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American Cryptology during the Cold War - The Black Vault

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<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ater and on to <strong>the</strong> United States. Some of <strong>the</strong> processing centers were joint-service<br />

operations, while some were single-service.<br />

Ib) (1)<br />

Ib) (3)<br />

OGA<br />

By 1953 <strong>the</strong> Army and Navy had established a consolidated ELINT processing center<br />

called ANEEG (Army-Navy Electronic Evaluation Group) collocated with NSG at<br />

Nebraska Avenue. <strong>The</strong> Air Force did not participate, preferring to keep a separate<br />

processing facility at AFSS headquarters, under <strong>the</strong> auspices of <strong>the</strong> Air Force Technical<br />

Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. NSA<br />

was not involved in this tangled web.<br />

In 1953 <strong>the</strong> Robertson Committee (see p. 227) reported to Canine on <strong>the</strong> profoundly<br />

disorganized nature of <strong>American</strong> ELINT and concluded that as a source of warning<br />

information, this intelligence discipline was in danger of becoming irrelevant. <strong>The</strong><br />

committee recommended that a focal point be found. 98<br />

CIA, too, was unhappy with <strong>the</strong> way ELINT was being managed and in <strong>the</strong> same year<br />

conducted an internal study that indicted <strong>the</strong> Defense Department for mismanagement of<br />

ELINT. CIA pointed out that <strong>the</strong>re was no central authority, no coordination of ELINT<br />

activities, and no central processing. <strong>The</strong> study opted to place central control in USCIB,<br />

but one option which <strong>the</strong> drafters seriously considered was to give NSA <strong>the</strong> job.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re being no focus in U.S. intelligence for ELINT, CIA began to take on this task also.<br />

In 1954, <strong>the</strong> deputy director, General C.P. Cabell (USAF), appointed an ELINT czar by<br />

giving H. Marshall Chadwell, <strong>the</strong> assistant director for scientific intelli~ence an<br />

additional hat for ELINT. \<br />

When he received <strong>the</strong> Robertson study in November of 1953, General Erskine in <strong>the</strong><br />

office of <strong>the</strong> secretary of defense called in Canine and requested an NSA response. On<br />

returning to Arlington Hall, Canine found his agency badly divided over what to do. <strong>The</strong><br />

eminent logic of combining ELINT and COMINT was sometimes obscured by <strong>the</strong> evident<br />

difficulty of getting <strong>the</strong> services to heel to central authority and <strong>the</strong> dismal prospect ofever<br />

getting a charter as clear and unequivocal as NSCID 9. If COMINT, with NSCID 9<br />

conveying absolute authority, was proving so difficult to manage, what ofELINT?<br />

Despite this, <strong>the</strong> allure of finally getting <strong>the</strong> two pieces of <strong>the</strong> electronics puzzle<br />

toge<strong>the</strong>r proved too strong. Under Canine's direction, NSA's Office of Plans and Policy<br />

HANDLE VIA TALENT KEYHOLE COMINT C<br />

STEMS JOINTLY<br />

NOT RELEA<br />

OREIGN NATIONALS<br />

109

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