The National Security Agency is part of the U.S. Department of Defense, serving as a combat support agency. Supporting our military service members around the world is one of the most important things that we do.
We provide intelligence support to military operations through our signals intelligence activities, while our information assurance personnel, products and services ensure that military communications and data remain secure, and out of the hands of our adversaries.
We provide wireless and wired secure communications to our warfighters and others in uniform no matter where they are, whether traveling through Afghanistan in a Humvee, diving beneath the sea, or flying into outer space. Our information assurance mission also produces and packages the codes that secure our nation's weapons systems.
Additionally, we set common protocols and standards so that our military can securely share information with our allies, NATO and coalition forces around the world. Interoperability is a key to successful joint operations and exercises.
To support our military customers, NSA has deployed personnel to all of the major military commands and to locations around the globe where there is a U.S. military presence. NSA analysts, linguists, engineers and other personnel deploy to Afghanistan and other hostile areas to provide actionable SIGINT and information assurance support to warfighters on the front lines. Many of our deployed personnel serve in Cryptologic Services Groups, providing dedicated support at the Combatant Command or headquarters level. Since the mid-2000s, however, NSA personnel have also been serving on Cryptologic Support Teams, which are assigned to support smaller units such as Brigade Combat Teams to ensure they are receiving the intelligence and information assurance products and services they need to accomplish their specific missions. These teams have enabled NSA to push the full capabilities of our global cryptologic enterprise as far forward as possible.
