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The National Security Agency is the official U.S. cryptologic organization of the United States Intelligence Community under the Department of Defense.

Responsible for the coordination of communications intelligence activities throughout the government, the top secret NSA was covertly formed in November 1952 under a directive from President Harry S. Truman and the National Security Council.

Secrecy around the agency's activities has suffered, however, as security breaches have exposed global surveillance programs and cyberweapons -- malware agents -- developed to target computers and networks of U.S. adversaries.

The agency exists to protect national communications systems integrity and to collect and process information about foreign adversaries' secret communications to support national security and foreign policy. The classified information is disseminated to 16 separate government agencies that make up the U.S. Intelligence Community.

In October 2017, Attorney General Loretta Lynch signed new guidelines to enable the NSA to provide intercepted communications and raw signals intelligence -- before applying domestic and foreign privacy protections -- to 16 government agencies, including the FBI and CIA.

The National Security Agency works in close conjunction with the Central Security Service, which was established by presidential executive order in 1972 to promote full partnership between the NSA and the cryptologic elements of the armed forces. The director of the NSA/CSS, in accordance with a Department of Defense directive, must be a high-ranking -- at least three stars -- commissioned officer of the military services.

Although the organization's number of employees -- as well as its budget -- falls into the category of classified information, the NSA lists among its workforce analysts, engineers, physicists, linguists, computer scientists, researchers, customer relations specialists, security officers, data flow experts, managers, and administrative and clerical assistants.

It also claims to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the U.S., and possibly worldwide. NSA/CSS mathematicians perform the agency's two critical functions: they design cryptographic systems to protect U.S. communications, and they search for weaknesses in the counterpart systems of U.S. adversaries.

The NSA denies reports claiming that it has an unlimited black budget -- undisclosed even to other government agencies. Nevertheless, the agency admits that, if it were judged as a corporation, it would rank in the top 10% of Fortune 500 companies.

NSA surveillance operations, which intensified after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. soil, have come under scrutiny. U.S. surveillance laws changed suddenly when the USA Patriot Act -- Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 -- was enacted by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001.

The Patriot Act expanded the government's surveillance powers beyond the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, established in 1978, which provided exceptions to the Fourth Amendment when the search -- or wiretap -- was to gain foreign intelligence. For example, the Patriot Act authorized law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to secretly search personal and business records of U.S. citizens, including telephone, email and financial information, without judicial or congressional involvement.

In 2013, details about some of the NSA's surveillance programs became public when former Booz Allen Hamilton contractor Edward Snowden leaked troves of confidential NSA information, first travelling to Hong Kong to meet with reporters and then seeking asylum from U.S. authorities in Russia. Russia extended his asylum in January 2017 until 2020. The documents indicated the agency had broadened its domestic surveillance activities to bulk collection of U.S. communications.

Questions of legal authority were raised when Snowden's NSA disclosures revealed the organization collected internet data stored by internet service providers, as well as surveillance metadata on U.S. citizens' telecommunications -- phone records. The agency's surveillance operations also targeted third parties, such as business owners required to turn over customers' records, and U.S. companies involved in any type of foreign communications.

The exposure of the details of the NSA's widespread surveillance programs also embarrassingly revealed that the agency intercepted allied government communications, allegedly tapping mobile phones of world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The unauthorized leaks also provided information on the NSA's Tailored Access Operations program, an elite offensive hacking unit created in 1998 that conducts technical surveillance. According to Snowden's disclosures, in addition to computer networks, TAO infiltrated satellite and fiber optic communications systems, which are the backbones of telecommunications providers and ISPs.

The NSA and FBI also appeared to gain access to servers and stored internet communications through a top secret project code named PRISM. While Snowden's documents alluded to PRISM, U.S. technology providers claimed to provide government assistance only when the law required it, or to have no knowledge of the data collection program. The NSA revelations raised concerns worldwide that U.S. hardware and software manufacturers may have shipped compromised products with malware or backdoors installed, enabling the agency to access customers' data.

The USA Freedom Act -- Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection and Online Monitoring Act -- was proposed by Congress in October 2013.

Provisions of the Patriot Act, including roving wiretaps and bulk metadata collection, expired on June 1, 2015. The next day, the USA Freedom Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama. It restored the Patriot Act provisions with modifications and imposed limits on bulk collection of telecommunications metadata. However, the NSA could still access that information through telecommunications companies.

Early interception techniques relied on radio signals, radar and telemetry.

The Army Signal Corps developed the Signals Intelligence Service in May 1929 after taking over cryptology from military intelligence. Civilian William F. Friedman became chief cryptologist at SIS and was tasked with educating a small team of civilians on cryptanalysis so they could compile codes for the U.S. Army.

