TYB
Who was the Q group that investigated military espionage in the early 2010s?
The “Q Group” was the internal security and counterintelligence arm of the National Security Agency (NSA), formally known as the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence, which led leak and espionage‑related investigations in the early 2010s.
What Q Group Was
It was an NSA directorate responsible for security and counterintelligence inside the agency, often described as the NSA’s “internal police force.”
Its mission included monitoring NSA employees and contractors for behavior that could pose an intelligence risk, and running investigations into suspected leaks or espionage.
Role in Early‑2010s Espionage/Leak Cases
Q Group was reported to be on Edward Snowden’s trail around the time his 2013 disclosures became public, as part of an internal hunt for the source of the NSA document leaks.
The unit also played a central role in broader counterintelligence probes of possible insider leaks, including later investigations into whether an NSA insider aided the Shadow Brokers disclosures of NSA tools.
Media reports describe Q Group working jointly with the FBI in “wide‑ranging” investigations into major NSA compromises during this period.