I'm a little skeptical about this process given the other, much easier methods available to the NSA. The one thing that isn't discussed here is data retention.

I'm a little skeptical about this process given the other, much easier methods available to the NSA. The one thing that isn't discussed here is data retention. Quite simply, how do you get the information to shore, where it can be processed, in a timely fashion? We're talking about thousands of TB or PB (or greater). You can't just simply send that up on a radio link, and a recorder device would have to be enormous. Processing and analysis cannot be realistically done on the submarine, and frequent trips back to the site would tie up a tremendous naval asset. I cannot in any sense see the Navy agreeing to the NSA's continued use of its submarines for tapping civilian traffic when its primary focus lies elsewhere (such as performing special operations in the Pacific.) It's an open secret that the Jimmy Carter was built specifically to tap cables and perform other special missions, but the technical facets of tapping a major transatlantic cable for bulk data collection sounds too unrealistic when better alternatives exist; specifically, the major routing and landing points on US soil where equipment can be installed via cohersion of the owner.