Does "needs as much updating as their bugging techniques" mean ...?

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Does "needs as much updating as their bugging techniques" mean "needs much updating, just like their bugging techniques need much updating"?

Context:

"I do not know whether the prime minister or the foreign secretary (who has oversight of GCHQ) were briefed, but the NSC was not. This lack of information, and therefore accountability, is a warning that the supervision of our intelligence services needs as much updating as their bugging techniques."

Huhne said Prism and Tempora "put in the shade Tony Blair's proposed ID cards, 90-day detention without trial and the abolition of jury trials".

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/06/cabinet-gchq-surveillance-spying-huhne

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 332 • Replies: 4

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View best answer, chosen by oristarA

supervision/ needs / updating

how much? as much as their bugging techniques need updating

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@PUNKEY,

Thank you PNNKEY.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Does "needs as much updating as their bugging techniques" mean "needs much updating, just like their bugging techniques need much updating"?

The word "much" here should not be viewed alone, and does not necessarily mean a large quantity. "As much [...] as" is a construction which means "an equivalent or similar amount or degree". If I owe as much money to Jim as I owe to Mary, I owe each of them the same or a similar amount of money. That amount could be small, medium or large. The phrase, then, means: "the same amount or degree of updating as their bugging techniques"

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@contrex,

Cool.
Thanks.

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Does "needs as much updating as their bugging techniques" mean ...?

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