The Friendship Annex, also known as FANX or FANEX, is a National Security Agency (NSA) facility complex located in Linthicum, Maryland, near the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI). [1] [2] [3] Established in the 1970s, the complex consists of multiple buildings and serves multiple roles as a cyber espionage station, electronic intelligence processing facility, and NSA Broadcast Network television studio. It is also the primary campus of the National Cryptologic School.
Friendship Annex was established in early 1970 after the NSA outgrew the office space of its headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland. [4] The agency leased several buildings in the Airport Square Technology Park near BWI, [5] located 20–25 minutes drive time from its headquarters, and named the new facility after the airport, which was at one time named Friendship International Airport. [1] [4] [6] The buildings comprised two seven-story towers and two two-story buildings, labeled FANX I, II, III and IV. [2] [4] [7] One of the two-story buildings was later leased to NASA. [4] The NSA expanded the size of Friendship Annex, completing the complex in the 1990s. [8] [9] [10] Today the complex covers 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of leased space and houses an estimated 12,000 NSA personnel. A number of intelligence contractors are also co-located within or near the technology park. [2]
Friendship Annex serves multiple roles. It functions, in part, as a cyber espionage station. Teams of NSA hackers within the facility attempt to penetrate the digital communications of foreign governments both friendly and unfriendly to the United States. In addition, teams of "defenders" are tasked with monitoring penetrations and attempted penetrations of U.S. government computer systems. [1] Friendship Annex also conducts the NSA's electronic intelligence (ELINT) signals analysis processing. [11]
Friendship Annex is the primary campus of the National Cryptologic School. [8] [12] The school offers a wide range of courses in cryptology, from basic training to advanced techniques for senior staff, as well as courses in language, leadership, education, and business. [12] [13] The school is located in the seven-story FANX IV building. [8] [12]
The complex also serves as the production studio for the NSA Broadcast Network, which produces live, closed-circuit television programs such as NSA Talk—similar to Larry King Live and hosting guests such as former NSA director Kenneth Minihan—and Newsmagazine, all exclusively for NSA staff. The television facility is completely soundproof, and contains two video-edit suites, a sound booth, an audio-sweetening room, a studio, and 3D computer graphics capability. [6] Friendship Annex is connected to the NSA headquarters and other Washington-area facilities by the Washington Area Wideband System, a coaxial cable network that was constructed in the mid-1970s. [2] [14]
Friendship Annex is where the NSA conducts its new employee screening. [15] [16] In particular, polygraph tests are administered to prospective employees in the FANX III building. Following the polygraph test, recruits undergo a series of psychological tests. In all, prospective employees spend about 48 hours in the FANX facility undergoing preemployment testing. [15]
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence. The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine.
The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service, which ran from February 1, 1943, until October 1, 1980. It was intended to decrypt messages transmitted by the intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union. Initiated when the Soviet Union was an ally of the US, the program continued during the Cold War, when it was considered an enemy.
David Kahn is an American historian, journalist, and writer. He has written extensively on the history of cryptography and military intelligence.
The Central Security Service (CSS) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense, which was established in 1972 to integrate the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Components (SCC) of the United States Armed Forces in the field of signals intelligence, cryptology, and information assurance at the tactical level. In 2002, the CSS had approximately 25,000 uniformed members.
James Bamford is an American bestselling author, journalist and documentary producer widely noted for his writing about United States intelligence agencies, especially the National Security Agency (NSA). The New York Times has called him "the nation's premier journalist on the subject of the National Security Agency" and in a lengthy profile The New Yorker named him "the NSA's chief chronicler." Bamford has taught at the University of California, Berkeley as a distinguished visiting professor and has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper's, and many other publications. In 2006, he won the National Magazine Award for Reporting, the highest award in the magazine industry, for his writing on the war in Iraq published in Rolling Stone. He is also an Emmy nominated documentary producer for PBS and spent a decade as the Washington investigative producer for ABC's World News Tonight. In 2015 he became the national security columnist for Foreign Policy Magazine and he also writes for The New Republic. His most recent book, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, became a New York Times bestseller and was named by The Washington Post as one of "The Best Books of the Year." It is the third in a trilogy by Bamford on the NSA, following The Puzzle Palace (1982) and Body of Secrets (2001), also New York Times bestsellers.
