113Knowledge Management • ©1995,1999 APQCKNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROFILESNational SecurityAgencyBACKGROUNDNational Security Agency (NSA) is divided into five directorates:• DI Information Systems Security Organization (ISSO)• DO Directorate of Operations• DS Directorate of Services• DP Directorate of Plans• DT Directorate of TechnologyThe vision of NSA is “information superiority for America—one team, onemission.” Information superiority is the capability to collect, process, and disseminateinformation while exploiting the information of your adversaries.The NSA mission is to give our customers the decisive edge by providing andprotecting vital information. Providing information is accomplished by performingSIGINT, for Signals Intelligence. In this capacity, NSA intercepts, collects, andanalyzes foreign electromagnetic signals of all types, many of them protected by codes,ciphers, and complex electronic countermeasures, to produce intelligence informationfor appropriate decision-makers within the U.S. government.Protecting information is accomplished by performing INFOSEC, for InformationSystems Security. In this capacity NSA is responsible for the protection of all classifiedinformation that is stored on or sent through U.S. government equipment. Suchequipment includes computers, telephones, and other message-sending devices.NSA is the world’s largest computing center. With an enormous range of cus-tomers and needs, NSA must demonstrate excellence in the selection of informationto pay attention to, coordination across communities, turning data into informationinto knowledge, leading edge R&D, and in providing user-friendly equipment.NSA has had considerable success in managing information (and to some extentknowledge) with the following tools and technologies:SNAPSHOTCONFIDENTIALKnowledge Management • ©1995,1999 APQC114PROFILES• A network of networks (with ample bandwidth), network browsers/navigationtools,• Databases and database access tools,business process engineering tools, softwarelibraries, and• Collaborative technologies, search engines and applications, expert systems, andintelligent agents.Many of the activities NSA now recognizes as KM began as informal ideas andinitiatives and began from the bottom of the organization to help people get things done.Because the grass-roots of the organization had accepted the tenets of strong KMconcepts, there have been pockets of good KM practices developing for years. NSA’sgoal is to harness these early adopters and link them together.The ISSO directorate has approximately 30 full-time people assigned directly toKM efforts. There is not a formally described framework within the other direc-torates or at the corporate level.NSA believes KM is only a business enabler and not the reason it exists. It knowsit must produce customer satisfaction. It considers its information technology infra-structure to be a formidable enabler.NSA’s strategies for KM include a focus on Innovation and Knowledge Creation,Transfer of Knowledge and Best Practices, and Personal Responsibility for Knowledge.Although it defines “knowledge” as a corporate asset, (sort of an intellectual propertyportfolio that all of its knowledge management (KM) efforts should be focused ongrowing), NSA sees knowledge as mostly carried around in people.APPROACHESTechnical Track ProgramAs part of NSA’s Personal Responsibility for Knowledge strategy, for many yearsit has had a corporate technical track program for its technical personnel. Withinthe Directorate of Operations it adapted the program called DO tech track.Overall, there are two goals in DO tech track: development and maintenance oftechnical skills necessary to accomplish our mission and also the provision of a viablecareer option for those wishing to remain in a technical field.Components supporting these goals include:• Training—fund classes and conferences for technical skills, and provide in-housetraining.• Communication—disseminate all information and activities as much as possi-ble, using newsletters, home pages, and the Electronic Subscription Service (ESS).• Guild system—a titling program (guild system) that identifies and recognizestechnical experts. A “people” database containing information on the member’sindividual skills and experiences.• Skill Communities—develop skill communities to include special positions for skillcommunity leaders. These personnel will be the technical leaders for their skillcommunity. Special groups composed of the top-level experts (Masters) in that fielddiscuss shortfalls and future of their particular skills fields.115Knowledge Management • ©1995,1999 APQCPROFILES• Technical Track Positions—establish technical track positions to ensure a viabletechnical (vs. management) career path. One example is the establishment ofspecial technical track positions within organizations; those in those positionswill manage the technical health and technical assets of their organization.• Decision-making—change the culture to ensure technical personnel are part of thedecision-making processes.• Leadership support—most importantly, visible and vocal support of the DeputyDirector for Operations (DDO), who, among other things, restructured promo-tion boards making half of the promotion board members a member of the tech track.• Support structure—a Technical Health Advisory Board (THAB) comprised oftechnical leaders and skill level representatives from each of our eight primaryskill fields within the Operations Directorate. This board is primarily responsiblefor advising the DDO on specific actions the DO must implement to make tech-nical health a reality. Its other major responsibility is to create developmentalopportunities and make sure it is available to as many personnel as possible. Thisboard also oversees the technical track program to ensure standardization anduniformity in the interpretation of the tech track criteria. Additionally, the THABassigns funding for technical seminars and conferences to enhance technical skills.• An office that is responsible for the technical health and all training with the DO.IDEA ProgramTo support Transfer of Knowledge, Best Practices Innovation, and KnowledgeCreation, NSA has the IDEA program, the Intranet/WEB Crawler, Lessons Learned,and Practice Centers.The IDEA program was established by the Assistant Deputy Director forTechnology & Systems (ADDT) in early