The National Security Agency (NSA) has the dual responsibility of safeguarding the communications of the US armed forces and also for monitoring the communications of other nations for the purpose of gathering intelligence.
The NSA was established in 1952 by President Truman to replace the earlier Armed Forces Security Agency. In 1972 the Central Security Service was added to the NSA establishment to emphasise the fact that the NSA was being given the responsibility for developing a unified cryptologic program within the Department of Defense (DOD). The three star director of NSA heads both organizations.
Due to the classified nature of many of its operations there are no figures available on the number of NSA employees. Nor does the NSA appear on many organizational charts of DOD.
