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SCP-5235 Neutralized ~ medium confidence
SCP-5235
Expected annual
$752K
One-time setup
$1.3M
Annual recurring
$736K
Personnel
5
Total one-time setup and contingency funds are approximately $1.27M driven by equipment (antennae, receivers, storage, HSM) and an emergency contingency reserve; recurring annual costs are approximately $736k driven by staff wages, security/clearance maintenance, and legal/operations overhead.
🏗️ One-Time Capital Costs Total: $1.3M
Equipment $835K
[#1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #9, #14, #18, #21, #25] Parabolic satellite dish and mount (#1), RF front-end and feedline (#2), secure receivers/digitizers/servers (#3), storage appliance (live SAN/NAS portion of #5) (#5), HSM/key-management appliances (#6), redundant/off-site backup receiver (#9), cybersecurity hardware/setup one-time portion (#14), incident-response kit/equipment (#18), transportation/deployment install cost (#21), and minimal keep-alive alternative one-time package (#25).
Emergency Contingency Reserve $250K
[#24] One-time contingency reserve recommended for emergency research escalation or immediate large-scale response (minimum recommended ~ $250k).
Facilities $105K
[#7, #8, #23] Shielded monitoring room construction/biometric access and hardening (#7), site civil works (tower pads, trenching, permits) (#8), and decommissioning/neutralization audit contingency when executed (#23).
Initial Research And Lab Setup $50K
[#4, #5] Signal analysis / NLP software purchase/development and initial tuning (#4) and tape-archive setup / initial cold storage provisioning from the storage/archive estimate (#5).
Clearance Processing Initial $30K
[#15] Initial Level-5 (Δ) vetting and clearance processing one-time costs for initial staff hires and access provisioning.
🔄 Annual Recurring Costs Total: $736K/yr
Staff Wages $540K/yr
[#10, #11] 24/7 monitoring/operators (recommended staffed model: ~4 FTEs) and 1 senior researcher oversight; combined annual salaries and benefits.
Cover Story And Legal $50K/yr
[#17] Legal/PR and cover-story contingency budget for civilian notices, leaks, or litigation management.
Facilities Maintenance $28K/yr
[#12, #13] Annual maintenance/service contracts for antenna/electronics and storm/parts inspections (#12) and power/UPS/generator fuel and testing (#13).
Research And Monitoring $25K/yr
[#4, #5, #6] Ongoing software support/licensing and tuning (#4), storage growth/maintenance (#5), and HSM/key-management support (#6).
Equipment Replacement Reserve $25K/yr
[#22] Annual internal reserve/insurance target to replace destroyed hardware and to fund emergency escalations (5–10% of capital target).
Compliance And Audit $20K/yr
[#16] Secure logging, audit trails, internal compliance reviews and administrative overhead.
Incident Response Readiness $15K/yr
[#18] Team readiness training, exercises, and small recurring costs to maintain rapid-reaction capability.
Cybersecurity And Siem $10K/yr
[#14] Ongoing SIEM licensing/support and SOC oversight for classified monitoring systems.
Logistics And Transport $8K/yr
[#21] Travel, technician deployments, shipping of parts, and rental vehicles for repairs/inspections.
Supplies And Consumables $5K/yr
[#20] Consumables and spare parts inventory (connectors, fuses, batteries, small electronics).
Clearance Reinvestigation $5K/yr
[#15] Ongoing periodic reinvestigations and clearance maintenance for Level-5 personnel.
Long Term Archive Maintenance $5K/yr
[#19] Media migration, encryption refreshes, and tape integrity checks for long-term archival retention.
Minimal Keep Alive Option $0/yr
[#25] Alternative minimal recurring posture (1–2 FTEs + maintenance) — included as an accounted-for option but not active in the baseline posture (recurring cost set to 0 here).
⚡ Cost Scenarios
📊 Baseline (baseline) $736K/yr
87.0% probability / year
Normal, uneventful year with full recommended monitoring posture and no major incidents.
routine monitoring no active Way broadcasts no infrastructure failures
🚨 Minor Incident $786K/yr
10.0% probability / year +$50K vs baseline
Localized incident (hardware damage, small targeted broadcast) requiring limited emergency response and equipment replacement.
localized storm/sabotage transient anomalous broadcast with limited effects
🚨 Research Escalation $1.0M/yr
2.0% probability / year +$300K vs baseline
Re-activation of a Way or significant anomalous broadcast requiring surge research, additional short-term hires, and deployment of Nexus assets.
active Way broadcast anomalous content requiring containment research
🚨 Major Breach $1.2M/yr
1.0% probability / year +$500K vs baseline
Significant containment failure or catastrophic equipment loss requiring major replacements, large-scale containment deployment, and expedited research.
site compromise destructive weather/sabotage or wide-area anomalous effects
👥 Personnel 5 total
Role Count Notes
Analyst / Operator 3 Day/night shift coverage for automated monitoring review and validation (#10).
Senior Analyst 1 Senior analyst for oversight, incident triage, and escalation management (#10).
Research Scientist 1 Subject-matter expert to review logs, coordinate with Nexus FP-01, and update protocols (#11).
📋 Confidence Notes
Costs are drawn directly from analyst estimates and recommended posture ranges; key uncertainties are the frequency/severity of Way re-activation and the size/timing of emergency contingency expenditures.
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