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It seems like it would be the NSA's job to read any strange tape if the info on that tape is relevant to national security.
They certainly have the storage and datacenter capacity, and after declassification it could be provided to Library of Congress.
I work at an archive for public opinion data and from time to time we get a bunch of boxes from the Reagan administration in paper form or we get stacks of punched cards in "column binary" format or 9-track tapes, the IT guy in the next office has a computer set up to read many formats of legacy floppy. We haven't dealt with videotape so far as I know but we aren't intimidated by old formats.
You would think that, but it reminds me of a quotation of the moviefilm "Brazil" - """Oh Sam.. this is information RETRIEVAL, not information DISPERSAL"
What's wrong with these people? If the NSA cannot 'decode' a 1" videotape from the 1980s then heaven help us. 1" videotapes are comparatively modern by videotape standards.
Even the earlier 2" quadruplex machines, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruplex_videotape, can be read with machines such as the Ampex VR-2000B from 1968: https://archive.org/details/JL10231, and the Ampex VR-1000 from 1959 https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co80963....
Seems to me the NSA can't be bothered, or it's all too much trouble.
I'm sure they could, but they do say:
"the NSA" is a large organisation, and the journalist here was merely speaking to their FOIA handling department under the (narrow) scope of an FOIA request. Of course that department isn't going to do anything the law doesn't require them to do. That's their job. They aren't the "spend money on nice things for our heritage" department; nor do they have the budget to do that. They'd probably break some law about misuse of public funds if they did.
If you want the NSA to do nice things for our heritage, then you need to ask further up the org chart. Probably at political level, if they don't already have a budget for such things.
""NSA is not required to find or obtain new technology (outdated or current) in order to process a request.""
Agreed, but that indicates there's something very wrong with Government's archiving processes.
Magnetic tapes, floppy and hard disks of any kind lose a certain percentage of their magnetic remanence every year and eventually they become unreadable even when old/obsolete playback machines are available to read them. That well-established fact ought to be known to anyone responsible for storing/archiving information in any of these magnetic formats together with knowledge of the correct procedures for long-term handling and preservation of such material—regeneration, transferring to digital media, to media with higher/better long-term remanence, etc.
Videotape is no exception, moreover are you going to tell me the NSA doesn't have secret audio tape/cassette recordings in storage? The same would apply to these media as well.
Seems to me National Archives ought to be involved as well. If the info is secret or such that the NSA has some reason not to trust National Archives with the media then liaison between the two branches of government should be such to at least ensure that NSA material is being preserved properly.
It would be tragic to lose this significant historical artifact from an important figure in the history of computing. While magnetic tape degrades over time, this is broadcast-grade tape with high-bandwidth analog video so it's probably still savable - but it won't be forever. Also, there are broadcast museums and preservationists who still maintain working 1-inch VTRs but they're only going get rarer.
RE "....NSA is not required to find or obtain new technology (outdated or current) in order to process a request......"
This response from NSA needs to be "demolished "
Maybe find a government organization that has such a tape player?
In a friendly manner ..
Maybe offer to loan / give them such a recorder.
That has recently been verified / tested to be in proper working order ... Would need to include instructions how to use ( maybe include a modern video - to make it very easy for them ...)
MAybe locate/ provide a technical resource ( person ) to answer / solve / demonstrate usage . provide solutions to operational problems ...
Ie Make it so that they need to make no purchases ( ie need to be no purchase approvals )
The above would help demolish there reasons, reduce the effort they need to put in ....