Secrecy of NSA Affiliation

[Mike Tighe]

>Up until recently (18-30 months ago) NSA employees were only allowed
>to identify themselves as employees of DoD.  It was common knowledge,
>that unspecific references to Fort Meade meant NSA; and if you saw
>a P.O. from Procurement Office, Fort Meade, it meant the NSA was buying
>it.

Nothing has really changed. During orientation, you are told to keep your
NSA affiliation low key. But you are not ordered to. This was part of the
No Such Agency stuff, trying not to draw attention to yourself or the
Agency, and to avoid questions from the curious. Perhaps the most important
reason for keeping it low key though, was to preserve your career
options. But for disciplines such as crypto, the choices are quite limited
so broadcasting you are NSA does not matter much.