Report: Amazon Lands Contract to House CIA Data

Here's something to think about as you cozy up to your Kindle Reader: Amazon may soon be a CIA contractor.

As reported originally in Federal Computer Weekly and picked up by the LA Times and The Christian Science Monitor, Amazon Web Services has landed a $600 million deal to provide a cloud-computing "solution" for the intelligence service The two entities may be a perfect match, as both share a penchant for secrecy and a lust for data. The CIA at least has to undergo Congressional oversight, something Amazon often dodges artfully.

Both Amazon and the CIA also prefer storing data indefinitely. The CIA's CIO, Gus Hunt, recently told a tech-heavy gathering in New York that "connecting the dots" in intelligence gathering required the CIA to "collect everything and hang on to it forever." Amazon's M.O. is essentially the same as the spooks' approach to everyday business, except that Big A's clients and prospects offer up their data without question. The CIA just takes.

For some time, the Obama Administration has been cozy with Amazon. The Obama re-election campaign's successful use of "big data" showed the president's awareness of this tool's scope and reach. For some time, I've wondered why the Department of Justice would go out of its way to conduct investigations whose principal commercial beneficiary was unquestionably Amazon.  Of course, Amazon has the data capacity to make many things happen, even for an institution with unique needs, such as the CIA. Perhaps the calculation was that it would be best to keep Big A happy, and keep it on your side. Maybe some top-secret data business could be "accommodated" by the secretive Seattle-based firm. (Keep in mind that Amazon chief Jeff Bezos' "Blue Origin" project is building a rocket for manned space flight.)

Oh yes, for the record, neither the CIA nor Amazon would comment to the media on the reported cloud-computing contract.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' "Blue Origin" Manned Spacecraft Project

Truth can often be stranger than fiction. Take the case of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his pet project, the creation of a vertical, suborbital spacecraft and privately funded, manned space flight. To that end, over a decade ago, Bezos formed a corporate entity called Blue Origin LLC. Over the year, scientists and others (including a science fiction writer) were hired for the enterprise. Much of their work was done in a warehouse that's a manageable drive from Amazon's Seattle headquarters. During the Bush-Cheney era, Bezos also purchased land in Texas. The acreage formed the core of his version of Cape Kennedy.

It was from its Lone Star State property that Bezos and his Blue Origin team got the blues. On August 24th, a Blue Origin launch went wrong, resulting in the craft's crash in especially remote areas of West Texas. According to an MSNBC report, Bezos did not make the announcement until September 2nd, when The Wall Street Journal reported the story and forced his hand. September 2nd happened to be the Friday of the Labor Day holiday weekend, ideal for the release of bad news. (Ironically, a Russian spacecraft also crashed after launch on August 24th.)

While Bezos has enthusiastically spoken about space travel, Blue Origin is a very secretive outfit. It reminds one of James Bond-style villains: egotistical, driven to achieve world domination, ruthless. If 007 is in the house, we might need him now, before Blue Origin becomes a name the world dreads.

The image shows the Blue Origin unmanned vertical, suborbital spacecraft.