Theres a problem, though: TheNSAdoesnt have a unit that can play back the tapes.
The tapes are a recording of a lecture from computer science legend Admiral Grace Hopper.
She later helped develop COBOL, a business-oriented computer language that still undergirds many computer systems.
© Grace Hopper in her office. (Photo by Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images)
In 1982, she gave a lecture at the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade.
The NSA recorded the lecture and stored it away.
Ravnitzky filed a FOIA for the tapes on October 12, 2021.
Three years later the NSA said there were no responsive documents.
Ravnitzky told the NSA he knew the agency had the files.
He pressed them for an explanation.
Without being able to view the tapes, NSA has no way to verify their responsiveness.
NSA is not required to find or obtain new technology (outdated or current) for process a request.
Ravnitzky asked the NSA for pictures of the tapes and they complied.
The pictures revealed the tapes were recorded on an AMPEX 1-inch Video Tape Recorder.
A cursory search on eBayrevealed dozensof machines that might fit the bill.
It might not come to that.
After MuckRock published an article people stepped forward and offered to help.
Been trying to connect folks, he said.
But not sure if anything concrete has or will come of it yet.
Tape, like everything else, degrades over time.
This challenge transcends the confines of NSAs operational scope, Ravnitzky said on MuckRock.
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