How The NSA Gets Inside K-12 Classrooms [View all]

[kpete]

Last edited Tue Jul 2, 2013, 10:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Talking Points Memo

Along with running a massive surveillance apparatus, the secretive National Security Agency operates a program dedicated to getting its agents inside America’s elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. These K-12 NSA operatives guide children through math exercises, “cyber ethics,” and even mock spy games.

The NSA’s classroom initiatives are part of the Mathematics Education Partnership Program, which is described by the agency as an “outreach program to promote mathematics and science education at non-profit educational institutions.” MEPP began in the early 1990s due to concern among some at the NSA about the future of math and science education. It was apparently controversial within the agency since engaging with schoolchildren was antithetical to the intense secrecy that generally surrounds the NSA’s activities.

Along with a “Cryptokids” website featuring cartoonish recruitment materials, the NSA promotes several classroom initiatives as part of MEPP including “summer institutes” for teachers who work with children in second through fifth grades and a program that involves NSA volunteers mentoring students and repairing school equipment. The agency also offers a series of “interactive talks” NSA staffers can deliver to students from kindergarten through high school. Most of the NSA’s MEPP programming is only available to schools in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area, which is near the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. A spokesperson for the NSA declined to comment on this story.

The NSA published a catalog of the “talks” offered through its “speakers bureau.” For elementary school students, the NSA has counting games, a “cryptanlaysis 101” workshop that teaches basic code-breaking, a career day presentation, and geometry exercises. Since the NSA also provides volunteer judges to school science fairs through MEPP, there is also a talk offering a “judge’s perspective” to prospective fair participants. Along with the other offerings, the NSA has a program for grades five and up called “Mission Possible” that is a spy game complete with a mysterious briefcase

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/nsa-inside-classrooms.php?ref=fpa