Introverted? Then NSA wants you.
The spy agency likes employees who keep to themselves, says its senior civilian leader.
The National Security Agency's people are of a kind that's hard to find, said deputy Director Chris Inglis.
“If I lost my people today . . . it would take me probably 20 years to reconstitute the National Security Agency that I know and love today,” he said. On the contrary, Inglis speculated, to replace what he called all the “machinery” at the agency wouldn't take more than a few years.
The exact number of the agency’s employee is classified, but it’s “somewhere between 37,000 and one billion” joked Inglis, whose April 15 keynote on leadership kicked off the Federal Senior Management Conference held in Cambridge, Md.
Inglis also emphasized the importance of a diverse workforce in the federal government, saying NSA is “probably the biggest employer of introverts.”
“If you at their first encounter embrace [introverts], celebrate them . . you will get their best efforts forever,” added Inglis, a self-proclaimed introvert who said it took him many years to become comfortable in situations that required him to take on a leadership role and be more outgoing.
FedSMC is a joint effort by the General Services Administration, the Government Printing Office, the Interior Department, the National Institutes of Health, FedInsider, The George Washington University and the University of Central Florida.