In a world where the Chinese are apparently hacking everything in sight, spam is an everyday occurrence, and someone from Nigeria or Ghana always wants to give you money, it doesn’t come as any real surprise to learn that the Pentagon has an elite crack staff of hackers ensuring that at least the US national secrets are safe.

When Popular Mechanics writer Glenn Derene contacted the NationalSecurity Agency (NSA) in hopes of acquiring an interview with a memberof the almost mythical elite...