NSA Headquarters’ Attack: Attack was a Criminal Matter

The National Security Agency (NSA) has said that an attack on its headquarters on Monday was a pure internal criminal matter and has nothing to do with external terrorist activities.

One person was reportedly dead and two others were injured after a bizarre incident, in which two men disguised as women recklessly drove a stolen car into the gates of NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.

In addition to the NSA, Fort Meade is home to the Defense Information Systems Agency and the United States Cyber Command, making it a high security zone.

Hidden security cameras showed a black Ford Escape SUV speeding towards the NSA barrier at around 10 am on Monday morning. An on duty security guard opened fire, stopping the car from entering the campus.

NSA Spokesman said an agency officer first gave the driver routine instructions to safely exit the secure campus, but the driver disobeyed them and so barriers were deployed. When the situation became critical, an officer opened fire to prevent further advance. One of the men inside the car was killed by the shots fired, while the other sustained injuries. The officer who opened fire also got injured in the process.

Fox News quoted an anonymous local security official stating that the two men who carried out the attack have been partying at a hotel and were under the influence of drugs. It is believed they stole the car from that same hotel; however it is unclear what their motives are for their actions.

There were concerns that the incident might have been carried out by external terrorists, but NSA said in a statement that the incident is a pure criminal matter.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) office in Baltimore said in a statement “The shooting scene is contained and we do not believe it is related to terrorism. We are investigating with NSA police and other law enforcement agencies”.

It further said an investigation into the incident is far advanced and NSA will soon seek the advice of Maryland’s Attorney Office for the next step.

“Our evidence response team is processing the crime scene, and FBI agents are doing joint interviews with witnesses. We are working with the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland to determine if federal charges are warranted. We have no further information at this time to release”, the statement said.

The White House has also been briefed on the events and further steps are being taken to avoid similar criminal attacks on such high security zones in the United States.

“The President has been briefed on this morning’s incident at the National Security Agency and will be updated as appropriate,” said White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz.

Fort Meade is home to around 11,000 military personnel and 29,000 security civilian employees. Earlier this month, a building on the NSA campus was damaged by gunfire.

Security officials arrested a man on March 3^rd, who they say fired that night on the NSA site as well as earlier at several nearby places and at two moving vehicles. The suspect-Hong Young told police he heard voices directing him to fire on one of the occupied vehicles.

The National Security Agency is a United States intelligence agency responsible for global monitoring, collection, decoding, translation and analysis of information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. It is also charged with protection of U.S. government communications and information systems against penetration and network warfare.