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Fun & games with the NSA at RSA this year

Opinion
Apr 24, 20092 mins
Core Java

Funny story: the NSA sent me to the EFF’s booth (booth #2743) this year. I was chatting with booth staffers about the awesome schwag the NSA was giving away on the RSA Expo show floor (# 1945) this year, and one of them mentioned the AT&T-themed T-Shirts the EFF was selling (in more modest digs) a few booths down.

I was there because Taylor Buley at Forbes had told me that the NSA was giving out kids books. For some reason, I was expecting an NSA-themed comic book, but the reality was much geekier than that: An NSA activity book entitled: “Cryptologic Excellence — Yesterday, today, and Tomorrow.”

A little much for my 5-year-old, but pretty cool conference schwag for someone with older kids. Here’s a look at the book and a page from the inside (I guess the NSA doesn’t spend much on graphics) 

The NSA is looking to fill 300 positions this year, so they were doing some pretty heavy recruitment at RSA, showing people that the secretive intelligence agency can be both geeky AND fun. Heck, they’ve even got a Facebook Group, they told me. For those who are bored by childish games, there’s even a working Enigma machine to play with. 

  Not bad fun for RSA.