Even though the National Security Agency has taken a lot of flak for its electronic spying programs the agency does play a vital role in the maintenance of national security. It sifts through vast swathes of data of all kinds to find clues about potential terrorist plots. Sometimes those plots could be hidden inside porn and that’s why the National Security Agency has set aside a whole room just for watching porn.
Embedding encrypted or hidden messages in porn is a tactic that terrorists are known to use, so like any other data that the NSA looks through for potential clues, its agents have to look at porn as well.
Though its not like the agency’s agents are surfing porn websites trying to find clues. They’re usually tasked with analyzing pornography that suspected radicals and terrorists watch. This narrows the scope to some extent.
Despite that, the sheer volume of pornographic material flagged for analysis is so high that the NSA has had to dedicate a special room for the purpose.
Since terrorists are messed up people who most likely watch messed up stuff the NSA has deployed a cadre of counselors to help get agents through prolonged exposure to traumatizing content.
The process starts even before agents sit down to watch and analyze, they’re first briefed by teams of mental health professionals.