SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images; DBI ArchitectsNerd alert!
It seems that when Keith Alexander, the current chief of the National Security Agency was running the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, he used a facility at Fort Belvoir, Va., that was inspired by Star Trek.
"Alexander brought many of his future allies down to Fort Belvoir for a tour of his base of operations, a facility known as the Information Dominance Center," PBS NewsHour reports. "It had been designed by a Hollywood set designer to mimic the bridge of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, complete with chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall, and doors that made a 'whoosh' sound when they slid open and closed."
The PBS report adds that "lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in a leather 'captain's chair' in the center of the room and watched as Alexander, a lover of science-fiction movies, showed off his data tools on the big screen."
Although some sources have claimed that Alexander was the one who commissioned the Star Trek-like command center, the Washington Post cites a source who states the facility was actually built in 1998, three years before Alexander took charge.
Meanwhile, a retired officer in charge of VIP visits told Foreign Policy, "Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard."
We're guessing Alexander was one of them.