The National Security Agency has long been the economic development enigma of Anne Arundel and Howard counties and, indeed, the whole state of Maryland. Exactly how many spooks are out there? The NSA is the government's worldwide electronic eavesdropping agency, supplying "sig-int(elligence)" to supplement the CIA's "hum-int."

Nice job by the Baltimore Business Journal of finding the NSA's notice in the Federal Register that it plans to add up to 11,000 jobs and 5.8 million square feet of office space over the next 20 years. Nice job by The Sun's Jamie Smith Hopkins in reporting the likely explanation: Much of this may be consolidation of satellite offices now surrounding NSA's Fort Meade headquarters, not net expansion.

But intelligence historian Matthew M. Aid, author of The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency, thinks the NSA plans signal relocation more than expansion. The agency employs some 5,000 people in offices near Fort Meade but off the Army post, a security concern and a leasing expense, he said. He thinks the agency's priority will be to move workers onto its campus - bad news for the companies that own offices in the area. The NSA also has 50-year-old buildings at its headquarters that it will probably want to replace, he said.