3.5K defense contractors in MD: Department of Business and Economic Development

The leak of a top-secret National Security Agency surveillance program by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor who lived in Ellicott City, is raising questions about the federal government’s dependency on defense contractors — not to mention the extent to which defense contract work influences Maryland’s economy.
There are 3,457 defense contractors in the state, according to the Department of Business and Economic Development. And, as the Baltimore Sun reports, the “NSA’s presence in Maryland is considered an important economic engine for the state.”

That number, however, doesn’t include contractors who work at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, since the NSA doesn’t publicly disclose budget numbers or terms of its contracts.
Read more here.