National Security Agency to host first-ever career fair

Seeking a new generation of workers, the National Security Agency will hold its first-ever job fair Saturday at its headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md. "The recruitment event is part of a larger strategy to recruit the diverse, highly skilled work force needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century," said NSA officials in a statement. The agency says it is seeking workers with experience or education in computer science, mathematics, engineering, signal analysis, language, data collection, "cryptanalysis" and intelligence analysis. Other intelligence agencies will also be represented at the career fair. The NSA statement noted that the Defense agency has "a proud history of recruiting and hiring top talent"--including more than 2,000 employees annually throughout the 1980s. But, the agency said, recruiting has become "more difficult" in recent years and old hiring methods must be "transformed" to meet today's needs. Other federal agencies are facing similar problems. A tight labor market and burdensome federal hiring rules have made recruitment a challenge. The General Accounting Office has repeatedly criticized agencies for failing to plan for the future workforce, and has warned that if more aggressive hiring and retention policies are not implemented, there will be a shortage of federal workers over the next decade. The career fair also is the latest attempt to put a public face on an agency that has long had a reputation for secrecy. NSA Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden has advocated a more open approach as the key to winning continued support from Congress for modernizing the agency's information systems and convincing the public that NSA doesn't spy on U.S. citizens.