Cleared IT recruiting in Fort Meade and Columbia, Maryland
Fort George G. Meade calls itself the nation's premier platform for intelligence, information and cyber operations and the home of U.S. Cyber Command, and it hosts the National Security Agency, Army Cyber Command, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Media Activity.
Columbia, Laurel, Odenton and Hanover around it hold the contractors that support those tenants, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory sits in Laurel, and Aberdeen Proving Ground, NIST and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center complete the Maryland market. Requisitions here carry TS/SCI with polygraph more often than anywhere except Northern Virginia.
The market is worked with the polygraph line first and the commute second, because the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Route 32 decide whether a candidate in Baltimore or Silver Spring will take a seat on the installation.
Installations, agencies and employers that shape hiring in Fort Meade and Columbia
The organizations below shape the Fort Meade and Columbia market. They are named as facts about the area; none is a client of the firm.
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Fort George G. Meade
An active Army installation since 1917, whose site was selected on June 23, 1917 for its proximity to the railroad, the port of Baltimore and Washington. The garrison lists the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, Army Cyber Command, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Media Activity among its tenant organizations.
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The National Security Agency
NSA states that its headquarters is at Fort Meade and describes two missions: foreign signals intelligence for policymakers and military forces, and cybersecurity to prevent and eradicate threats to national security systems, with an initial focus on the defense industrial base. Its suitability process includes a background investigation, a psychological assessment and in-person security processing with a polygraph, with eligibility decided under Security Executive Agent Directive 4.
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The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
A not-for-profit university affiliated research center in Laurel whose campus spans nearly 461 acres with more than 20 major buildings and more than 8,800 staff, of whom about 80 percent are technical professionals.
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Aberdeen Proving Ground
Established in 1917 on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay near Aberdeen, the post has more than 18,000 civilians and soldiers and lists CECOM, DEVCOM, ATEC, PEO IEW&S and the 20th CBRNE Command among its tenants; it is one of Harford County's largest employers.
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NIST and Goddard
The National Institute of Standards and Technology's headquarters campus is at 100 Bureau Drive in Gaithersburg. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, founded on May 1, 1959, is home to the nation's largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments and new technology.
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Anne Arundel County
The county's economic development corporation lists the Naval Academy, Fort Meade, U.S. Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Information Systems Agency, BWI Airport and Northrop Grumman among the organizations the county is home to.
Commuting and remote work around Fort Meade and Columbia
The Baltimore-Washington Parkway, a 29-mile National Park Service highway that has connected Baltimore and Washington since 1954, is the spine of the commute, and Fort Meade's site was chosen in 1917 for its access to the railroad and both cities. MARC commuter rail runs three lines to Washington, the Brunswick, Penn and Camden lines, and Interstate 270 serves Rockville, Gaithersburg and Frederick over 34.7 miles, with the Maryland section of the Capital Beltway serving Bethesda, Wheaton and Silver Spring over 16.13 miles, according to the federal route log.
Candidates come from Baltimore, Howard County and the Washington suburbs alike, and the parkway's congestion at peak hours is the reason many of them limit themselves to sites on the installation's own side.
Work on the installation and in the contractors' SCIFs is on site without exception. Unclassified program work in Columbia and Hanover offers hybrid arrangements, and a requisition should state which part of the work is which.
Clearance levels commonly requested in Fort Meade and Columbia
Requisitions supporting NSA, U.S. Cyber Command and the intelligence tenants ask for TS/SCI, and NSA's own hiring pages describe a polygraph as part of its security processing. DISA, Army and Defense Media Activity requisitions run from Secret to TS/SCI. Applied Physics Laboratory, Aberdeen, NIST and Goddard requisitions run from Public Trust to Top Secret depending on the program, and Department of Energy or NASA rules apply where those agencies sponsor the work.
Maryland's wage range law requires the minimum and maximum pay, a description of benefits and any other compensation in every posting, including postings by out-of-state contractors seeking workers based in Maryland, so the requisition summary should carry the range before the search begins.
Specialties in demand in Fort Meade and Columbia
Industries hiring in Fort Meade and Columbia
Nearby markets
Questions about hiring in Fort Meade and Columbia
Which Fort Meade requisitions require a polygraph?
Those supporting NSA and the intelligence tenants of the installation, where the agency's own suitability process includes one. DISA, Army and unclassified program requisitions usually do not. The requisition summary should state which examination applies and whether the program will sponsor it for a candidate who holds a current TS/SCI without one.
Does the Maryland wage range law apply to an out-of-state contractor posting a Fort Meade position?
Yes. The Maryland Department of Labor's guidance says the law covers postings that seek workers based in Maryland even when the employer is headquartered elsewhere, and it requires the minimum and maximum rate, a general description of benefits and any other compensation in every posting.