After the armed forces saw success cracking German and Japanese codes during World War II, the National Security Agency was established by President Truman. SIS, renamed the Signal Security Agency, and then the Army Security Agency in the mid-1940s, became part of the National Security Agency, headquartered in Fort Meade, Md.

In 2012, the New York Times reported that Stuxnet malware, discovered in June 2010 after a damaging attack on Windows machines and programmatic logic controllers in Iran's industrial plants, including its nuclear program, had been jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel. Neither country has admitted responsibility for the malicious computer worm.

A hacker organization dubbed the Equation Group allegedly used two of the zero-day exploits prior to the Stuxnet attack, according to antivirus company Kaspersky Lab, which is based in Moscow and made the claims in 2015.

In addition to protecting national security through cryptography and cryptanalysis, the NSA has weathered security breaches beyond Snowden that have caused embarrassment for the agency and affected its intelligence-gathering capabilities.

An unidentified NSA contractor removed classified U.S. government information from the NSA in 2015 and stored the material, which included code and spyware used to infiltrate foreign networks, on a personal device. The files were allegedly intercepted by Russian hackers. The contractor acknowledged using antivirus software from Kaspersky Lab, a company that, according to some reports, may have ties to the Russian government.

In 2017, Israel intelligence officers revealed that they detected NSA materials on Kaspersky networks in 2015. Kaspersky officials later admitted that they became aware of unusual files on an unidentified contractor's computer, and they did not immediately report their findings.

In December 2017, the U.S. government banned the use of Kaspersky Lab products for all federal agencies and government employees.

A hacker group calling itself the Shadow Brokers claimed they had stolen NSA files in 2017. They released batches of files on the internet, some of which allegedly contained the IP addresses of computer servers that were compromised by the Equation Group -- hackers reported to have ties to the NSA.

The continual dumping of NSA files has exposed zero-day exploits targeting firewalls and routers, Microsoft Windows vulnerabilities, and other cyberweapons. The NSA, according to the ongoing leaks, has been stockpiling vulnerabilities, most notably the Windows EternalBlue exploit used by cybercriminals in the global WannaCry ransomware attacks.

Harold T. Martin III, a former NSA contractor employed by Booz Allen Hamilton, was arrested by the FBI in August 2016 and accused of violating the Espionage Act for unlawful possession of terabytes of confidential materials allegedly taken from the NSA and other intelligence agencies over a 20-year period. He was indicted by a grand jury in February 2018. The case is still pending as prosecutors wrestle with criminal counts and the sheer volume of materials.

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What is National Security Agency (NSA)? - Definition from ...

7th January 2020 12:22 AM ET

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On NBCs hit sci-fi series Manifest, Robert Vance was the NSA director who was giving the survivors of Flight 828 a hard time.

However, over the course of the first season, Vance came around and seemed to realize there were bad things afoot and started to help the passengers.

See, there were 11 missing passengers from Flight 828 that UDS took and was experimenting on. In the episode, Dead Reckoning, Michaela, Jared, Vance, Ben, and Fiona head to the warehouse hoping to find them.

When Cal shows up and finds a hidden door, a shootout takes place and the 11 missing passengers are freed. However, Vance, Jared, and Laurence are caught in an explosion and all of them die.

The funeral for Robert Vance takes place in the next episode, called Crosswinds.

As people should expect in science fiction, and especially science fiction that includes people seemingly escaping death, dont believe everything that you see.

In the first episode of Manifest Season 2, titled Fasten Your Seatbelts, Robert Vance turns out to still be alive.

As with any explosion that does not result in a dead body pulled out of the wreckage, never assume someone is dead. Remember, he was loaded into an ambulance and the police said he didnt make it. That does not mean it is true.

Robert Vance is a spy and he can disappear if he wants to, and that appears to be what the show pulled off as the second season begins.

Ben was taken near the end of the Manifest Season 2 premiere and he ended up face-to-face with Vance.

Now that Vance is presumed dead, he can help Ben and the passengers better than he could as a government employee. In an underground manner, and thanks to his experience as a spy, Vance could be their most valuable ally now.

Of course, Robert Vance was gone for a while and there is no telling what he was up to while everything was going down last season after his death.

Manifest airs on Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

Link:
What happened to Robert Vance on Manifest? NSA director rises from the dead - Monsters and Critics

BOSTON A nationally recognized expert in corrections and criminal justice is coming to Massachusetts to run the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association as its new executive director.

Carrie Hill, who most recently worked as director of the National Sheriffs' Association's National Center for Jail Operations and has worked in the corrections field for more than three decades, has been hired to lead the MSA effective Jan. 16, Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian announced as president of the organization.

