I've been both a uniformed soldier and a contractor, never an agency civilian but work with plenty of them, and they are not "in the military" in the sense you mean here. They work for the military, as do I as a contractor, but we're not subject to UCMJ. If you're subject to UCMJ, then yes, your freedoms are severely curtailed and you do not enjoy the benefits of the Constitution afforded to civilians. You can be detained against your will by your commander. You are absolutely not allowed freedom of speech or freedom of movement. You can't quit the job. You can be fired for being fat. None of that applies to civilians, even DoD and IC agency civilians. If a civilian doesn't do what their manager asks, they can be fired. If a soldier doesn't do what their commander asks, they can be arrested. Huge difference between working for the military and being "in" the military.

CSE is solidly civilian.

Interesting. Military intelligence outside of the military? That's... unexpected.

The CIA and NSA are also civilian.

The head of the NSA is a general in the US army.

the NSA is "civilian" in name only, to get around that pesky constitution that the government hates soo much.

the NSA is a division of the DoD, it is based on a Military Base, and it has many military officers in high ranking positions

if it acts like a duck, talks likes a Duck, calling it s something else does not make it anything other than a duck, this NSA for all practical purpose is part of the military.

They say it is military when they need it to be, and civilian when they need it to be based on what oversight and regulations, and constitutional limits they are trying to get around at any given time

Do fresh NSA recruits have to go in a gas chamber, keep their bunk clean, get a super-short haircut, eat what is served, and do lots of push-ups?

I think "not military" fits pretty well.

That is a "featherless biped"-level definition of military.

Its still civilian in the way that matters for this discussion in that its not a crime for an NSA employee to disobey an order.

Edward Snowden would like to have a word with you

Are you purposefully misunderstanding?

Did Snowden "not follow an order" or did he do something explicitly already illegal according to civilian law.

Also note that if captured he's not going to face a court martial, he's going to face the normal civilian legal system.