In preparation for my book, Are You Listening? Lessons in Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement from the Agency That Doesn't Listen, I thought I'd share some festive ornaments available to NSA employees. Here we go!

2005

I earned my Master’s degree on a swank program called the “Scholarship for Service”. It was a great deal: they paid for school, housing, a small living allowance and so on – all you had to do was complete a CS Degree (with a focus on national security) and then go work for the federal government for a few years to put that education to use.

My program director summed it up as ~”the NSA’s attempt to grow talent and bring in new ideas”, which, honestly, seemed pretty smart. While I had reservations working for a spy agency, as long as they were open to new ideas and perspectives, maybe I didn’t have that much to worry about.

Sadly, I discovered that new ideas and enthusiasm are about as welcome in the NSA as a 2am bedside hairball.

2006

2007

2008

2008

Not only was the ornament this year top notch, I was working the best-fit job of my career where I trained thousands of government employees and contractors in Operations Security (OPSEC) principles on behalf of the DoD. I provided both platform training and briefings to agencies such as the FBI, DHS, State Department, and many military installations across the US. Some of the highlights:

• After Speaking at the State Department Foreign Services Institute (FSI), I was personally requested by the Deputy Director of the FSI to deliver a follow-on briefing to her technology working group as well.
• I received a letter of appreciation from the office of the Department of the Navy, Chief Information Officer.
• I led inter-office development effort to rebuild and redesign the IOSS.gov official website with a cost savings of over $300,000 per year versus the replaced contract (so basically, I saved the NSA millions of dollars over the next several years).

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2009

2010

2011

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2011

After seven years of living in Maryland, my wife and I wanted out. Yakima Washington was less crowded, less expensive, and only a few hours away from the grandparents by car. I would be giving up the best job I ever had at the agency , but moving close to family on the government dime was a no-brainer. The only thing standing in the way was the poly.

Things were going well at first, but one of the security questions continued to be a sticking point. My examiner asked about it and, in the spirit of cooperation and disclosure, I waxed eloquent about my strong belief in whistle-blowing.

It was a huge mistake.

The exam, which should have lasted less than 30 minutes, extended for five hours. They must not have found what they were digging for because they eventually kicked me out and said “we’ll get back to you”.

Weeks turned to months as, with every passing day, financial and logistical issues mounted. Our lease expired, my car died, the new school year approached, and my office wouldn’t assign me any work since “they didn’t know when I was leaving”. My wife and I scrambled to deal with the consequences of sitting in PCS (location transfer) limbo while suffering from constant fear that the Yakima office might get tired of waiting and rescinded the offer.

The whole time, I battled fear and depression until they finally scheduled the second poly (which I passed in 20 minutes) and a follow-on security interview. It was then that I finally learned they had needed time to investigate me fully because I “admitted” in the polygraph that I support whistleblowing.


2012

2013

2014

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I'm almost certain there were two ornaments in 2012 - one anniversary one and one normal Christmassy one - but I haven't been able to find it and I can't find a picture of one online to compare to. But if I'm right, I lost one somewhere and that's sad 🙁

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2015

The timing worked out to snag a job overseas (OCONUS); a place I wanted to go so badly I told everyone I'd clean toilets if that's what it took. Thankfully the work wasn't much like cleaning toilets, but I still landed in a more fecal position than I bargained for.

OCONUS is where I suffered the most soul-destroying management of my career. To cope, I learned to speedwalk through the halls, keep my head down, avoid eye contact, and memorize noisy floor tiles so I could get to my cubicle silently and unnoticed. I tried not to talk or send emails that might draw attention, adjusted my work schedule, and timed my bathroom breaks to limit my exposure to abusers. After work, if I noticed certain cars at the commissary or post office, I'd do a U-turn and try again another day. My morning drives were spent decompressing over the previous day's trauma and trying to steel myself for the next.

One thing's for sure, working for bullies and abusers made my OCONUS assignment a lot less appealing.

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2016

2017

2018

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2019

Back to a good assignment. I was the team lead and lead UX designer for web-dev shop building/maintaining custom applications used to streamline and simplify operations for thousands of employees world-wide. Not only that, but I was selected for a summer leadership program called the Defense Civilian Emerging Leaders Program (DCELP). I spent an entire summer flying back and forth to Michigan to complete the 5-week course. It was a great experience where I met some amazing people from all over the DoD – including some other NSA people.

