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
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TgpSEeRE~<br />
Ib) (1)<br />
Ib) (3) -P.L. 86-36<br />
Ib) (3) -50 USC 403<br />
Ib) (3) -18 USC 798<br />
All this emanated from four massive stone buildings left over from World <strong>War</strong> IL<strong>The</strong><br />
reporting operation was on <strong>the</strong> fourth floor of one of <strong>the</strong>m, under <strong>the</strong> very eaves of <strong>the</strong><br />
building, in a room filled with up to twenty-six Ooscomm machines (Teletvoe Mod 19s and<br />
28s) all clatterinJ;! away tOJ;!e<strong>the</strong>r. I<br />
<strong>The</strong> Struggle for Control in <strong>the</strong> Pacific<br />
<strong>The</strong> Pacific <strong>the</strong>ater was very different from Europe, and itdeveloped in a very different<br />
way. Unimaginably huge and far-flung, it was made to order for fragmentation. In World<br />
<strong>War</strong> II it suffered from two different and competing commands employing different lines of<br />
attack - MacArthur in <strong>the</strong> southwest and Nimitz in Hawaii. Supporting each was a<br />
separate and unique cryptologic system. When, in 1945, <strong>the</strong> two commanders went into<br />
garrison, <strong>the</strong>ir cryptologic organizations followed <strong>the</strong>m.<br />
In Japan, MacArthur's cryptologists centered on Tokyo, NSA Far East (NSAFE), <strong>the</strong><br />
cryptologic flagship in <strong>the</strong> Pacific, eventually came to be located on Pershing Heights in<br />
downtown Tokyo. ASAPAC and 6920th SG, <strong>the</strong> ASA and AFSS senior representatives in<br />
<strong>the</strong>ater, were also posted to <strong>the</strong> Tokyo environs. Among <strong>the</strong>m <strong>the</strong>y controlled most of <strong>the</strong><br />
Army and Air Force cryptologic assets in <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ater.<br />
Supporting Nimitz was NSAPAC. But <strong>the</strong> offices in Hawaii were just that - offices<br />
without dynamic functions. NSAFE had garnered alL NSA's technical expertise in <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>ater. This was an accident of history, which resulted from <strong>the</strong> collapse of <strong>the</strong> Civop<br />
program in <strong>the</strong> mid-1950s. <strong>The</strong> program had been roundly disliked by <strong>the</strong> SCAs, but it did<br />
provide highly skilled civilian talent that <strong>the</strong>y found most useful. Thus an organization<br />
which became known as PACEXFAC (Pacific Experimental Facility) developed as part of<br />
<strong>the</strong> NSAFE staff in Tokyo, and it absorbed most of <strong>the</strong> billets. Like NSAEUR Office<br />
Germany in Frankfurt, PACEXFAC was <strong>the</strong> cryptologic troubleshooter for <strong>the</strong> Pacific. It<br />
reinforced <strong>the</strong> real utility of<strong>the</strong> Tokyo office. 52<br />
In 1957, Samford decided to rename <strong>the</strong> offices, but he kept <strong>the</strong> pecking order <strong>the</strong><br />
same. NSAFE was renamed NSAPAC, but <strong>the</strong> office in Hawaii was called NSAPAC<br />
(Rear), asifit were a skiffbeing towed by a battleship. It was a name that grated. 53<br />
This was how NSA was organized in <strong>the</strong> Pacific when <strong>the</strong> Unified and Specified<br />
Commands were created in 1958. Under <strong>the</strong> new scheme, CINCPAC in Hawaii was<br />
clearly <strong>the</strong> senior commander in <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ater. When Samford's immediate superior,<br />
General Erskine, came through on a trip <strong>the</strong> following year, however, he was surprised to<br />
see that NSA had not changed to conform to <strong>the</strong> realities of <strong>the</strong> new military command<br />
structure. NSAPAC (Rear) was still in Hawaii, and its chief was <strong>the</strong> deputy to NSAPAC<br />
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268