10 December 1997
Source: http://www.nsa.gov:8080/programs/ncs21/

   

These pages outline the National Security Agency/Central Security Service's strategic plan for the 21st century, and how we intend to achieve our goal: information superiority for America.

- Message from the Director

- Customers

- Vision

- Mission

- Values

- Goal 1: Vital Information

- Goal 2: Military Operations

- Goal 3: Policy Makers

- Goal 4: Technology

- Goal 5: People & Processes

- Our Proud Heritage

Message From the Director

KENNETH A. MINIHAN
Lieutenant General, USAF
Director, NSA/Chief, CSS

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) has a proud tradition of serving the nation -- a world performance organization by any standard. The innovative ideas and concepts of our predecessors in the 1950s and 1960s crafted an architecture that supported the national strategy through the 1980s and helped win the Cold War. Today, we are at a critical turning point in our nation's history, not unlike that immediately after World War II. The decisions we make today will shape our nation's strategy and future for years to come.

The post-Cold War era is characterized by a diffusion of power, geopolitical uncertainties, and technology-driven change. An information revolution is sweeping the world, forcing change as radical as that caused by development of the atomic bomb. Just as control of industrial technology was key to military and economic power during the past two centuries, control of information technology will be key to power in the 21st Century.

The Information Age presents us with enormous challenges and opportunities. Our core competencies are the same technologies needed to exploit and protect information. However, we must reengineer our traditional approach to signals intelligence and information systems security if we are to remain relevant and play a leading role as key offensive and defensive components of a new national effort dedicated to a single goal -- information superiority for America.

This strategic plan charts our course to achieve this noble end. No one will work harder as a single team -- we will think in new ways and strengthen our relationships with our customers and partners. We will employ the same innovativeness, farsightedness, and exceptional dedication to duty that typified our predecessors. Our guiding principle will be to provide and protect vital information for our national leadership and joint warfighting teams -- on time, anytime, anywhere -- GUARANTEED! I am confident we are prepared to meet the challenges of the future.

One Team, One Mission

Customers

The NSA/CSS exists to protect the nation and serve others. We must work collaboratively and corporately to anticipate and meet our customers' needs. Our customers must know that they can count on us to provide them with what they need, when they need it, and in a form they can use.

We pledge the following to our customers:

• No one will work harder to defend and support the nation's interests.
• No one will stand watch longer to prevent operational and technological surprise against our nation and warfighters.
• No one will do more to achieve interoperability with the Services and our Allies.
• No one, bar none, will be more innovative in seeking the technological advantages we will need to succeed in the 21st Century.
• Together we form the bond as America's team.

Vision

Information Superiority for America
One Team, One Mission

Intelligence and information systems security have always complemented each other. Intelligence gives us an information advantage over our adversaries and competitors. Information systems security prevents others from gaining a comparable advantage over us. The two functions serve as the offensive and defensive squads of a team dedicated to a single goal - information superiority for America and its Allies.

• "Information superiority is the capability to collect, process, and disseminate an uninterrupted flow of information while exploiting or denying an adversary's ability to do the same."
  From "Joint Vision 2010"

Mission

We give our Customers the decisive edge by providing and protecting vital information

NSA/CSS is the nation's cryptologic organization. We are the world's best. We give our customers the decisive edge by providing and protecting vital information...from the battlefield to the White House. We protect the security of U.S. signals and information systems and provide intelligence information derived from those of our adversaries. We work with our customers to gain a better understanding of their information requirements, and then provide them the best possible cryptologic products and services.

• "...the security of information systems and networks (is) the major security challenge of this decade and possibly the next century...there is insufficient awareness of the grave risks we face in this arena."
  Redefining Security
  Joint Security Commission

• "US intelligence capabilities are critical instruments of our national power and integral to implementing our national security strategy."
  President Clinton

Values

Our People

• We take pride in our people and care about their well-being. Our skills and competence are second to none. Our adaptability and diversity allow us to excel in many different environments and to meet a wide variety of challenges in a rapidly changing world. Our forward thinking, innovativeness, and willingness to take risks keep us at the forefront of our business.

Our Strength

• We work together as a team, and value the unique contributions of each individual. Teamwork, effective partnerships, and relentless commitment to exceed our customers' expectations keep us in the lead.

Our Focus

• We are driven by our customers' needs. We make decisions based on information and analysis, and measure our progress and results to ensure continuous improvement.

Our Responsibility

• We are accountable for our actions, and recognize our obligations under the Constitution and the laws of the United States. We are committed to the highest standards of ethical behavior.

Goal 1 - Vital Information

Guarantee Vital Information for our Customers

Knowledge is power in the Information Age. The nation that can observe what is happening, orient itself to understand the real dynamics of a situation, decide what to do, and then act on that decision quicker than an adversary gains the information advantage. We will provide our customers the decisive information advantage by providing and protecting their vital information -- GUARANTEED!

We Will:

• Provide the leadership to ensure the efficient operation of all cryptologic functions of the U.S. Government.
• Be the preferred source of actionable intelligence for policy makers and military commanders. Decision makers will know that they can turn first to NSA/CSS for timely, user-friendly, and reliable intelligence.
• Be the preferred provider of information systems security solutions. We will provide the leadership, trusted products, and services necessary to protect national security and sensitive information.
• Foster a broad zone of cooperation between government and industry. Our objectives are to establish public key infrastructure technology and standards, and expand collaboration on information system vulnerabilities.
• Establish a center for technical excellence for information operations. The center will improve indication and warning capabilities, and help achieve information superiority by providing the technical expertise to exploit adversary information and information systems while defending our own.
• Examine adequacy of existing authorities for information age cryptology.

