NSA.gov - Selected public resources

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Nsa.gov has special resource sections for three separate groups — Everyone, Students & Educators, and Cybersecurity Professionals – but the overlap of coverage deserves notice. Certainly other areas of Nsa.gov have materials of public interest as well.

Excerpts from all three sections are found in this public resource post, starting with the Students & Educators area. Material from the NSA Research page introduces the education excerpts. The Research page conveys somewhat the agency’s self-understanding, scale of activity, and level of technical ambition:

“Since 1952, NSA/CSS has been the world expert on cryptology and electronic communications systems.”

“We develop the means to dominate the global computing and communications network.”

From the NSA point of view, students, educators, and researchers are offered resources and opportunities from a special perspective and authority.

The following sections are from the Nsa.gov pages. Quotation marks are omitted.

Research

Our vital research program focuses on four critical goals:

We develop the means to dominate the global computing and communications network.
We cope with the overload of information in our environment and turn that overload to our strategic advantage.
We provide the means for ubiquitous, secure collaboration both within our government and through its interactions with various partners.
We create the means for penetrating into the “hard” targets that threaten our nation wherever, whenever, or whomever they may be.

Careers in Research at NSA/CSS

Imagine working with the most sophisticated tools available and over-the-horizon technologies that won’t come into commercial mainstream use for many years. NSA/CSS conducts leading-edge research to support the missions. Our work is exciting, intellectually challenging, and essential to the security and welfare of the United States of America.

Since 1952, NSA/CSS has been the world expert on cryptology and electronic communications systems. Today, our work takes us into the worlds of knowledge discovery, advanced mathematics, quantum computing, nanotechnology, networking technologies, and, of course, computer systems security. Some of the world’s toughest problems come to NSA/CSS, but we don’t do research for the sake of research – we deliver techniques and capabilities that provide timely information to our armed forces and our national leaders.

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Resources for Students & Educators

What does NSA do with schools? To meet future national security challenges, NSA partners with schools to develop the talent and tools we need by:

funding skill development programs like summer camps
promoting development of curricula for growing career fields such as cybersecurity
sponsoring skills and research paper competitions
hosting student interns and co-ops
awarding research grants and funding research labs and projects

These partnerships help cultivate the next generation of experts in science, technology, engineering, math, language and analysis. They broaden the pool of skilled cybersecurity professionals who can protect our nation from cyberattacks. Our academic partnerships foster interest in critical need foreign languages. They also advance science through research and innovation that benefits the country even beyond NSA’s need to apply emerging technologies to our mission.

What’s available for me? We have partnership opportunities at both the college/university level and the kindergarten-12 level. If you are a student, an educator or an academic researcher, check out what we have to offer below.

Information for Students

Information for Educators

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Featured School Series

Current Featured Schools:

Resources for Everyone

While NSA is responsible for National Security, some of our expertise can be used by those doing business with the government, trying to secure a home network, running a small organization, or seeking a research grant.

We provide guidance on Information Assurance security solutions so that customers can benefit from our unique and deep understanding of risks, vulnerabilities, mitigations and threats. NSA also provides recommendations on suitable technology and offers ways for businesses to expand their technical expertise. Click on one of the links below to learn more about these resources.

Digital Media Center

[Especially noteworthy in the publications area:] The Next Wave (TNW): a quarterly research publication of the National Security Agency to disseminate technical advancements and research activities in telecommunications and information technologies.