JUMPSTART A CAREER IN INTELLIGENCE

Student Programs

Our student programs allow you to learn more about NSA and deepen your career field knowledge while earning a paycheck. We offer internships, scholarships, cooperative education programs and other opportunities for students in high school up through doctoral candidates. Salary is based on your education level.

Generally, we accept applications in the fall for the following summer. Please check our job board beginning Sept. 1 to apply for these opportunities.

Summer Internships

All of our paid internship programs span 12 weeks during the summer months, and include benefits such as paid time off, holiday and sick leave. Interns also may be eligible for subsidized housing assistance and travel reimbursement. College students may apply for programs in the fall. Depending on your major and skill set, students will be assigned to a specific program. The majority of these opportunities are offered at our headquarters in Maryland, but some internships are available at our field sites in Colorado, Georgia, Texas, Hawaii and Utah.

Focus areas include:

Mission Support

NSA relies on people with skill sets who support the agency’s workforce, operations, logistics, finance and other functions. We offer internships in:

  • Civil liberties, privacy and transparency
  • Security and counterintelligence
  • Reasonable accommodations and accessibility
  • Strategic communications
  • Industrial and organizational psychology
  • Human capital
  • Business management and acquisitions
  • Logistics and supply chain management
  • Auditing programs for NSA’s Office of the Inspector General

STEM

Technical expertise is the cornerstone of our strategy to solve hard mission problems. We offer internships in:

  • Computer Science
  • Cybersecurity
  • Engineering
  • Mathematics

Language and Intelligence Analysis

The ability to gather, analyze and synthesize raw information to provide intelligence to national decision-makers is a critical component of NSA’s mission. We offer internships in:

  • Foreign Language Analysis
  • Intelligence Analysis

Cooperative Education Program (Co-Op Program)

In this program, students alternate semesters of full-time work with full-time study, completing a minimum of 52 weeks of Co-op work experience prior to graduation. Students must apply for the program as a sophomore or a freshman in their second semester of college. The paid program accepts applications twice a year — beginning in September and February. Co-op is offered at NSA headquarters and in Hawaii.

Focus areas include:

STEM Track

Students will play a meaningful role in the development of the nation’s secure communications in the production of foreign intelligence. The following majors are eligible: computer science, computer/electrical engineering, cybersecurity (technical track), data science or mathematics.

Language Track

Students who are majoring in Chinese language-focused studies will work with original written or spoken foreign language, determine the relevance of the intelligence collected, research it, analyze it, and put it into context for dissemination to national-level policy makers, military commanders and other customers.

High School Programs

Both programs accept applications in the fall.

Stokes Educational Scholarship Program

Open to students studying computer science, computer/ electrical engineering, cybersecurity, math or language analysis, the program gives you valuable NSA work experience while you earn your college degree. After you graduate, we will hire you for a position in your area of study. By participating, you will agree to work for NSA for at least 1.5 times the length of your study after graduation.

This scholarship covers tuition and mandatory fees up to $30,000 per year, a salary, and housing and travel costs during your summer employment if the school is more than 75 miles from headquarters.

High School Work Study

This part-time program is for high school juniors who plan to participate in a school-sponsored work experience program during their senior year and live close to NSA headquarters, located in Maryland, or our field sites (Colorado, Georgia, Texas, Hawaii, Utah or Alaska).

These paid positions vary by site, but they can include jobs in office administration, computer/engineering technology, printing/graphic arts and model shop, facilities/logistics, Chinese language and intelligence analysis. Benefits include paid time off, holiday and sick leave.