Association With Foreign Nationals
(From the NSA Handbook)
As a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and by virtue of your access to sensitive information, you are a potential target for hostile intelligence activities carried out by or on behalf of citizens of foreign countries. A policy concerning association with foreign nationals has been established by the Agency to minimize the likelihood that its personnel might become subject to undue influence or duress or targets of hostile activities through foreign relationships.
As an NSA affiliate, you are prohibited from initiating or maintaining associations (regardless of the nature and degree) with citizens or officials of communist-controlled, or other countries which pose a significant threat to the security of the United States and its interests. A comprehensive list of these designated countries is available from your Staff Security Officer or the Security Awareness Division. Any contact with citizens of these countries, no matter how brief or seemingly innocuous, must be reported as soon as possible to your Staff Security Officer (SSO). (Individuals designated as Staff Security Officers are assigned to every organization; a listing of Staff Security Officers can be found at the back of this handbook).
Additionally, close and continuing associations with any non-U.S. citizens which are characterized by ties of kinship, obligation, or affection are prohibited. A waiver to this policy may be granted only under the most exceptional circumstances when there is a truly compelling need for an individual's services or skills and the security risk is negligible.
In particular, a waiver must be granted in advance of a marriage to or cohabitation with a foreign national in order to retain one's access to NSA information. Accordingly, any intent to cohabitate with or marry a non-U.S. citizen must be reported immediately to your Staff Security Officer. If a waiver is granted, future reassignments both at headquarters and overseas may be affected.
The marriage or intended marriage of an immediate family member (parents, siblings, children) to a foreign national must also be reported through your SSO to the Clearance Division (M55).
Casual social associations with foreign nationals (other than those of the designated countries mentioned above) which arise from normal living and working arrangements in the community usually do not have to be reported. During the course of these casual social associations, you are encouraged to extend the usual social amenities. Do not act mysteriously or draw attention to yourself (and possibly to NSA) by displaying an unusually wary attitude.
Naturally, your affiliation with the Agency and the nature of your work should not be discussed. Again, you should be careful not to allow these associations to become close and continuing to the extent that they are characterized by ties of kinship, obligation, or affection.
If at any time you feel that a "casual" association is in any way suspicious, you should report this to your Staff Security Officer immediately. Whenever any doubt exists as to whether or not a situation should be reported or made a matter of record, you should decided in favor of reporting it. In this way, the situation can be evaluated on its own merits, and you can be advised as to your future course of action.