Security News > 2005 > January > Terrorism Fight Prods NSA to Look Beyond Its Fortress
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43264-2005Jan2.html By Christian Davenport Washington Post Staff Writer January 3, 2005 Nicknamed "No Such Agency" and "Never Say Anything" for its legendary secrecy, the National Security Agency conceals its headquarters behind tall fences topped with barbed wire. Its employees are in the business of breaking codes, eavesdropping and guarding secrets. And its normally reticent leaders rarely call attention to themselves outside the agency's sprawling campus. So it was an extraordinary event when some of the agency's top officials emerged in Annapolis about a year ago at the opening of a business center dedicated to helping start-up homeland security companies. Their message was also extraordinary: The NSA needs help fighting the war against global terrorism. "I'm looking for new ideas," said Daniel G. Wolf, the NSA's information assurance director. "We want to hear what you have." In November, the agency announced that it would pump $445,000 into the center, whose companies are at the vanguard of security technology: finding cures for bioterrorism diseases, protecting computer networks from hackers, developing software designed to find terrorists. As the intelligence industry continues to expand since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the clandestine agency is playing a more prominent -- and visible -- role in the Washington region. With plans to hire 7,500 new employees over five years, the NSA, already Anne Arundel County's largest employer, is undergoing its largest recruiting drive since the Cold War. The agency is also increasingly opening its doors to private companies for help in developing spy technologies. The business center in Annapolis is just one example of how the burgeoning intelligence industry is affecting the region. Highly secure office parks that house defense contractors have sprouted up near the agency's headquarters and nearby Baltimore-Washington International Airport. In Greenbelt, a headhunting agency that serves only clients with security clearances is seeing double-digit growth every month. Home to the Pentagon, CIA, FBI and NSA, the Washington area has long been a place where the intentionally vague phrase "I work for the government" has been code for one of the security agencies. But now, an increasing number of people demur when asked what they do for a living. "I'm a contractor for the Department of Defense, doing computer stuff," is how Jason, 31, of Annapolis answers. It's the computer stuff he hopes people focus on, because then they "think I'm an IT guy." And nothing ends a conversation faster than the words information technology, said Jason, who spoke only on the condition that his last name not be used. Copious Security Features
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