---
title: "The NSA Won’t Say Anything About Its Slack Account"
description: "It turns out that the National Security Agency (NSA), the government intelligence agency responsible for domestic mass surveillance, uses Slack, the same messaging app common in offices, newsrooms, and other not-as-top-secret workplaces. That’s according to Motherboard, which attempted to discover the name of the NSA’s slack channels though a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) […]"
date: "2019-08-15"
modified: "2019-08-15"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nsa-uses-slack"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "communications"
  - "cybersecurity"
  - "NSA"
  - "slack"
  - "the digest"
---

# The NSA Won’t Say Anything About Its Slack Account

![It turns out that the NSA, the secretive intelligence agency, uses the same version of the messaging app Slack as your office.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/nsa-uses-slack.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Big Brother

It turns out that the National Security Agency (NSA), the government intelligence agency responsible for domestic mass surveillance, seems to use Slack, the [same messaging app](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/slack-removed-hate-groups>) common in offices, newsrooms, and other not-as-top-secret workplaces.

That's [according to *Motherboard*](<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59np93/fearful-of-americas-enemies-the-nsa-refuses-to-tell-us-the-name-of-its-slack>), which attempted to discover the name of the NSA's slack channels though a Freedom of Information Act request. The NSA refused to disclose the information, citing national security — raising the possibility that literal spies could be wasting time sharing memes on Slack.

## Spy vs. Spy

Slack also refused to share information on the NSA's channels due to a company policy prohibiting representatives from discussing its customers.

But *Motherboard* learned that Slack doesn't build custom versions of its app for specific customers, meaning that the same government agency responsible for [learning all our secrets](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-cyberweapons-nsa-us-allies>) seems to use the same off-the-shelf version of Slack as anyone else, and it might not even pay for the premium version.

## Slack Site

Given the nature of the NSA's work, it's more likely than not that the agency uses Slack for general communications and office banter instead of anything classified, *Motherboard* concludes. Though given the government's [spotty track record](<https://futurism.com/navy-struggling-onslaught-hackers>) with cybersecurity, anything is possible.

In the meantime, we can only wonder whether NSA employees have created any custom emojis on Slack.

**READ MORE:** [Fearful of America’s Enemies, the NSA Refuses to Tell Us the Name of Its Slack](<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59np93/fearful-of-americas-enemies-the-nsa-refuses-to-tell-us-the-name-of-its-slack>) \[*Motherboard*\]

**More on the NSA:** *[New Report Details AT&T's Role in NSA Spying Initiatives](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/att-facilities-nsa-spying>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)