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      National Security Agency

      Engaged Employer

      National Security Agency reviews

      3.7

      73% would recommend to a friend

      (345 total reviews)
      avatar

      Gen. Joshua M. Rudd, USA

      Not enough data to show CEO approval

      53% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.0

      Career opportunities

      3.9

      Work/Life balance

      3.7

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.6

      Compensation and benefits

      3.3

      Culture & values

      3.3

      Senior management

      National Security Agency has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 345 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The National Security Agency employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Government & Public Administration industry (3.6 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      345 reviews
      3.0
      May 28, 2014

      Excellent place to work for

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Benefits package and training in excellent,

      Cons

      Managers not very knowledgeable about positions

      3.0
      Mar 24, 2014

      Not what it used to be

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Pay is, or was, decent for new grads. Intern programs will get you plenty of training and experience in multiple offices quickly, so you don't have to worry about being stuck somewhere that's not a good fit. If you're in Maryland, reasonable access to internal training. The usual federal government advantages apply: reasonable vacation time (4 wks/yr after 3 yr service), extremely low expense ratio for retirement account, job security (barring furloughs). Oh, and doing SIGINT is fun.

      Cons

      Major caveat: if you don't get hired into an intern (development) program, do not accept the offer. You'll be on a two-year probationary period, during which you can't apply for internal vacancies, so development programs are the only way to make sure you aren't stuck in a bad office. NSA is extremely headquarters-centric; HR processes work on the assumption that you'll go back to Maryland in a few years. As a result, it's difficult to apply to the jobs you want if you're not at headquarters, because you'd have to curtail your tour and that takes lots of paperwork. (Staying in one place generally doesn't seem to be a problem if you really want to, however.) This may not be a problem if you like the DC area, but if you don't then it does limit your options. Sadly, the agency doesn't care about professional development like it used to. Between the fallout from the GSA affair and leadership's desire to do who-knows-what with the money, good luck getting to any external conferences. NSA seems to have a fetish for open-plan architecture to a disastrous degree.

      4.0
      Jan 12, 2014

      Installation & Logistics

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Great people, team atmosphere. Leadership is open and receptive to subordinate input; tries to shield workers from higher levels of discontinuity.

      Cons

      Professional conflict of priorities between NSA-Meade and NSA-Georgia with respect to I&L missions

      Viewing 328 - 330 of 345 Reviews
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      ReviewsNational Security Agency reviews

      Glassdoor has 408 National Security Agency reviews submitted anonymously by National Security Agency employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if National Security Agency is right for you.