Is there anything the federal government does right anymore? Big Brother is experiencing some, er, technical difficulties. The NSA’s humongous new data center is plagued by meltdowns and electrical surges. Then again, I’m sure there are quite a few people that won’t be upset by this news, although it is costing us quite a bit of dough.

Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency’s spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machinery and delayed the center’s opening for a year, according to project documents and current and former officials.

There have been 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months that have prevented the NSA from using computers at its new Utah data-storage center, slated to be the spy agency’s largest, according to project documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

One project official described the electrical troubles—so-called arc fault failures—as “a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box.” These failures create fiery explosions, melt metal and cause circuits to fail, the official said. (Read More)

The federal government can’t keep their computers and servers from exploding and melting down, yet people think they’re going to be able to manage health care for a third of a billion people? Good grief.