• "...the threat to our information systems will grow in coming years as the enabling technologies to attack these systems proliferate and more countries and groups develop new strategies that incorporate such attacks."
  Dr. John Deutch, former Director of Central Intelligence

Goal 2 - Military Operations

Ensure Dominant Battlespace Knowledge Through Integration of Cryptology with Joint Operations

The United States Cryptologic System (USCS) is a vital National resource for the military decision maker. We will fully integrate the USCS in the planning and conduct of military operations, whether for humanitarian or lethal purposes. Dominant battlespace knowledge is essential if commanders and their forces are to enjoy secure C4I networks; be kept out of harm's way; and distinguish and exploit the adversary's operational environment.

We Will:

• Anticipate and satisfy the warfighter's intelligence needs -- on time, anytime, anywhere, at the lowest possible classification.
• Provide the full range of information systems security products and services needed for battlespace security. These capabilities will deny an adversary the information advantage, preventing him from effectively employing his forces.
• Improve our readiness as a Combat Support Agency to ensure that we can effectively participate in joint and combined operations and exercises. Cryptologic assets that integrate into military operations will also participate in joint and combined exercises.
• Ensure cryptologic systems are interoperable with those of the Services and our Allies. We will develop the global connectivity that will allow the warfighter to "plug in " anytime, anywhere in the performance of any mission.

• Dominant Battlespace Knowledge is comprehensive awareness of all the decision-relevant elements within a defined battlespace, and the ability to predict, with very high confidence, nearterm enemy actions and combat outcomes.

Goal 3 - Policy Makers

Enable Policy Makers to Promote Stability and Thwart Aggression Through Integration of Cryptologic Support

We recognize the need to work with our policy customers to identify and understand their cryptologic requirements. We will develop and provide intelligence information and security products and services that are responsive, timely, and useful upon receipt.

We Will:

• Embed cryptologic elements with our policy customers to ensure that we better understand and anticipate their information needs.
• Expand our collaboration with law enforcement agencies to improve support to counterintelligence, nonproliferation, and transnational issues such as narcotics trafficking, organized crime, and alien smuggling.
• Continue to work closely with all policy customers and improve our interoperability to ensure that tailored intelligence and security products and services meet their specific information needs and timeliness requirements.
• Expand "pull" dissemination capabilities to enable customers to initiate realtime requests for data in response to emergent requirements to improve crisis support.
• Work with the intelligence community to develop interactive databases to enable the policy maker to initiate a single request, search all available community databases, and receive the requested data.
  
  

• "Intelligence must...be integrated more closely with other functions of government, such as law enforcement, to achieve shared objectives."
  Report of the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community

Goal 4 - Technology

Remain the World's Cryptologic Leader by Sustaining Leading Edge Capability in Key Technologies

NSA/CSS is recognized as the "class of the world" when it comes to cryptology. There is none better. However, the rapid advance of technology presents a continuous challenge. We must have continual infusion of new techniques and ideas. Therefore, we will undertake a strategic technology initiative to maintain our world-class leadership and technical health. Our strength will continue to be our technology and our teamwork.

We Will:

• Remain preeminent in cryptology by enhancing our capability to forecast new technologies. We will work closely with U.S. industry to help integrate technology forecasts and assess the rate of market implementation.
• Broaden collaborative partnerships with industry, academia, and other government agencies to maximize the return from technology efforts. We must continue to attract the best technical minds and take advantage of the expertise of our partners.
• Focus entrepreneurial research and development efforts on breakthrough capabilities. We must remain the leader in supercomputing and provide supercomputing power to conduct research.
• Expand our capability to model and simulate information operations.
• Develop applications to leverage emerging technologies and sustain both our offensive and defensive information warfare capabilities.
  

Goal 5 - People and Processes

Transform the Cryptologic Workforce, Processes and Infrastructure to Meet the Emerging Challenges

Our people are our most important resource -- they are key to accomplishing our mission. We must ensure they have the skills, processes, equipment, and facilities to maximize their potential and meet the challenges of the 21st century.

We Will:

• Recruit and retain the best-qualified and diverse military and civilian personnel available.
• Invest in our people through education, training and career development to achieve and maintain required skill levels. Our overall occupational structure will be skills-based and constantly tuned to mission requirements and achieve information superiority.
• Provide our workforce with the environment, systems, and facilities they need and deserve to accomplish their jobs and support our customers.
• Empower our workforce and encourage them to reengineer their processes to improve efficiency and create value for our customers.
• Foster an environment that values the contribution of every employee and ensures fairness in all human resource systems and processes.

• "We must reward the people and ideas that work..."
  President Clinton and Vice President Gore

Our Proud Heritage

The National Security Agency was formed in November 1952, by President Harry S. Truman as a separately organized agency within the Department of Defense. From our early beginnings and through major world events (the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, and Desert Storm) up to the present-day support to United Nations peacekeeping forces in Bosnia, we have provided superb support to our troops and decision makers.

Our efforts allow America to continue as the world leader. The NSA/CSS workforce is dedicated to duty and committed to serving our customers. We do not seek public recognition.

IN MEMORIAM

To those who made the ultimate sacrifice