NSA 60th Anniversary


Established on Nov. 4, 1952, in 2012 the National Security Agency celebrated 60 years of service to the nation.

In issuing the directive that gave birth to the agency, then-President Harry Truman understood the need to continue U.S. efforts that had led to breaking German and Japanese codes in World War II, success against the German U-Boat threat in the North Atlantic, and victory in the Battle of Midway in the Pacific. America had become a dominant power on a global stage, facing global responsibilities and threats. As war raged in Korea, the creation of NSA allowed the Defense Department to consolidate cryptologic support to military operations, and to meet challenges that the nation would face in the Cold War.

Learn more about the Agency's storied history of service to the nation in our 60th Anniversary publication and accompanying interactive timeline: NSA's 60 Years of Defending Our Nation.

NSA 60th Anniversary Book

You can read the NSA 60th Anniversary Book in the following format:


The below interactive NSA Timeline is from 1952 to 2012 and highlights major events in NSA's 60 years of defending the nation. Please click on the various decades to find important historical documents, audio files, and photographs from World War II and the beginnings of NSA through the 2000s. Included are 250 declassified documents, 196 of which are being released for the first time, and over 150 photographs and audio files. Example of what this timeline covers: NSA's first Director, the move to Fort Meade, Congressional hearings, the Suez Crisis, NSA's purchase of its first supercomputer, spies and defections, a ship capture, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Gulf of Tonkin, Soviet challenges, Project GUNMAN and bugs in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, support to Desert Storm, information technology revolution age, expeditionary SIGINT, and COMSEC developments. It then leads into the 1990s and 2000s and covers Afghanistan and Iraq and cyber security. The sources of this unique, historical collection are from the National Security Agency archives as well as all the Presidential Libraries. NSA/CSS 60th Anniversary Timeline

ImageTitle
 19531014_1950_DOC_3978554_NSABULLETIN.PDFNSA Bulletin 49-53 - 14 October 1953
 19530408_1950_DOC_3978536_MEMO.PDFNSA Civilian Personnel Policy - 8 April 1953
 19530101_1950_DOC_3978795_NSADIRECTIVE1.PDFNSA Directive No. 1 - 1 January 1953
 19530302_1950_DOC_3978801_NATIONAL.PDFNSA Directive No. 2 - 2 March 1953
 19550000_DOC_3984110_GUIDE.PDFNSA Guide to Individual Conduct - 1955
 19530720_1950_DOC_3978542_NSAMEMO.PDFNSA Memorandum 10-42 - 20 July 1953
 19531101_1950_DOC_3978556_NSAPERSONNEL.PDFNSA Personnel Newsletter 1-53 - 1 November 1953
 19540617_1950_DOC_3978565_NSAREG30-2.PDFNSA Regulation 30-2 Hot Weather Policy - 17 June 1954
 19570401_DOC_3984009_NSAREG32-4.PDFNSA Regulation 32-4 - 1 April 1957
 19570511_1950_DOC_3993946_MAJOR.PDFNSA Regulation 32-4 - 1 April 1957
 19540524_1950_DOC_3978564_NSAREG66-1.PDFNSA Regulation 66-1 Appearance of Agency Spaces - 24 May 1954
 19710401_1970_DOC_309403_NSAREGNO64-4.PDFNSA Regulation No. 64-4 Sale and Use of Beer at NSA Installations - 1 April 1971
 NSA-60TH-ANNIVERSARY.PDFNSA-60TH-ANNIVERSARY.PDF
 19770328_1970_DOC_3986728_NSA-GCHQ.PDFNSA-GCHQ Collaboration - 28 March 1977
 19580915_1950_DOC_3978847_NSCID7.PDFNSCID No. 7 - 15 September 1958
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NSA 60th Anniversary Audio Transcripts

Pre-NSA

1960s

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2000s