Friendship Annex

The Friendship Annex, also known as FANX or FANEX, is a National Security Agency (NSA) facility complex located in Linthicum, Maryland, near the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI). Established in the 1970s, the complex consists of multiple buildings and serves multiple roles as a cyber espionage station, electronic intelligence processing facility, and NSA Broadcast Network television studio. It is also the primary campus of the National Cryptologic School.

Friendship Annex was established in early 1970 after the NSA outgrew the office space of its headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland. The agency leased several buildings in the Airport Square Technology Park near BWI, located 20–25 minutes drive time from its headquarters, and named the new facility after the airport, which was at one time named Friendship International Airport. The buildings comprised two seven-story towers and two two-story buildings, labeled FANX I, II, III and IV. One of the two-story buildings was later leased to NASA. The NSA expanded the size of Friendship Annex, completing the complex in the 1990s. Today the complex covers 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m²) of leased space and houses an estimated 12,000 NSA personnel. A number of intelligence contractors are also co-located within or near the technology park.

Friendship Annex serves multiple roles. It functions, in part, as a cyber espionage station. Teams of NSA hackers within the facility attempt to penetrate the digital communications of foreign governments both friendly and unfriendly to the United States. In addition, teams of "defenders" are tasked with monitoring penetrations and attempted penetrations of U.S. government computer systems. Friendship Annex also conducts the NSA's electronic intelligence (ELINT) signals analysis processing.

Friendship Annex is the primary campus of the National Cryptologic School. The school offers a wide range of courses in cryptology, from basic training to advanced techniques for senior staff, as well as courses in language, leadership, education, and business. The school is located in the seven-story FANX IV building.

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