From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 12:54:28 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: NSA and Industry Deal
Message-ID: <199808211954.PAA00582@camel7.mindspring.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


We offer a report on NSA's "Soft Landing" program
for placing ex-NSA employees in private industry by
offering inducements to contractors:

   http://jya.com/nsa-softcost.htm

Excerpt:

	A novel partnership between the National Security Agency 
and industry has helped NSA meet mandated reductions in 
personnel levels while at the same  time allowing the agency 
to refresh its workforce with technically skilled people.

	Dubbed "Soft Landing," the program encourages more senior, 
and often highly paid, support staff to take jobs in the private 
sector, thereby creating openings the agency can fill with the 
young computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers it 
needs to fulfill its code-making and code-breaking duties.

	Additionally, NSA has saved roughly $25 million through the 
effort,  which was implemented two years ago but has received 
no publicity. 

	While the Soft Landing program has received high-praise 
from government officials as well as industry representatives, 
some public interest advocates have questioned the effort, 
saying it has perhaps created an improper relationship 
between the secretive NSA and a select group of contractors.

End excerpt.

Wayne Madsen says the program is a means to plant 
sympathetic employees to sway industry NSA's way.
 
The file includes a second report on NSA's accounting 
problems.