"I am thrilled and honored to be joining President Koutoujian and each of the Massachusetts sheriffs as we work collaboratively and cooperatively with our federal and national partners to elevate the office of sheriff as well as the jails and communities in which they serve," Hill said. "Massachusetts sheriffs have led innovative programming and initiatives that have become national models. It is our privilege to provide a voice for both those served by and those serving in our nation's jails."

A frequent speaker at corrections conferences and professional development summits around the country, Hill has worked at the state and county levels, and served as a consultant to organizations like the National Institute of Corrections. Before her work with the NSA, Hill "focused on providing training and consulting on national, regional, state and local levels for a variety of private and public entities," according to a conference biography.

Her previous roles include serving as general counsel to the Utah Department of Corrections, senior administrative manager for former Hennepin County, Minn., Sheriff Richard Stanek, and as editor of Corrections Managers' Report, a bi-monthly industry bulletin published by the Civic Research Institute.

"The Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association is extremely visionary to hire Carrie Hill as their next executive director," Newport News, Virginia, Sheriff Gabe Morgan, who chairs the NSA's Jail & Detention Committee, said.

Retired Associate Deputy Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Steven Cook said, "The Massachusetts Sheriffs are fortunate to be bringing Carrie Hill on board. She is a widely recognized expert on jail and detention issues, and she has been a leader at a national level building relationships and coalitions to protect and pursue the interests of sheriffs and law enforcement."

Koutoujian, who has led the MSA as president since 2018, described the hiring of Hill as executive director as "a milestone moment" for the 15-plus-year-old MSA.

"To attract someone of Carrie's caliber to the ranks of the MSA is a testament to how respected Massachusetts sheriffs have become nationally. We have earned this position through the diligent work of each sheriff and the generous assistance of our longtime executive director, James Walsh," the former state representative said.

As executive director of the MSA, Hill is also expected to continue to work with national initiatives like the NSA-National Association of Counties Joint Task Force, which the MSA said is "studying the impacts of the national behavioral health crisis on county jails" and with partnerships and programs that the NSA is engaged in to benefit sheriffs across the country.

The hiring of Hill comes while the MSA has been active on Beacon Hill and among its peer organizations, and in rebuilding relationships with state policymakers.

In 2016, Auditor Suzanne Bump's office found that the MSA was not meeting its statutory transparency and reporting requirements, and she said the organization "did not have the tools or the policies and procedures in place to do" what it was established in 2004 to do, facilitate communication between the state's 14 sheriffs.

Since then, under new leadership at the sheriff level and now soon at the executive director level, the MSA has been active in Beacon Hill's debate of criminal justice reform. Koutoujian worked closely with lawmakers in 2018 to craft a bill that has allowed correctional facilities in Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk and Franklin counties to run a three-year pilot program using medication-assisted treatment to combat opioid addiction.

The state's 14 sheriffs run county jails and houses of correction, as well as inmate rehabilitation programs that seek to provide social services to people who are incarcerated. As an organization, the MSA has gotten involved in criminal justice reform and advocating for the sheriffs' positions during debates over other public policy issues, like marijuana legalization.

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Sheriffs group nabs national expert to serve as director - Fall River Herald News

First we will be looking for the boiling points and excitability of National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) stock, it purposes common trait for traders and value investors.

Volatility Indicators for National Storage Affiliates Trust:

Volatility of the National Storage Affiliates Trust remained at 1.72% over last week and shows 1.84% volatility in last month. In addition to number of shares traded in last few trading sessions volatility also tells about the fluctuation level of the stock price, commonly a high volatility is the friend of day traders. Volatility is also measured by ATR an exponential moving average (14-days) of the True Ranges. Currently, the ATR value of companys stock is situated at 0.58. Beta value is also an important factor that helps to know how much the Market risk lies with the trading of subjective stock. Beta indicator of this stock lies at 0.3. In case you dont know, when beta is higher than 1 then risk is higher and if beta is lower than 1, then risk will be low.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) traded 184060 shares on Tuesday as compared to an average volume of 398.28K shares. It shows that the shares were traded in the recent trading session and traders shown interest in NSA stock. Listed Shares of the National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) declined -0.20% to trade at $34.14 in the last trading session ended on 01/07/2020. It has a market capitalization of $2.02B. Knowing about the market capitalization of a company helps investor to determine the company size, market value and the risk. The stock EPS is $-0.47 against its recent stock value of $34.14 per share.

Now entering into the performance part of the article on National Storage Affiliates Trust stock we should check the stocks actual performance in the past.

Performance of the NSA Stock:

National Storage Affiliates Trust revealed performance of 3.49% during the period of last 5 trading days and shown last 12 months performance of 34.67%. The stock moved to 15.07% in last six months and it maintained for the month at -0.84%. The stock noted year to date 2019 performance at 1.55% and changed about 0.29% over the last three months. The stock is now standing at -4.53% from 52 week-high and is situated at 35.96% above from 52-week low price.

