Seems to be one flaw in the logic being presented here. The NSA could easily make employees sign non-compete agreements that stipulate due to "national security

Seems to be one flaw in the logic being presented here. The NSA could easily make employees sign non-compete agreements that stipulate due to "national security reasons" they cannot work in any similar industry for a year or so after leaving. Other companies already do this, so it wouldn't be out of the question. And the information the NSA harvests isn't just at a data centre/hardware level, they're stealing it from cables and people in the middle.