San Antonio is increasingly turning into a defense cybersecurity hub, with the National Security Agency (NSA) set to add up to 1,000 new jobs in the city, most of which will require security clearances.
During a San Antonio Chamber of Commerce cybersecurity summit in October, NSA Director, Admiral Michael Rogers, explained that San Antonio will serve as a key player in the future of the Department of Defense (DoD) cyber mission.
“We are growing a dedicated cyber mission force for the department of about 6,200 people,” said Rogers. “A good segment of them will be assigned duties in San Antonio.”
Rogers said there were multiple reasons for making the decision to grow NSA’s cybersecurity presence in the city. They include the investment the agency has already made in Texas, as well as the presence of the 24th Air Force, tasked with DoD’s information networks, and the 25th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. Rogers also cited the agency’s partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) as a factor in the decision process.
“We saw a local environment where we have already created partnerships with UTSA, which has been designated by NSA as one of our Centers of Excellence,” he said.
Expanding Upon an Existing Presence
NSA currently operates a 94,000 square-foot intelligence center in San Antonio, but Rogers did not indicate where the new jobs would be housed.
Currently, the career fields most commonly advertised by NSA nationwide include computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, intelligence analysis and mathematics.
According to Daniel Chavez, who serves on the San Antonio Chamber’s Cybersecurity Committee, the city is already aligned with the needs of NSA’s future plans, and holds additional opportunities for cleared job seekers in government and locally based defense contractors.
“Our economy in San Antonio has been deemed recession proof, so it’s a good business environment and not focused on one industry, but many,” said Chavez. “Our military presence here is growing in every branch of service, especially in the medical sector and the Navy. Just a few years ago we had very few navy personnel, but due to the joint command navy presence there are now more than 10,000 navy personnel. Defense is not our largest industry, but it is the most impactful because it’s bringing in so many new people and jobs.”
Chavez emphasized that while the number of NSA cybersecurity jobs is expected to be around 1,000, that number will be reached gradually over the next three years. Still the agency has already listed openings in San Antonio for jobs that include network program/project manager, network manager, computer systems architect, cyber intelligence analyst, exploitation analyst, computer systems security manager and threat operations center analyst.
Cleared job seekers can learn more about NSA cybersecurity jobs and skill requirements at: https://www.nsa.gov/careers/
