NSA is committed to making its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessible to individuals with disabilities, including members of the public and federal employees, in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. § 794d).
Section 508 requires that when agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use ICT, agencies must ensure that the ICT allows individuals with disabilities to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by individuals without disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 does not apply to national security systems.
For more information about Section 508 and the technical standards, please visit the DoD Section 508 website or visit Section508.gov.
For persons with disabilities experiencing difficulties accessing content on a particular NSA web page, please use the NSA Section 508 Web Form. In this form, please indicate the nature of your accessibility issue or concern and your contact information so we can address your issue or concern.[Note 1]
NSA Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Accessibility Standards
To help facilitate this mission, the NSA created a checklist based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which are the international standards for IT accessibility. The Agency is continuously working to meet or exceed the standards set forth in this checklist across all of its IT platforms, both internally and externally, including NSA.gov.
The NSA ICT Accessibility Standards apply to ICT procured or developed by the NSA. These standards, and the corresponding NSA ICT Accessibility Standards Scoresheet, contain technical criteria specific to various types of technologies and performance-based requirements, which focus on functional capabilities of covered products. The Scoresheet provides detailed guidance pertaining to the acceptable test criteria for each accessibility standard. Specific criteria cover software applications and operating systems, web-based information and applications, computers, mobile applications, video and multimedia, and self-contained closed products. A rating score, calculated upon completion of the NSA ICT Accessibility Standards Scoresheet, will determine the overall level of accessibility for a given ICT component.
NSA ICT Accessibility Standards and Guidance
As part of our continued mission to increase accessibility across all of the NSA’s web platforms, the NSA ICT Accessibility Standards and related accessibility guidance are now available to the public at the links below:
Other Guidance
Contact Us
If you have questions about accessibility at NSA, contact the Agency’s IT Accessibility Program with your Section 508 inquiry.
Learn more about information pertaining to the Department of Defense (DoD) Section 508/Accessibility Policy from the DoD Chief Information Office.
[Note 1] Under DoDM 8400.01, complaints by an individual with a disability who believes that ICT developed, procured, maintained, or used by a DoD Component is not accessible must be filed with the DoD Component’s Section 508 coordinator. The Component coordinator must then notify the Component CIO, the DoD Section 508 coordinator, and the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity (ODMEO) under the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)). The USD(P&R) leads the Section 508 complaint process for DoD. A complaint is defined by DoDM 8400.01 as “[a]n incident of inaccessible ICT that is not resolved by the Component to the satisfaction of the claimant and is forwarded to the USD(P&R) ODMEO where it becomes a complaint.”