Overview

Dec. 5, 2024

Capt. Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part Two, 1982)

We're reaching into the vault to bring you a lecture delivered to the NSA workforce in 1982 by then-Navy Captain Grace Hopper entitled, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People." Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and mathematician, and a pioneer of computer programing. Among her accomplishments, Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages. She ultimately reached the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and in 2016 she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the nation's highest civilian honor. Her insights on leadership and her visionary predictions still hold weight today, more than forty years later.

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Nov. 26, 2024

Capt. Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part One, 1982)

We're reaching into the vault to bring you a lecture delivered to the NSA workforce in 1982 by then-Navy Captain Grace Hopper entitled, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People." Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and mathematician, and a pioneer of computer programing. Among her accomplishments, Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages. She ultimately reached the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and in 2016 she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the nation's highest civilian honor. Her insights on leadership and her visionary predictions still hold weight today, more than forty years later.

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Oct. 10, 2024

The 24/7 Heartbeat of NSA: The National Security Operations Center

It’s 3 a.m. A war has broken out halfway across the world. Someone needs to tell the President. Who provides the information that they need to know? The National Security Operations Center at NSA. Since its founding 50 years ago, NSOC has never closed. Every hour of every day, it monitors foreign developments and keeps our nation’s leaders informed. Bringing together experts from across NSA’s foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions (and beyond), the NSOC watch floor hums with activity. Learn from the Director of NSOC about its critical mission, and from a watch floor employee who describes the thrill of the fast-paced, high-stakes work environment. There’s no place like NSOC.

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Oct. 3, 2024

What It’s Really Like to Work at NSA

What’s it like to come to work in a secure facility every day? What about the people – who even works at a spy agency? The answer: people just like you! Hear from two women who’ve chosen to make their careers at NSA. One is a computer scientist and the other is a chief of staff. They had different paths to get to NSA, but they’ve decided to stay for similar reasons. They discuss what it feels like to know that your work has meaning, no matter your role, because you’re helping defend the United States and protect national security. Learn about the deep expertise of the people of NSA and how they’re constantly learning.
 

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Sept. 26, 2024

The Cutting Edge of Classified: Research at NSA

How does NSA stay ahead of its foreign adversaries? Emerging technologies can have significant impacts on national security, further heightening the critical nature of NSA’s foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions. NSA researchers help defend the United States every day by focusing on what’s next. Learn from NSA’s Director of Research, Gil Herrera, about the strategy behind the largest in-house research group in the United States Intelligence Community. Learn about large language models (LLMs) from a leading expert in the field, and how this technology can help enable NSA to more effectively carry out its foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions. Understand how leading researchers, from mathematicians to computer scientists to engineers and beyond, contribute to national security.
 

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Sept. 19, 2024

The Women of NSA: Codemakers and Codebreakers

They cracked the Enigma machine and defeated Nazi Germany. They helped us stay a step ahead of the Soviet Union’s spies. They led cybersecurity modernizations to keep us safe. And today, they’re leading NSA efforts to defend the nation. These are the women of NSA.
Learn from a historian and a mathematician about the storied history of women’s contributions to the NSA mission and national security. From World War II through the Cold War to the present day, women have been critical contributors to NSA’s foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions.
 

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Sept. 12, 2024

AI and the Future of National Security

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here, and it’s not going away. What threats does it pose to United States national security? What opportunities does it present as we seek to maintain an advantage over our foreign adversaries? Two of NSA’s leading AI experts join No Such Podcast to break down NSA’s approach to AI security, responsible AI, and AI governance. NSA’s Chief Responsible AI Officer, Vinh Nguyen, explains how NSA has been researching AI and what uses we’ve found for it already. Chief of the AI Security Center, Tahira Mammen, shares what NSA is doing to help secure AI deployment. Learn how these experts tackle the unknown dimension of AI and how they’re making sure NSA is helping the United States stay a step ahead through our foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity missions.
 

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Sept. 5, 2024

Cybersecurity is National Security

Cybersecurity is no longer a separate domain – it’s integrated into everything we do to keep the United States safe from foreign adversaries. As Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and others conduct cyberattacks on national security systems and the Defense Industrial Base, the National Security Agency is on the job, detecting attacks, defending networks, and distributing declassified intelligence to help private industry partners. NSA’s Director of Cybersecurity, Dave Luber, joins No Such Podcast to shine the light on how NSA cybersecurity contributes to national security. Learn from Marine Corps LtGen Jerry Carter about the value of having close civilian-military collaboration to keep our armed forces safe and our policymakers informed. From secure AI to #StopRansomware to PRC hacking and beyond, NSA’s experts work every day on cybersecurity challenges.
 

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Sept. 5, 2024

How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

Osama bin Laden helped plan the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. To find him, the U.S. government had to put its best people on the job. Along with their counterparts across multiple agencies, experts at the National Security Agency answered the call. NSA generated foreign signals intelligence to help find, and ultimately eliminate, the terrorist leader. In the lead episode of No Such Podcast, learn how NSA helped find bin Laden through foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT), one of the Agency’s two core missions. NSA leaders demystify the foreign SIGINT cycle and how each step applied to the Osama bin Laden case. Learn from a counterterrorism expert who was in the room when the word came in that Osama bin Laden was Killed In Action. NSA’s foreign signals intelligence has informed United States policymakers for over seven decades.
 

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