O... M... G...

[JHB]

108. No handwave at all. That's EXACTLY what it's for.

While Greenwald is driving hits to his article by focusing on the Star Trek-y decor, he left out a rather more important quote from the Foreign Affairs article:

Alexander wowed members of Congress with his eye-popping command center. And he took time to sit with them in their offices and explain the intricacies of modern technology in simple, plain-spoken language. He demonstrated a command of the subject without intimidating those who had none.

"Alexander is 10 times the political general as David Petraeus," says the former administration official, comparing the NSA director to a man who was once considered a White House contender. "He could charm the paint off a wall."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/08/the_cowboy_of_the_nsa_keith_alexander

It's practically a trope that military command centers are (or were) less impressive than how the are pictured in movies: visitors expect what they saw in Dr. Stangeglove, or Wargames, or any of dozens of Hollywood depictions, and in real life they see a cramped area with outdated equipment.

I don't know how often this room is actually used or whether there's any practical need for a "center seat" (in fact, that's a good question that could have been asked and looked into), but when visitors came it looked flashy, high-tech, impressive, and put them in a good frame of mind when he tried to explain technology issues to people who think "updating a driver" means getting a new golf club.

There are plenty of good reasons for objecting to Alexander running the NSA. His skill at lobbying is one of those good reasons. His taste in interior design is not.

Otherwise it's just a command center. Even back in the 60s they had visits from the military to check out the bridge set. It was simply an efficient design they were looking at for ideas to improve real systems.