In 1997, the IC community held the first “National Colloquium on International Systems Security Education (NCISSE). In 1998, the National Security Agency established a program to identify Intelligence Community Centers of Academic Excellence – colleges and universities capable of educating students in computer security and other IC skills. Since then, other IC agencies established similar [...]

The National Security Agency is a massive organization with more than 60,000 employees. According to the National Security Archive at George Washington University, the NSA is the largest spy organization in America and very likely the world. Yet, it’s history is one fraught with inefficiency and technical problems. Created in 1952, the NSA has grown [...]

The NSA hosts a website called Cryptokids: America’s Future Codemakers and Codebreakers. The site is targeted at children with cartoon characters and games. However, the games are educational. There is also a series of cryptograms and brainteasers designed to introduce the concept of codes to children. In the Parents and Teachers section of the site, [...]

The battlegrounds of tomorrow are already here. These areas are not found on foreign soil or even outer space. The new frontier of warfare is Cyber Space. The methods and technologies used in this new virtual warfare are advancing on a daily basis. These advancements are being made so quickly that the government is still [...]

Google and the NSA might seem like an unlikely partnership, but the two organizations have teamed up to investigate a massive corporate espionage attack Google believes originated in China. Naturally, the alliance has the cyber community buzzing over the controversial partnership. Google operates a vast network of online communications, documents and more recently it’s social [...]

A former National Security Agency worker is staring down the barrel of a 35-year prison stint over allegations that he betrayed his country under the Espionage Act of 1917. However, Thomas Drake says he’s being targeted by the United States government for being a whistleblower who exposed mismanagement in the intelligence community. Later this month, [...]

The National Security Agency was formed in 1952 and tasked with being the heart of all communications intelligence gathering on America’s side of the Iron Curtain. This was at a time when long range communication was still transmitted via the airwaves and encryption was getting more advanced by the day. Despite good intentions and high-hopes [...]

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “What does NSA mean?” – this article is a brief history of how the agency came into being shortly after WWII. In 1949, after World War II, there was a recognized need for greater coordination and cooperation between the various branches of the armed forces who had often worked alone [...]

On Sunday, Novemember 21st, the U.S. Air Force, in conjunction with the United Launch Alliance (ULA), launched a top secret spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office using a Delta 4 heavy launch vehicle. In recent past years, the USAF has conducted several successful launches. In all of these cases, the launches carried various imaging [...]

Previously, I wrote an article about the 2007 reports surrounding the desire of some in the government to use spy satellites in order to conduct domestic spying, for “law enforcement” purposes. Once civil liberties groups and others heard about this, the public outcry was so strong that continuing to support the program quickly became a [...]