[cmaggiulli]

My answer is guesswork but…

The NSAs work is likely focused around parsing large amounts of data, building exploits for various technologies, things related to access and identity, etc.

I’m sure that for niche activities the NSA implements with whatever tool fits the job. However, in general, for more generalized activities such as parsing data, building reports, building access control systems, etc you’re going to want to use a language that is common and has longevity. Additionally, you’ll probably want a language that is performant but isn’t so low-level that programmers are spending their time writing code that is purely technical and not aligned with the end goal of the organization. Java is good mix of performance, common, lasting, etc. Additionally government agencies seem to love static, strongly typed, compiled languages. Those programming principles seem to align with the overall rigidity of government