Last year, I appeared on a government panel to discuss the National Security Agency’s human capital practices and some of our more notable successes in these areas. During the question-and-answer session, an audience member asked me to describe the key to the NSA’s success. After brief reflection, my perhaps too-glib response was, “Well, you know, there is no secret sauce to what we do.” After the laughter faded, I tried to articulate some of the more recent keys to unlocking success, including our acquisition and retention of talent—particularly when it comes to cybersecurity personnel.

Recruiting talent within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines is highly competitive, and that competitive character will continue to steadily escalate for federal agencies in the future. However, jobs within the cybersecurity space have now reached a level of being almost hyper-competitive.  This represents a substantial challenge for federal agencies, but it is a mission critical challenge that select agencies must address—not only for their own interests, but also in the interests of national security.

The National Security Agency is one of those select agencies. Cybersecurity has been identified as a new and distinct battlespace for the Department of Defense. What’s more, cybersecurity has quickly gained prominence as a core business segment for NSA. In order to maintain our edge in this hyper-competitive labor market and ensure our national security on a government-wide, and indeed a world-wide scale, it is important to attract the absolute best in the field. That means reaching and engaging prospective cybersecurity employees early.

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Starting Them Young

**First, the NSA is constantly recruiting, as well as fostering and maintaining relationships with sources of high-quality talent in academia and the private sector. However, given the nature of the job, NSA also relies on less-traditional sources, such as early career stage development programs, to identify and retain qualified candidates.

These developmental programs are some of the NSA’s biggest “claims to fame” when it comes to STEM and cybersecurity recruiting and talent development. Often NSA will begin grooming candidates as early as high school, through work study programs, or engaging promising college age prospects, through co-op programs and summer internships.

NSA gives these young people an opportunity to see what it’s actually like to work for the agency. We also consciously leverage some of the intrinsic motivations that appeal to young people, in terms of their interest in working towards the common good and a call to service on behalf of their country. Through these developmental programs, I think we do an admirable job of informing young, talented people of what the NSA actually does, and thereby positively predispose them toward the idea of employment and a career in government. From an employee-sourcing standpoint, these programs have been and continue to be hugely successful. 

Rethinking the Secret Sauce

Recruiting the highest quality talent, however, is only one element in the overall success of the NSA. Weeks after my panel discussion, the topic of organizational success came up in one of our weekly meetings with the HR director. After a bit of discussion, we were able to conclude that the “secret” to our recent success was a not attributable solely to the capability and positive attitude of our staff, but it was complemented by a supportive and empowering approach by leadership. More importantly, leaders in the agency exhibit a willingness to look outside the box to solve a wide range of human capital issues.

For a deeper dive into this topic, join me September 7 at the Government Workforce Conference.