U.S. intelligence agency responsible for cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. Established in 1952 by a presidential directive (not by law), it has operated largely without Congressional oversight. Its director has always been a general or an admiral. Its mission includes the protection and formulation of codes, ciphers, and other cryptology as well as the interception, analysis, and solution of coded transmissions. It conducts research into all forms of electronic transmission and operates listening posts around the world for the interception of signals. A target for penetration by foreign intelligence services, until recently it maintained no contact with the public or the press. Though its budget and the number of its employees is secret, the NSA is acknowledged to be far larger than the Central Intelligence Agency, possessing financial resources that rival those of the world's largest companies
U.S. independent police force. The agency was founded in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton (1819-84), former deputy sheriff of Cook county, Ill. It originally specialized in railway theft cases, protecting trains and apprehending train robbers. It solved the $700,000 Adams Express Co. theft in 1856, and in 1861 it thwarted an assassination plot against president-elect Abraham Lincoln. It later participated in anti-labour union activities (see Homestead Strike). It was instrumental in breaking up the Molly Maguires
the United States cryptologic organization that coordinates and directs highly specialized activities to protect United States information systems and to produce foreign intelligence information