November 28, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 12, 1422

LOS ANGELES, Nov 27: The National Security Agency, America’s largest secret service, renowned as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the US government, announced on Monday that it was laying-off staff as early as next year, as well as offering workers an early retirement package.

In a statement, the NSA said that it was planning to “focus more on core mission areas” like cryptography and intercepting communications. It has specifically targeted workers responsible for logistics and facilities maintenance.

The agency, which oversees electronic intercepts, however, refused to divulge how many people it plans to lay-off, or how many it had decided to retire.

However, the agency said that it has no plans to shut down its operations. Most of the cuts are said to be in the technical, rather than analysis departments, but the loss could still be well felt in intelligence gathering.

The NSA has historically been the safest place to work in government when it comes to job security because workers go through extensive background checks and have access to closely guarded secrets at the agency.