NSA Summer 2027 Internship Program - Summer Program for Operations Research Technology - Entry - Maryland

Join students from across the country and lend your knowledge to national security in one of NSA's over 30 summer internship programs. These 12-week paid programs run from mid-May to mid-August and are open to undergraduate freshman up to Ph.D. students. Internships span a wide variety of majors, giving students the opportunity to work directly with mission-critical problems and experience the excitement of working in NSA spaces.

About the role

The NSA Summer Internship Programs at our Fort Meade, MD location offer students impactful, paid 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
• Providing cybersecurity solutions and guidance to protect critical national infrastructure

As a Summer Program for Operations Research Technology (SPORT) intern, you will apply the technical skills you've learned in graduate school to challenging Agency operational problems. You will lead the technical development of your project and interface with your Agency customer. Throughout the summer, you will work alongside full-time Operations Research analysts and attend weekly seminars on operations research best methods and practices. At the conclusion of the program, you will present your findings directly to your project customer, fellow interns, and Senior Leadership.

Responsibilities

• Apply graduate-level technical skills to challenging Agency operational problems
• Lead the technical development of your assigned project
• Interface with your Agency customer throughout the project lifecycle
• Work alongside full-time Operations Research analysts
• Attend weekly seminars on operations research best methods and practices
• Present findings to project customers, fellow interns, and Senior Leadership at the conclusion of the program

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be enrolled in a degree-seeking program (undergraduate, graduate, doctorate) at time of application
• 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
• Must be enrolled in and have completed at least one semester of an M.S. or Ph.D. program in a field of study closely related to one or more of the following disciplines:
  • Operations Research
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Data Science and Big Data Analytics
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Systems Engineering
  • Computer Network Engineering
  • Computer Science
  • Management Science
  • Probability and Statistics
  • Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
• Undergraduate students will not be accepted (Exception: Combined BS/MS is acceptable)
• Preferred cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher

Other majors may be considered, however the majors listed above are highly recommended. You may 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 Fort Meade, MD are eligible for:
  • Housing accommodations
  • Travel entitlements of a round-trip airfare ticket to and from school or mileage reimbursement up to the cost of a government-issued airline ticket
• 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)