NSA Summer 2027 Internship Program - Signals Intelligence Collection Program - Entry

Responsibilities

The NSA Summer Internship Programs at our Fort Meade, MD location offers students exciting, impactful professional work opportunities (with pay and limited benefits!) to grow their knowledge of the Intelligence Community and federal government while advancing NSA's two primary missions:
1) Collecting, analyzing, and producing foreign signals intelligence; and
2) Providing cybersecurity solutions and guidance to protect critical national infrastructure. These summer internship opportunities are open to students who are pursuing education in a variety of degree programs. SICP interns are mentored by experienced SIGINT professionals who conduct SIGINT collection operations and/or build state-of-the-art capabilities. Some SICP interns will have the opportunity to enhance their computer science and engineering knowledge and skills.

Others will sharpen their analytic, problem solving, research, critical thinking and other talents to solve real world collection challenges. Students leave the SICP having gained a whole new appreciation for the value and utility of their field of study. SICP interns will also have the opportunity to discover various career paths they could perhaps pursue in the future as full-time NSA employees.

Finally, the friendships and networks SICP interns build during their tour may last a lifetime.

Join students from across the country and lend your knowledge to national security in one of NSA's over 30 summer internship programs. These 12 week paid programs run from mid-May to mid-August and are open to undergraduate freshman up to Ph.D. students depending on internship requirements. These internships are open to a wide variety of majors and give students the opportunity to work directly with mission-critical problems and experience the excitement of working in NSA spaces.

To be accepted into the NSA Summer Internship - Signals Intelligence Collection Program, candidates:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be enrolled in a degree‑seeking program (undergraduate, graduate, doctorate) at time of application
• Specific education requirements vary by program
• Preferred cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
• Must be eligible to be granted a TS/SCI security clearance after successfully completing a background investigation, a Full‑scope Polygraph and a Psychological Evaluation
• Must be available and in the U.S. for operational and technical interviews and other applicable processing, both in-person and via telephone/internet, between the months of October 2026 and April 2027 Student applications will be evaluated against the projects or assignments requirements submitted by sponsoring organizations. Depending which type of project/assignment you fit best, proficiency in several of the areas listed below plus your interview responses will be evaluated during the selection process:

Some of these areas include but are not limited to:
History, Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Area Studies, Telecommunications and others depending on the position requirements;

• Programming languages skills and experience such as C, C++, Java, etc;
• Scripting language experience in Python, Perl, JavaScript, etc;
• Programming on and use of the Linux OS and other platforms;
• Average knowledge and competence in communications, computers, networks and the internet;
• Learning in subject areas that allow for understanding how and why actual foreign intelligence targets do business, socialize, and communicate. Some of these areas include but are not limited to:
  History, Political Science, International Relations, Economics, Area Studies, Telecommunications and others depending on the position requirements;
• Understanding of networking fundamentals such as IPv6, HTTP, TCP/IP, CCNA Certs, etc;
• Examples of completed software development projects;
• Database development and storage using such tools as SQL, MySQL, Big Data, etc;
• Mathematics competencies in areas such as Algebra, Number Theory, Calculus, Probability, Logic, Applied Mathematics, etc;
• Hardware programming and development experience;
• Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) experience;
• Reverse engineering and computer forensics knowledge…