The industrial base of contractors in industry seeking to do business with the National Security Agency has mushroomed in recent years, according to an NSA acquisition official.
In 2001, only 140 contractors were eligible to compete for NSA contracts. Today, there are six thousand such contractors, said Deborah Walker of the NSA. She spoke at a contractor conference sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency last month.
The number of contractor facilities cleared by the NSA has grown from 41 in 2002 to 1265 in 2006, according to a chart that she presented in her talk (pdf).
The result is an increase in competitiveness and improved communication with industry, Ms. Walker indicated. “Partnerships with industry [are] vital to mission success,” she said.
See “Acquisition Resource Center,” presentation by Deborah Walker, National Security Agency, May 2007, Unclassified/FOUO.
Contractors now consume as much as 70% of U.S. intelligence spending, reported Tim Shorrock in Salon last week.
See, relatedly, “Senators Fault IC on Use of Contractors” by Laura Heaton, United Press International, June 6.
The Administration has continued to push for further clean energy investments, but faces a difficult fiscal environment in Congress – which has meant shortfalls for many priority areas like funding for CHIPS and Science.
An analysis of the President’s FY25 budget proposal by the Alliance for Learning Innovation found a lot to like.
We’ve created a tool to monitor the progress of federal actions on extreme heat, enhance accountability, and to allow stakeholders to stay informed on the evolving state of U.S. climate-change resilience.
Wickerson was a few years into their doctoral work in material science and engineering at Northwestern University when the prospect of writing a policy memo with FAS cropped up at a virtual conference.