The NSA can brute force the code, but with limits. For example if it were public key encrypted they could try all possible public keys. If, however, it was encoded in a non standard way (and by this I mean removing all chance of using known decryption techniques like frequency charts, etc.), then all they could do was get every single possibly message that contains the same number of characters as the code, and try to get lucky. And even that is a rediculously long shot. Getting a few hundred thousand plus individuals who like puzzles to look at it though, well, maybe someone will get some inspiration. Or that would be my "maybe it's not a recruitment puzzle" answer...