When I first flew to the Defense Civilian Emerging Leaders Program leadership program and we were doing classroom introductions, someone audibly gasped upon hearing my name and reverently said, “You’re THE Jeremy Duffy!? I can’t wait to tell the people back in the office that I met you”. You see, I'd become somewhat infamous by that time due to years of speaking out against bad policy, abuse, waste, and calling out execs up to (and beyond) the NSA director.

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2020

Covid time. By this time, I had been elected as a "Workforce Matters Representative", got a promotion, and was otherwise distinguishing myself not just as an employee, but as an advocate for employees. I admit; my approach was overly combative and put people on the defensive for a long time, but I was really starting to turn it around. I was mentoring the site chief and deputy chief trying to teach them how to better engage with people on site and had even at one point been recognized as one of the NSA’s five top employee advocates by the agency Anti-Harassment Campaign.

By 2021, I was on my way out, but had been working on a goodbye post highlighting some of the key issues I felt were still unaddressed. I guess I wasn't as good at communicating as I thought because, despite my efforts, I still pissed off someone(s). The post triggered a new "investigation", a psyche eval, and then a clearance revocation listing my book as a "threat", admitting that I'd been retaliated against for supporting whistleblowing, and full of exaggerations and lies (stuff I was only able to prove because I'd requested copies of my own security records years prior).

I didn't get a 2021 ornament because I left in the summer. Cest la vie!

And that's the career! Would I do it again? Maybe if I could take some of my current perspective back with me. But one thing's for sure, all those people who warned me not to rock the boat were right in the end. I had a good run, sure, but eventually they falsified security records and left me jobless in the worst job market in decades. It was not fun… although – the only reason I was hesitating to publish the book was because of my clearance. Now that it's gone (ironically) the NSA has removed the only thing that was keeping their ugly side from becoming public.

Please consider adding your email to my 'book updates' mailer to stay up-to-date with the publishing effort [CLICK HERE]

Tags: Christmas, Christmas Ornaments, NSA Christmas Ornaments

"I think you're pumping a dry well here..."
(Image used under Fair Use doctrine)

When the Brady Bunch 1995 movie came out, it was a snarky jab at the characters and stories of the famous 70's sitcom of the same name. Overall it was midly humorous and mostly forgettable to me with one exception: the house gag.

It's long been a joke online that father of six, Mike Brady, was supposed to be an architect and had designed the house they lived in, yet somehow there was only one bathroom for 9 people. Taking that gag further in the film, there were several points where Mr. Brady was pitching architectural designs to clients at work. Each time, the model on the table – regardless of the client's needs – was just his family home with a few gas pumps outside (for the series of gas stations), a menu board outside (burger restaurant), and so on. At one point, a frustrated client pulls the boss close and says, "I think you're pumping a dry well here".

In my recent experience being jobless in the worst market in decades, that gag has come to mind frequently. You see, as I reviewed nearly 20 years of professional experience, I noticed a pattern. Every role I've worked had deficiencies in onboarding, documentation, and cross-team collaboration. And in every role I've worked, I always applied myself to training, teaching, and process improvement – to the greatest degree I was allowed or could get away with. Education and awareness was my Mike Brady house; my "dry-well".

In the movie, Mike lucks out when a client loves the concept for a series of fitness centers (to his boss's utter bafflement), but this is real life and we're not going to find success by pitching the same concept over and over… or will we?

In strictly literal terms, architecting without any consideration for your client is foolish, but was that really the problem? Mike could have fought against his talents, his focus, his passion — or he could lean in and just find the right outlet. What if, instead of a dry well, what you found is your jam? Your anthem? Your life rhythm? Is it really something you should suppress? Could you even if you tried?

I'm not suggesting that anyone quit their job and live as a starving artist, but can you course-correct even just a little bit? Though I only managed to find one role in my career where I could express my purpose fully, no team resented that I tackled our outdated security tracking, improved our standard operating guides, or went out my way to investigated and addressed communications breakdowns between clients, other teams, and execs.

Obviously, not everyone's passions will lend themselves to their current roles the way mine tended to: fair enough. But does that mean there's nothing you can do?

Maybe you can't weave your purpose into your current role, but does it make sense not to tap into that font of power? How many times have you heard "work a job you love and you'll never "work" another day in your life". There's something to be said for mining veins of passion: you might work longer and harder than anyone else on that task, but it won't feel like it. When you find joy in music, teaching, doing, learning, showing, or whatever it is that you do, it doesn't drain you the way a "job" will.

