A wave of suicides at two U.S. intelligence agencies has drawn attention from the White House, according to a recent report. It follows earlier reports of deaths and disappearances involving people connected to the country’s space and nuclear programs.
At least 11 employees of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, both based at Fort Meade, Maryland, have died by suicide over roughly the past year, the report said. It cited public records and U.S. officials who spoke anonymously.
Five employees reportedly died by suicide between early June and early July. In September, the reported deaths included a 21-year-old Army soldier and a 59-year-old civilian contractor who worked for the NSA, according to an official familiar with their employment.
The deaths reportedly led White House and congressional staff to question agency leaders privately. Military officials were also asked to keep closer watch on employees’ working hours and the strain those demands may cause. The report said workloads for intelligence and cyber personnel have grown amid overseas conflicts.
Government agency spokespeople said they take a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention in coordination with the armed services. They also said they are working with other parts of the military to make sure care is available within secure workplaces.
Reported concerns include demanding hours, classified work and isolation inside secured facilities, many of them without windows. Those conditions may make it harder for employees to seek support, though the reports did not establish a single cause for the deaths.
In April, reports also described eight people connected to U.S. space and nuclear programs who had died or gone missing. Among those reported missing were a contractor at a national security campus, a former Air Force Research Laboratory major general and a rocket scientist.
Those reported dead included a German-born rocket scientist, a Caltech astrophysicist and the director of Plasma Science and Fusion at MIT, who was killed in an assassination.