The National Cryptologic School (NCS) is a school within the National Security Agency that provides training to members of the Agency.
The Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6, is a highly classified joint U.S. Central Intelligence Agency–National Security Agency program charged with inserting eavesdropping equipment in difficult-to-reach places, such as foreign embassies, communications centers, and foreign government installations. Established in the late 1970s and headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, the SCS has been involved in operations ranging from the Cold War to the Global War on Terrorism.
The NSA/CSS Texas Cryptologic Center (TCC), also known as the Texas Cryptology Center, Texas Cryptographic Center or NSA Texas, is a satellite campus at the Medina Annex, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, operated by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). It is adjacent to the former Medina National Stockpile Site. TCC conducts signals intelligence, cyberwarfare operations and cybersecurity operations.
The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for U.S. Army commanders and national decision-makers. INSCOM is headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The former Bad Aibling Station (BAS) has officially been designated as 18th United States Army Security Agency Field Station and a.k.a. Field station 81, or Hortensie III. Currently it is a satellite tracking station operated by the German SIGINT agency Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) from nearby Mangfall Barracks in Bad Aibling, Bavaria.
The Hall of Honor is a memorial at the National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. It honors individuals who rendered distinguished service to American cryptology.
Vint Hill Farms Station (VHFS) was a United States Army and National Security Agency (NSA) signals intelligence and electronic warfare facility located in Fauquier County, Virginia, near Warrenton. VHFS was closed in 1997 and the land was sold off in 1999. Today the site hosts various engineering and technology companies, as well as two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control facilities.
The Utah Data Center (UDC), also known as the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center, is a data storage facility for the United States Intelligence Community that is designed to store data estimated to be on the order of exabytes or larger. Its purpose is to support the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), though its precise mission is classified. The National Security Agency (NSA) leads operations at the facility as the executive agent for the Director of National Intelligence. It is located at Camp Williams near Bluffdale, Utah, between Utah Lake and Great Salt Lake and was completed in May 2019 at a cost estimated in 2014 to be $1.5 billion.
The Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion is a Marine Corps Intelligence battalion of the United States Marine Corps. The battalion headquarters are located in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
The Dagger Complex is a US military base in Darmstadt (Germany), close to Griesheim and located at the Eberstädter Weg, south of the August-Euler-Airfield.
The Kent Island Research Facility is a U.S. National Security Agency facility located on Kent Island, Maryland, near the town of Chester.
Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado (ADF-C) is one of three satellite ground stations operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in the continental United States. Located within Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, the facility is responsible for the command and control of reconnaissance satellites involved in the collection of intelligence information and for the dissemination of that intelligence to other U.S. government agencies. The National Security Agency (NSA) Central Security Service (CSS) Colorado Cryptologic Center (CCC) is co-located with ADF-C and employs around 850 NSA personnel.
The Georgia Cryptologic Center (GCC) or NSA Georgia, codenamed "Sweet Tea", is a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) Central Security Service (CSS) facility located within Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. The 604,000-square-foot (56,100 m2) facility opened on March 5, 2012 at a cost of $286 million. The center may employ up to 4,000 NSA personnel. Its primary focus is on signals intelligence intercepts from Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
The Hawaii Cryptologic Center (HCC) or NSA Hawaii is a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) Central Security Service (CSS) facility located near Wahiawa on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The facility opened on January 6, 2012 at a cost of $358 million. The center focuses on signals intelligence intercepts from Asia, and conducts cybersecurity and cyberwarfare operations.
Minnie M. Kenny was a cryptanalyst, educator and equal opportunity activist who worked at the National Security Agency (NSA). She served as Deputy Commandant at the National Cryptologic School and was responsible for creating scholarships for NSA employees. The recipient of numerous awards, including the Meritorious and the Exceptional Civilian Service Awards, the presidential Meritorious Executive Award and Distinguished Service Award of the CIA, Kenny was inducted into the Cryptologic Hall of Honor in 2009.
Coordinates: 39°12′03″N76°41′18″W / 39.2008°N 76.6884°W