If not your current job, can you do side projects? Something to flex that talent and help build it? Something that might eventually help you build a "side-gig"? Can you volunteer? Can you find any way to make your passion part of your life in a meaningful way? Because if you do, you build skills, experience, a portfolio, personal connections – all things that might lead you to future roles where your purpose is you MAIN role, and not some desperate side-effort.

I don't know what your life situation is; what your struggles are; your limitations – I would never presume to judge. All I'm saying is that if you can find your "Brady House" and lean into that passion instead of away, you may find success and joy you didn't realize were possible. At the least, isn't it worth putting some thought into?

Ask yourself:

• What productive/useful/meaningful thing do I find myself constantly drawn to? In the quiet moments, when people leave me unsupervised, what do I find myself doing?
• If that thing seems unproductive and useless, ask: is it really? Do you argue on Reddit? Where? How? Are you actually showing a talent for debate? For social media engagement? Something else?
• How can I channel that energy and passion into something people might pay for? Not "quit my job and open a dojo" type, but maybe something you can start small. Not just for the purpose of caution, but in validating that this is something you really have a love of (and just a passing fascination).

This kind of introspection and investigation is not easy, but I believe 100% that it is worthwhile and – whether it actually leads you to better things or not – it will give you the strongest foundation possible for reaching for the future you want to see.

It's often MUCH harder to find the path than to walk it. Find your path and you'll see just how far you can really go!

Golden Ginko Tree - Wikimedia commons cc3.0

Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company changed its name.

The saga of the Golden Tree travel agency was a memorable lesson in my college marketing class. As was the Chevy "Nova"'s entry into Latin-American markets ("No Va" means "doesn't go in Spanish). And Vicks cough syrup in Germany (Vicks is a dirty word there).

The lesson is simple: listen.

Ugly Sonic. Pic used under Fair Use Doctrine

How is it that companies put all the money and effort into building out a marketing strategy in a country and never think to talk to the people who live there and could easily warn them long before they created confusion (or offense)? It would be like a major movie studio taking a beloved video game character and creating a model of him that looked like a frumpy middle-aged resident of the deepest and most forgotten corner of the "uncanny valley" and then being surprised when there was severe public backlash.

It's honestly absurd and amateur to make these kinds of mistakes and each of them come from the same root cause: lack of a listening culture. You hire people because they're professionals at what they do so why wouldn't you listen to what they have to say? Why wouldn't you seek out their expertise before making a critical mistake that requires damage control from simple embarrassment to millions of dollars of wasted money?

Bottom line, companies are going to keep making these kinds of mistakes and we'll continue to laugh at them when they do, but if your goal is to be an effective and respected leader, not only hearing what your people are saying, but making proactive efforts to get their input is the basics of the basics. After all, how are you a leader if the only voice you hear is your own?

Part of our dysfunctional culture is that dissent too often is regarded as form of disloyalty, of not being a team player. Yet to say nothing is tacit consent. Those who desire deep and durable change in our “corporate” culture need to gain the mature understanding that sometimes one’s most harsh critic is one’s most sincere friend.

–E. Writer

Employees are allies, not the adversary

Inside the US’s most secretive spy agency, dedicated employees protect our national security interests while suffering a level of toxicity that could send nuclear lizards tap-dancing through downtown Tokyo. Whether granting multi-million-dollar boondoggle contracts or forcing adoption of therapy-inducing tools and processes, employees watched helplessly as posturing and promotion bullets drove decisions instead of collaboration with stakeholders and the literal world-class experts at hand.

In my book, Are You Listening? Lessons in Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement from the Agency that Doesn’t Listen, you will read the combined stories of nearly 700 employees whose vital feedback was met with blank stares, silence, or retaliation ranging from lost promotion to revocation of security clearance. Stories about trauma-inducing investigations; rampant unaddressed harassment; and soul-crushing politics.

In the world’s first (probably) leadership book from the perspective of what not to do, you will learn how a culture of deafness leads to morale chasmic enough to draw paying tourists and wasted dollars numerous enough to fill it back up. Most of all, you will learn how every attempt to express good intentions/authenticity or boost morale will fail if you shut down the single, most important channel of feedback you have: your own employees.

Sign up for mail updates for the publishing of Are You Listening, Lessons in Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement from the Agency that Doesn't Listen and get a complimentary copy of my promotional mini-book, Reflections on an NSA Career!

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