NSA (National Security Agency)

Founding

According to the NSA’s Center for Cryptologic History, Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson created the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) on 20 May 1949 to conduct COMINT and COMSEC activities; its first director, from 15 July 1949, was Earl E. Stone.¹

In June 1952 the committee headed by George Brownell recommended that a unified COMINT agency be given broader powers. On 24 October 1952 the President and the National Security Council issued a revised NSCID No. 9, and on 4 November 1952 Major General Ralph J. Canine became the first Director of the NSA.¹

VENONA

In February 1943 the US Army’s Signal Intelligence Service, a forerunner of the NSA, launched a secret programme, later codenamed VENONA, to examine Soviet diplomatic communications, which also carried intelligence traffic. Breaking the KGB ciphers took almost two years; the programme ended in 1980.²

The first of six releases of translated messages was made public in July 1995; all of the roughly 3,000 translations were released. According to the NSA, the VENONA files are best known for exposing the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.²

Oversight

The Church Committee (1975–1976) described the NSA programmes SHAMROCK and MINARET as examples of abuses by intelligence agencies.³

Following the committee’s work, FISA was passed in 1978, requiring a FISA court warrant for wiretapping and surveillance in foreign intelligence cases.³

Mission and status

The NSA describes itself as leading the US government in cryptology, combining signals intelligence with cybersecurity products and services. It is part of the Department of War and a combat support agency; its analysts, linguists and engineers are deployed to theatres of operations. It provides secure communications to the armed forces and codes that protect weapons systems, and it sets standards for sharing information with allies and NATO.⁴

An archived ODNI page calls the NSA the nation’s cryptologic organisation, responsible for protecting US information systems and producing foreign signals intelligence; it is one of the 18 elements of the intelligence community.⁵

Central Security Service

The Central Security Service (CSS) was established by presidential directive in 1972. The CSS provides cryptologic support to the military and links the NSA with the cryptologic components of the armed services – of which there are now six. The Director of the NSA is also Chief of the CSS; hence the abbreviation NSA/CSS.⁶

Directors

The NSA’s list names 18 successive directors, from Major General Ralph J. Canine (from November 1952) to General Paul M. Nakasone (from May 2018); among them are Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (1977), General Michael V. Hayden (1999) and General Keith B. Alexander (2005). The page does not name the current director.⁷