Misplaced Data

Data center development has run amok. 



The area in Northern Virginia known as "Data Center Alley," for example, is the largest concentration of hyperscale data-center infrastructure in the world. That's a problem.

This location exists outside Washington, DC, and creates a target for American enemies and adversaries alike, and you don't have to take our word for it. Retired Army Special Forces officer Seth Krummrich made it abundantly clear data centers specifically should be viewed as "key targets against the United States and our allies around the world." Source here. He's not the only one.

Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, U.S. Navy referenced how the density of data centers, such as exists in Northern Virginia, could pose a significant vulnerability in the event of an attack, writing: "The reliance of critical services on concentrated infrastructure introduces security concerns." Source here.

In a Fox News op-ed about the Iran threat and their logic, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert Maginnis wrote, "if American military power flows through servers, destroy the servers." Source here. The list goes on.

But how can Americans help ensure the dispersion of data centers actually happens, especially while they are being built on top of each other in places like Data Center Alley?

We can build strategically, as our partner organization, the Rural National Defense Initiative, calls for in the name of our nation's national security interests. Building redundant, high-capacity fiber routes to regional Internet hubs, cloud networks, and local service providers is the key — representing work, effort, and initiative that removes the need for data centers to be built on top of homes — urban, suburban, or rural.

The geography of Rural America is the only place with the land area where true dispersion / decentralization of U.S. data centers and data center campuses can happen — and it doesn't mean taking up land owned by individual farmers and ranchers, or destroying family farms. Read any of the state white papers authored and published by Farmed for more information.