  We report observations and analysis of infrared spectra of H3+ and CO lines
in the Galactic center, within a few parsecs of the central black hole, Sgr A*.
We find a cosmic ray ionization rate typically an order of magnitude higher
than outside the Galactic center. Notwithstanding, the elevated cosmic ray
ionization rate is 4 orders of magnitude too short to match the proton energy
spectrum as inferred from the recent discovery of the TeV gamma-ray source in
the vicinity of Sgr A*.
