Anecdotally I have heard that NSA wages are pretty good. They're competing for talent with finance after all. But compensation aside, by far the awesomest perk that comes with working for the NSA (I'm told) is that under no circumstances whatsoever are you allowed to take your work home with you (or even out of the building). I can't think of very many other researchy STEM jobs where you could make that claim. Even tenured professors at the best schools seem to work 24/7.