NSA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Cryptologic School

On November 4, the National Security Agency (NSA) kicked off celebrations to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Cryptologic School (NCS) with a tribute ceremony at the school’s headquarters in the Fort Meade, Maryland area. The NCS provides to the NSA workforce and its Intelligence Community and Department of Defense partners highly-specialized cryptologic training, as well as courses in leadership, professional development, and over 40 foreign languages. The school was founded in 1965 when Deputy Secretary of Defense Cyrus R. Vance issued a directive calling for the establishment of a professional institution to centralize education and training efforts for Department of Defense intelligence activities.

“We are grateful to the school’s leadership for their commitment to train our unique workforce, which works 365 days a year across the NSA global enterprise,” said ADM Michael Rogers, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command and Director, NSA/Chief, Central Security Service. “With a wide variety of classroom and distance learning programs, the National Cryptologic School allows our employees to gain new skills in the many fields critical to our national security mission.”

Courses offered by the NCS support the life-long learning goals of agency employees. While the agency is known for attracting some of the brightest minds in their fields, many continue to take courses throughout their careers to build specialized skills and knowledge so they can rapidly respond to changing world events and mission needs.

Earlier this year, NSA and NCS announced a new partnership with Dakota State University that allows agency employees to apply on-the-job training toward a bachelor’s degree in the university’s online cyber operations program. This partnership marks the first time NCS has entered into such an agreement with a public academic institution.

The NSA and NCS are also celebrating the 25th anniversary of the school’s accreditation by the Council on Occupational Education (COE). COE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an authority on the evaluation of educational institutions in both the government and private sectors. Accreditation is earned following a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of the school and an independent review by a visiting team of professional educators. NSA is recognized by fellow Department of Defense learning institutions as a leader for earning accreditation from this prestigious national accrediting body.

Source: NSA