Goverment fiber-optics cables annoy construction workers

Bruce Schneier quotes a really interesting story from the Washington Post about the construction going on at Tyson's Corner for the mall expansion and metro extension- apparently the government's got miles of black fiber laid across the region. This makes sense, seeing as NoVA's got an inordinate amount of governmental agencies dotting its landscape, but the funny part is that the fiber-optic cable isn't marked on any maps or plans.

These poor contractors are digging merrily away and then all of a sudden they hit a cable. Minutes later, men in suits pour out of black SUVs. FTA:

"Yeah, we heard about the black SUVs," said Paul Goguen, the engineer in charge of relocating electric, gas, water, sewer, cable, telephone and other communications lines to make way for Metro through Tysons. "We were warned that if they were hit, the company responsible would show up before you even had a chance to make a phone call."

One of the funnier stories quoted in the article is that of a company which happened to run afoul of these "men in black SUVs". Apparently, they showed up within seconds, refused to identify themselves, and then within hours an AT&T crew came to repair the wire. AT&T tried to bill them for the repairs. FTA:

Georgelas, the developer whose company was overseeing the work in 2000 when the Chevrolet Suburbans drove up to the Greensboro Corporate Center, said he figured that the government was involved when an AT&T crew arrived the same day to fix the line, rather than waiting days. His opinion didn't change when AT&T tried to bill his company for the work but immediately backed down when his company balked.

"These lines are not cheap to move," Georgelas said. "They said, 'You owe us $300,000.' We said, 'Are you nuts?' "

Well done, sir. Well done.