800 Applicants for One Position

The National Security Agency, the super-secret, electronic spy agency, isn't having any problems recruiting IT security specialists, thanks in part, to the economy.

Here's what Army Gen. Keith Alexander, NSA director and commander of the military's cyber command, told the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday:

"If the economy should pick up, that might change that compass, but right now we have had great success in hiring, great outreach. We're getting great people. In fact, on the NSA side, one of our positions, we had 800 applicants."

The big test, though, isn't recruitment as much as retention, a challenge Alexander contends the NSA and the cyber command are meeting:

"I think the real key goes back to an earlier question, so once you got those great people, now how do you keep them? And I think it's by the job we do, by the leadership of the folks behind us (flag officers who head the military braches cyber commands and NSA leaders attending the hearing), and how they train those (workers), and the missions we have. It gets exciting, you'll know they'll stay, and if we pay them right and take care of them, I think we'll keep these folks."

Not a smooth Madison Avenue pitch, but Alexander's words help explain why the government, and the NSA in particular, could be competitive in recruiting IT security pros, even when the economy gets better.