Intelligence community heightens security measures following Washington Post ‘Top Secret America’ story

In the article itself, a handful of intelligence-related sites are identified in such a way that they would be easy to find simply by reading the article, though someone who was looking for them would have been able to find them anyway. Again, however, the precise location of the buildings are not given.

In an Arlington County office building, the lobby directory doesn’t include the Air Force’s mysteriously named XOIWS unit, but there’s a big “Welcome!” sign in the hallway greeting visitors who know to step off the elevator on the third floor. In Elkridge, Md., a clandestine program hides in a tall concrete structure fitted with false windows to look like a normal office building. In Arnold, Mo., the location is across the street from a Target and a Home Depot. In St. Petersburg, Fla., it’s in a modest brick bungalow in a run-down business park.

Here is another portion of the article that identifies building locations:

To get another view of how sprawling Top Secret America has become, just head west on the toll road toward Dulles International Airport.

As a Michaels craft store and a Books-A-Million give way to the military intelligence giants Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, find the off-ramp and turn left. Those two shimmering-blue five-story ice cubes belong to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes images and mapping data of the Earth’s geography. A small sign obscured by a boxwood hedge says so.

Across the street, in the chocolate-brown blocks, is Carahsoft, an intelligence agency contractor specializing in mapping, speech analysis and data harvesting. Nearby is the government’s Underground Facility Analysis Center. It identifies overseas underground command centers associated with weapons of mass destruction and terrorist groups, and advises the military on how to destroy them.

The story will undoubtedly spur debate over whether too much information was disclosed. But given the scope and size of the intelligence-related spending and infrastructure that the article reveals, it appears that the counter-argument — that there needs to be more transparency and oversight of this secret world — will carry weight.

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WATCH: INTELLIGENCE FAILURES 5.21.10