Technical Indicators of National Storage Affiliates Trust Stock:

RSI momentum oscillator is the most common technical indicator of a stock to determine about the momentum of the shares price and whether the stock trading at normal range or its becoming oversold or overbought. It also helps to measure Speed and change of stock price movement. RSI reading varies between 0 and 100. Commonly when RSI goes below 30 then stock is oversold and stock is overbought when it goes above 70. So as currently the Relative Strength Index (RSI-14) reading of National Storage Affiliates Trust stock is 60.87.

Although it is important to look for trades in a direction of bigger trends when stocks are indicating an opposite short-term movement. Like looking for overbought conditions when bigger trend remained down and oversold conditions when bigger trend is up. In order to check a bigger trend for NSA a 14-day RSI can fell short and considered as a short-term indicator. So in that situation a Simple moving average of a stock can also be an important element to look in addition to RSI.

The share price of NSA is currently above 2.95% from its 20 days moving average and trading 2.48% up the 50 days moving average. The stock price has been seen performing along overhead drift from its 200 days moving average with 8.61%. Moving averages are an important analytical tool used to identify current price trends and the potential for a change in an established trend. The simplest form of using a simple moving average in analysis is using it to quickly identify if a security is in an uptrend or downtrend.

Profitability Spotlight for National Storage Affiliates Trust:

Operating Margin which tells about what proportion of a companys revenue is left over after paying for variable costs of production such as wages & raw materials is noted at 32.10%. Net profit margin of the company is -7.30% that shows how much the company is actually earning by every dollar of sales.

Return on Investment (ROI) of stock is 5.00%. ROI ratio tells about the efficiency of a number of investments in a company. Return on Assets (ROA) which shows how much the company is profitable as compared to its total assets is observed at -0.90%. Return on Equity (ROE), which tells about the profitability of the corporation by evaluating the profit it generates in ratio to the money shareholders have invested, is noted at -3.80%.

The current analyst consensus rating stood at 2.2 on shares (where according to data provided by FINVIZ, 1.0 Strong Buy, 2.0 Buy, 3.0 Hold, 4.0 Sell, 5.0 Strong Sell). Analysts opinion is also an important factor to conclude a stocks trend. Many individual analysts and firms give their ratings on a stock. While Looking ahead of 52-week period, the mean Target Price set by analysts is $34.88.

Read more here:
Our take on National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) Stock, Few Things Worth Reminding - News Welcome

Increased security will mean increased traffic at gates of local military installations, including Naval Support Activity Bethesda.

Ramped-up security at United States military installations, due to ongoing tension in the Middle East, will affect employees and patients at Walter Reed Military Medical Center and Naval Support Activity Bethesda in Maryland.

Seated on the east side of Maryland Route 355/Wisconsin Avenue, across from the National Institutes of Health, NSA Bethesda is restricting the number of gates open during the week and weekend.

The Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, and their subordinate commands, including NSA Bethesda, are constantly evaluating security requirements across the world, according to a news release from NSAB, which implemented operational changes based on current security requirements.

With the changes, two of the installations gates will be closed, while three will be open, with some changes.

Traffic in the area surrounding the installation will be significantly impacted during weekday commuting hours, according to the release.

The hospital put out an automated phone message to patients with scheduled appointments, saying delays will affect patients and providers.

Until further notice, the changes include:

Gate 1 (Visitor Center/North Gate) Open 24/7

Gate 2 (South Gate, across from Metro):

Gate 3 (NEX Gate)

Gate 4 (Navy Lodge) Closed to vehicles and pedestrians until further notice

Gate 5 (USU Gate) Open 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday for taxis, delivery vehicles and non-DoD vehicle traffic.

All non-DoD personnel without official identification (CAC, DBIDS, etc.) traveling by personal vehicle should proceed Gate 5 (USU Gate) for vetting and vehicle inspection.

Employees and visitors at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling and Marine Corps Base Quantico are also experiencing additional security.

WTOPs Traffic Center received calls on Monday of expanding delays for various locations throughout the region.

Listeners toward Quantico reported the gate delays with extensive ID checks spilling onto I-95, US-1 and VA-610 Garrisonville Road, WTOPs Mary DePompa said. We also heard from those working toward JBAB and the Navy Yard via I-295 toward D.C.

In Bethesda, delays formed on the Beltway, Connecticut Avenue and Jones Bridge Road getting toward the limited access at NSA.

Military installations across the U.S. are seeing advanced security.

While we will not discuss specifics, U.S. Northern Command is implementing additional force protection condition measures to increase security and awareness for all installations in the U.S. NORTHCOM area of responsibility, Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hatfield told WTOP.

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Gate tweaks affect traffic, access at Walter Reed and Navy facilities - WTOP