National Security Agency NSA

President Truman created the National Security Agency by secret memorandum on November 4, 1952, consolidating the code-breaking and signals intelligence work that had proved decisive in the Second World War. For decades its existence was barely acknowledged, earning it the nickname No Such Agency. Headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, it is a Defense Department combat support agency and a member of the intelligence community, with a workforce in the tens of thousands, the precise size classified.

NSA has two missions. Signals intelligence means collecting and analyzing foreign communications and electronic signals, from military radio traffic to phone calls and internet data, and providing the results to policymakers and commanders. Cybersecurity means protecting national security systems, setting encryption standards for classified information, and sharing threat warnings with industry. Since 2010 the NSA director has also commanded U.S. Cyber Command, an arrangement known as the dual hat that critics argue concentrates too much power in one officer.

Because its collection can sweep in Americans' communications, NSA is governed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and overseen by the FISA Court and the congressional intelligence committees. Edward Snowden's 2013 disclosures revealed bulk collection of Americans' phone records, which Congress ended in the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015. Fights over Section 702 surveillance authority continue. In April 2025 the President removed the agency's director, an unusual step that drew bipartisan questions in Congress.