What dept is the NSA under?

[captain queeg]

I’m hoping not the justice dept.

[GP6971]

1. Department of Defense. n/t

[Ford_Prefect]

3. It is a stand alone agency just as CIA is. DOD has no direct supervision over NSA.

NSA answers to the House, Senate and the President, but it sets its own agendas and policies, just as CIA does.

[pimpbot]

4. not correct

It is an agency of the DOD but is under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence. Most funding comes through the DOD budget. The dual hatted authority sometimes causes issues because they must follow both DOD and DNI regulations. This can causes issues when dealing with offensive cyber operations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency

CIA only reports to DNI. Most all of the other Intelligence Agencies report to both DOD and DNI. Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Community

There is also CYBERCOM which is led by the Director of the NSA. This is a separate DOD entity yet very integrated with NSA.

[dewsgirl]

2. Department of defense?

[SeattleVet]

5. Others are right - it's a part of the Defense Department.

Many years ago when I was stationed there our standing instruction was that if we were asked where we worked we were to say that we were assigned to the "Department of Defense at Fort Meade", and only if specifically asked 'NSA?' could we reply in the affirmative. (This was not too long after the NSA had stopped denying their own existence.)