By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--October 3, 2013
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In a memo sent to thousands of NSA staffers, shared with me by one agency employee, the NSA’s associate director of human resources noted that despite exceptions to the federal government shutdown that include “activities required for national security, including the safety of human life or the protection of property,” recipients of the letter are being sent home indefinitely. “We very much regret the shutdown furlough and recognize the difficult financial implications of any furlough, no matter how limited its length,” reads the unclassified letter. “While everyone at the NSA provides vital services, because the duties you perform do not support ‘excerpted’ functions, you will be placed in a furlough status effective 1 October 2013.” Two NSA staffers I spoke with said that they hadn’t been told how much of the agency’s staff had been furloughed, which they said may be a measure to protect operational security and morale. But both noted they didn’t know of any fellow staffers who hadn’t been sent home, including colleagues across the surveillance-focused Signals Intelligence group, the security-focused Information Assurance Division and the agency’s research division. The NSA hasn’t officially stated the scope of the furlough, but the Hill has reported that as many as 70% of civilian staffers have been put on indefinite leave.Now I can buy that even an essential agency would benefit from having employees around who are nonetheless fair game for a furlough for limited periods of time. But when 70 percent of civilian staff have been put on indefinite leave, you have to start questioning just how many people at the NSA are truly essential. In a large sense, this is a question that bears asking about many other areas of government as the shutdown drags on. If all these government employees are off the job, and our lives are continuing with little or no effect, how can it be said that we really need to keep paying the taxes and borrowing the money that keeps them on the job the rest of the time? For all the political benefit Democrats think they get from a shutdown, maybe they should fear the realization on the part of the American people that life without the government honestly isn't so bad. And if these people aren't essential during a shutdown, maybe they won't be essential when the shutdown is over, either.
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