At least 11 NSA and US Cyber Command workers died by suicide over last year; Congress seeks answers

Résumé détaillé

From early June to early July, five NSA or Cyber Command workers took their lives, which led the military to link the deaths as a so-called suicide cluster.

At least 11 National Security Agency (NSA) and US Cyber Command workers died by suicide over roughly the past year, according to US officials and public records, a greater number than previously known.

The unusual spate of suicides at agencies that conduct electronic spying and hacking operations on US adversaries has prompted White House and congressional staff to question their leaders behind closed doors, said the officials. While many factors can lead someone to take their own life, the deaths have caused military commanders to take steps to control long work hours and make more mental health support available to intelligence officers and government hackers whose workload has surged in the past year because of foreign conflicts.

From early June to early July, five people who worked for the NSA or Cyber Command took their own lives, a timeline that led the military to link the deaths as a so-called suicide cluster, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News in August.

The most recent suicides came after that in September, when a 21-year-old Army soldier and a 59-year-old civilian working for the NSA took their own lives, according to death records and an official familiar with their employment. Like others, the official spoke on condition that they not be identified because they aren’t authorized to discuss the matter.

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The deaths continued even as lawmakers and military leaders have tried to help with the distinctive mental health difficulties of staff at the intelligence agency and military cyberwarfare unit. They are both headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland.

“The pace of operations right now at both NSA and Cyber Command can be overwhelming,” said Harry Coker Jr., a former senior executive at the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency.

A Pentagon spokesperson didn’t provide the number of suicides at Cyber Command and the NSA in past years…

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