NSA Summer 2027 Internship Program - Summer Language Program - Entry - MD,CO,HI,TX,UT

NSA Summer Internship Programs at our Maryland, Colorado, Hawaii, Texas, and Utah locations offer students exciting, impactful professional work opportunities to grow their knowledge of the Intelligence Community and federal government while advancing NSA's two primary missions: collecting, analyzing, and producing foreign signals intelligence, and providing cybersecurity solutions and guidance to protect critical national infrastructure.

About the role

The Summer Language Program is a 12-week paid internship for undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students with foreign language proficiency. Summer interns are fully integrated into a language production office under the guidance of an experienced language analyst mentor. The internship may, if mutually agreeable, lead to full-time employment upon degree completion. Languages selected for the program mirror NSA's strategic language hiring goals and may change from summer to summer. The program can be a one-summer or a multiple-summer program, depending on when a student begins; additional summers are not mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Work in a language production office under the guidance of an experienced language analyst mentor.
• Contribute to NSA’s missions of collecting, analyzing, and producing foreign signals intelligence and providing cybersecurity solutions.

Qualifications

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must be enrolled in a degree-seeking program (undergraduate, graduate, doctorate) at time of application.
• Preferred cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Must be eligible to be granted a TS/SCI security clearance after successfully completing a background investigation, a Full-scope Polygraph, and a Psychological Evaluation.
• Must be available and in the U.S. for operational and technical interviews and other applicable processing, both in-person and via telephone/internet, between the months of October 2026 and April 2027.

Skills

No specific major is required, but the following language proficiencies are recommended:

• Arabic
• Spanish
• Mandarin Chinese
• Persian Farsi
• African Languages

If selected, you may be required to complete a proctored Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) and Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT). Testing will need to be completed by 15 November 2026. You may also be required to complete an Unproctored Internet Testing (UIT) requirement measuring cognitive ability, motivation, and English proficiency.

Pay

Students are paid a competitive salary commensurate with their education level.

Benefits

• Annual leave, sick leave, and paid federal holidays.
• Students who attend school in excess of 75 miles from the site location are eligible for housing accommodations and travel entitlements, including a round-trip airfare ticket to and from school or mileage reimbursement up to the cost of a government-issued airline ticket.
• Travel entitlements may be available for students participating in the Hawaii location.
• Participation in agency-wide extracurricular programs.

Schedule

• All internships are 10–12 weeks during the summer (mid-May to mid-August).
• Daily transportation to and from work is not provided; students are highly encouraged to bring a vehicle. Carpooling with other students may be available but is not guaranteed.