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American Cryptology during the Cold War - The Black Vault

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Ib) (1)<br />

Ib) (3)<br />

OGA<br />

a special study group underf<br />

I<strong>the</strong> CIA representative. So as to<br />

leave no doubt about which direction <strong>the</strong> decision was to go, Louis Tordella of NSA was<br />

made <strong>the</strong> deputy chairman.<br />

Overriding strenuous objections by <strong>the</strong> Air For~El,1<br />

~Pted for a consolidated<br />

ELINT system under NSA. His report to USCIBinJune of 1958 recommended that <strong>the</strong><br />

NSC "appoint <strong>the</strong> secretary ofdefense as th~ex:ecutiveagent of <strong>the</strong> government for ELINT<br />

and assign/<strong>the</strong> Director, National Security Agency, <strong>the</strong> authority and responsibility for<br />

providing an effective, unified Ol:ganization to control and direct <strong>the</strong> ELINT intercept,<br />

processing, and reporting activities of <strong>the</strong> United States Government." A new directive,<br />

NSCID 6, would replac~.NSCID 9 and would encompass both COMINTandELINT. 28<br />

NSCID 6 appeared to give NSA <strong>the</strong> cryptologic authorities it had been asking for.<br />

When <strong>the</strong> ~ecretaryofdefense published <strong>the</strong> DoD implementing directives for COMINT and<br />

ELINT,however, <strong>the</strong>y came out very differently. <strong>The</strong> COMINT directive gave DIRNSA<br />

operational and technical control ofall U.S. COMINT operations except for a very restricted<br />

list of SIGINT-related operations not directly related to intelligence ga<strong>the</strong>ring (such as<br />

search and rescue and various electronic warfare operations). <strong>The</strong> ELINT directive,<br />

however, reserved this right to <strong>the</strong> secretary ofdefense himself. Only he had <strong>the</strong> authority<br />

to "determine <strong>the</strong> ELINT activities which are essential to provide support to commanders<br />

who plan and conduct military operations, and which must be directly assigned by <strong>the</strong><br />

secretary ofdefense to provide an integral ELINT capability.... "<br />

<strong>The</strong> services interpreted this to mean almost any type ofELINT collection or processing<br />

operation. General Samford told his immediate boss, General Erskine, that he assumed<br />

that <strong>the</strong> only ELINT collection that he actually controlled now was that being done by <strong>the</strong><br />

SCAs. His aSSumption was correct. 29<br />

At first NSA didn~t know quite how to organize <strong>the</strong> new mission. <strong>The</strong> key issue<br />

revolved ar.ound <strong>the</strong> competing desires to combine ELINT and COMINT on <strong>the</strong> one hand and<br />

to maintain a separate identityfor<strong>the</strong> new discipline on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r. But ELINT arrived with<br />

old baggage - <strong>the</strong> central processirig~enter,NTPC - and so <strong>the</strong> forces advocating a<br />

separate identity wona partial victory. Aft~r some indecision, it was decided to graft it<br />

onto an existing organization, and ELINT firstlaQded in <strong>the</strong> Office of Collection within<br />

PROD. <strong>The</strong> name of<strong>the</strong> office was changed to COSA(C~llection and Signals Analysis). It<br />

was a temporary way station on <strong>the</strong> way to its own home, WGroup, established in 1968. 80<br />

NTPC thus became <strong>the</strong> first clearly identifiableELINT asset atNSA. When NSCID 6<br />

was promulgated, it was decided to transfer <strong>the</strong> entire resources of <strong>the</strong> organization - <strong>the</strong><br />

people, <strong>the</strong> equipment, <strong>the</strong> files - to NSA.This amounted to something o~eOpeople,<br />

split ra<strong>the</strong>r evenly among <strong>the</strong> 3 services andD and <strong>the</strong> equipment for third-echelon<br />

processing. 31 HANDLE VIA TALENT KEYHOLE COMINT CON<br />

NOT RELEA<br />

EIGN NATIONALS<br />

SJOINTLY<br />

261 ~

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