The National Security Agency (NSA) will send recruiters to the Career Fair being held on campus Sept. 24-25. NSA is an intelligence agency, which employs clandestine tactics to collect, analyze and interpret data around the world. Unlike many portrayals seen on television, NSA agents rarely conduct their espionage using human sources. 
Instead, NSA focuses almost exclusively on signals in foreign countries. The official mission statement for NSA located on its website identifies the two major aspects of its work.
“The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) leads the U.S. Government in cryptology that encompasses both Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Information Assurance (IA) products and services and enables Computer Network Operations (CNO) in order to gain a decision advantage for the Nation and our allies under all circumstances.”
NSA’s Information Assurance is the agency’s directive toward protecting information vital to U.S. national security. The Signals Intelligence mission is essentially active espionage in other countries: intercepting and interpreting foreign signals to aid in intelligence and counterintelligence.
Opportunities for undergraduate students include internships, co-operative education programs and scholarships. The co-operative education program targets Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Computer Science majors. Requiring a full year of work prior to graduation, the program seeks to be competitive and useful by operating on a rotational system where students are able to alternate semesters of work and classes. 
NSA came under controversy in June 2013 when documents were leaked revealing  the agency was recording phone calls.  That same month yielded more attention for the agency as another leaked document showed that U.S. President Obama had issued a top-secret, presidential directive to intelligence agencies regarding potential offensive cyber-attacks. The policy provided details on what was called Offensive Cyber Effects Operations (OCEO), and the document caused concern about the legality of offensive cyber-attacks.
Glen Greenwald and Ewan MacAskill, writers for The Guardian US, reported on the directive and its far-reaching implications: could a cyber-war policy change the face of the information highway? 
“Obama’s move to establish a potentially aggressive cyber warfare doctrine will heighten fears over the increasing militarization of the internet,” the report said.