The National Security Agency has confirmed that it experienced a "serious computer problem" effecting its ability to process information, according to an Associated Press report.
"This problem, which was contained to the NSA headquarters complex at Fort Meade, Md., did not affect intelligence collection, but did affect the processing of intelligence information," an agency statement said. "NSA systems were impacted for 72 hours."
Officials said the system did not show signs of a Y2K problem or cyberterrorism attack. But as Walter Pincus wrote for The Washington Post, the cause of the computer shutdown is somewhat unclear. According to one source the information blackout was the result of a "system overload." Another official called it a "software anomaly."
The agency released its statement on the problem just a few hours after the problem was reported by ABC News. The news agency said its sources described the problem as the biggest computer failure in the history of the NSA, National Public Radio reports.
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