American Cryptology during the Cold War - The Black Vault
American Cryptology during the Cold War - The Black Vault
American Cryptology during the Cold War - The Black Vault
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
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 ~