National Security Agency (NSA)

The National Security Agency (NSA) is an agency of the executive branch of the U.S. government. The organization’s website refers to the organization as the National Security Agency/Central Security Service. It is one of the lesser-known of the so-called American spy agencies, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. The low profile and secret status of this agency was a deliberate result of governmental efforts to keep the agency out of the public eye, resulting in the humorous pseudonym, “No Such Agency.” However, disclosures about the extent of NSA surreptitious surveillance in 2006 and again in 2013 publicized this agency domestically and internationally and cast it in an unfavorable light with many Americans and others overseas. ...