can see from this view that lots of government buildings are labelled, including the FBI, while on the other hand neither the CIA at Langley nor the NSA at Fort Meade are labelled. Again, the satellite views are unimpaired.

Perhaps, DHS considers itself in the same league as the CIA and NSA?