National Security Agency
| National Security Agency
| |
|---|---|
| Logo |  NSA headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland. Photograph: Trevor Paglen (public domain). |
| Type | Signals-intelligence and cyber-security combat-support agency |
| Founded | 4 November 1952[1] |
| Headquarters | Fort Meade, Maryland[2] |
| Area served | United States; global signals-intelligence operations |
| Services | Foreign signals intelligence and national-security-system cyber security[3] |
| Key people | Joshua M. Rudd — Director; Tim Kosiba — Deputy Director; Darren Turner — Executive Director (official roster checked November 2026)[4] |
| Website | Official website |
| Remarks | Central Security Service supports the military cryptologic community; UKUSA/Five Eyes partner[3][5] |
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a US intelligence agency with foreign signals-intelligence and cybersecurity responsibilities. The Central Security Service supports the military cryptologic community.[6]
Leadership checked in November 2026
The NSA’s official leadership page identifies General Joshua M. Rudd as Director of the NSA, Chief of the Central Security Service and Commander of US Cyber Command. It lists Tim Kosiba as Deputy Director and Darren Turner as Executive Director.[7]
ASD’s published UKUSA partnership list names the NSA alongside GCHQ, Canada’s Communications Security Establishment and New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau.[8]
Historical descriptions and sources
Earlier description
The following historical wording records the earlier description and its cited sources. References to incumbents or organisational structures apply to that earlier account, not to November 2026. Assertions without a citation have not been independently verified; the dated updates elsewhere on this page distinguish subsequent changes.
- LTG Keith B. Alexander 2005-[9]
Earlier photographs
People
Directors
- MG Ralph J. Canine 1952-1956
- Lt Gen John A. Samford 1956-1960
- VADM Laurence H. Frost 1960-1962
- Lt Gen Gordon A. Blake 1962-1965
- LTG Marshall S. Carter 1965-1969
- VADM Noel Gayler 1969-1972
- Lt Gen Samuel C. Phillips 1972-1973
- Lt Gen Lew Allen, Jr 1973-1977
- VADM Bobby Ray Inman 1977-1981
- Lt Gen Lincoln D. Faurer 1981-1985
- LTG William E. Odom 1985-1988
- VADM William O. Studeman 1988-1992
- VADM J. Michael McConnell 1992-1996
- Lt Gen Kenneth A. Minihan 1996-1999
- Lt Gen Michael V. Hayden 1999-2005[10]
- Keith B. Alexander — retired in March 2014; an NSA archival caption dates his retirement ceremony to 28 March 2014.[11]
The NSA and the UK
Relationship with GCHQ
The NSA has long had particularly close links with its British counterpart, GCHQ. In the early 1980s it was suggested that "the relationship between NSA and GCHQ is stronger than any between the NSA and any other American intelligence agency."[12]
Collection in the UK
This relationship does not prevent the NSA spying on the UK. According to Howard Teicher, the former Middle East director of the US National Security Council, the NSA monitored Britain's Al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia from its base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire.[13]
External resources
- James Ball, Julian Borger and Glenn Greenwald, US and UK spy agencies defeat privacy and security on the internet, theguardian.com, 5 September 2013.
- James Bamford, The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say), wired.com, 15 March, 2012.
- Duncan Campbell, KEEP CALM and Carry On: PRISM itself is not a big deal But yes, Skype's no longer safe ... and keep an eye on GCHQ, The Register, 11 June 2013.
- Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras, Documents: U.S. mining data from 9 leading Internet firms; companies deny knowledge, Washington Post, 6 June 2013.
- Glenn Greenwald, NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily, The Guardian, 6 June 2013.
- Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, NSA taps in to internet giants' systems to mine user data, secret files reveal, The Guardian, 6 June 2013.
- Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, guardian.co.uk, 9 June 2013.
- Seymour Hersh, Listening In, The New Yorker, 29 May 2006.
- Seymour Hersh, THE ONLINE THREAT, The New Yorker, 1 November 2010.
- Alexander Nazaryan, THE N.S.A.’S CHIEF CHRONICLER, newyorker.com, 10 June 2013.
- Ed Pilkington and Nicholas Watt, NSA surveillance played little role in foiling terror plots, experts say, guardian.co.uk, 12 June 2013.
- Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid, Holger Stark and Jonathan Stock, How the NSA Targets Germany and Europe, SpiegelOnline, 1 July 2013.
- Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark, Codename 'Apalachee': How America Spies on Europe and the UN, SpiegelOnline, 26 August 2013.
- Reuters, NSA 'spied on communications' of Brazil and Mexico presidents, theguardian.com, 2 September 2013.
- Tim Shorrock, Watching What You Say, The Nation, 20 March 2006.
- Tim Shorrock, Obama's Crackdown on Whistleblowers, The Nation, 26 March 2013.
- Tim Shorrock, Meet the contractors analyzing your private data, Salon, 10 June 2013.
- John Stokes, US intelligence rivalry flares over British connection, spectator.co.uk, 10 June 2009.
- U.S. now bugging German ministers in place of Merkel - report, Reuters, 23 February 2013.
Notes
- ↑ National Security Agency, "NSA 60th Anniversary", 2012, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ National Security Agency, "NSA Cryptologic Centers", undated, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 National Security Agency, About NSA/CSS (undated), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ National Security Agency, NSA/CSS Leadership (undated), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ Australian Signals Directorate, Domestic and international partners (undated), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ National Security Agency, About NSA/CSS (undated), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ National Security Agency, NSA/CSS Leadership (undated), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ Australian Signals Directorate, Domestic and international partners (undated), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ NSA/CSS Welcomes LTG Keith B. Alexander, USA, National Security Agency, 30 July 2005.
- ↑ Former Directors, National Security Agency, accessed 1 September 2009.
- ↑ National Security Agency / DoD, GEN Keith Alexander and Mrs. Debbie Alexander, 21 May 2019 (gallery publication), accessed 6 November 2026 (Europe/London, GMT).
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.64.
- ↑ Michael Smith, The Spying Game, Politico's, 2003, p.429.