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'ELINT' AND THE SOVIET NUCLEAR TARGET 109
long tradition of attacking the communications of smaller states
like France, Turkey and Egypt. The JIC had also asked it to look
at subjects such as Arab nationalism and the relations of Arab
states with Britain and the USA, and the attitude of France,
Italy and the Arab states to the future of North Africa, especially
Libya. Because of the ongoing insurgency in Palestine,
GCHQ was also urged to focus on the Zionist movement,
including its various intelligence services. All of these proved
more accessible than Soviet traffic. 6 The diplomatic traffic of
smaller states also provided an excellent window on the Soviets.
Conversations between Soviet diplomats and the officials of these
countries were often captured in telegrams sent from Moscow
that could be read with ease. In 1946 Alan Stripp, a British
code-breaker who had spent the war working on Japanese
codes, found himself redeployed to the Iranian border.
Throughout the Azerbaijan crisis of that year, when the Soviet
Union appeared to be behind a potential breakaway state in
northern Iran, he worked on Iranian and Afghan communications.
7 This sigint revealed the scale of Soviet activities and ambitions
in the region, helping to trigger robust counter-pressure
by President Truman. 8
How the main target lists for sigint were drawn up was of central
importance. In theory, they were created by the JIe. However,
much of the preliminary work was undertaken by more shadowy
committees working under the London Signals Intelligence
Board, Britain's supreme sigint authority. These enjoyed strong
military input. When diplomats complained that political and
colonial subjects were not getting enough attention, they did
not get an enthusiastic response. Many felt that undue weight
was being given to defence priorities, and to nuclear warfare in
particular. The overwhelming emphasis given to defence had
profound implications for the shape of British sigint. It accelerated
the development of a revolutionary new kind of sigint that
focused on equipment and military formations. 9
During the Second World War, Bletchley Park's primary