l'OP IGAIJ mtD mm tDatCIW UWIH1 IBOl llil IO IB lllUtillilU lil jllifll jlllJli'J B B IJ'i J b J r sl Jl C JuJI 1J0ii0 I PL 86-36 50 USC 3605 3 3b 3 L 86-36 50 use 3605 AND AL TT E 81T OF LUCK D H W • 1 rns PACUICRDT 'CPDTtDiS SPMB5922 nstMPJOJ IP SEIBEi 1•1111r1•• II HIii 111111 Ill I ' I as m r Ost l Sob 98 eclassified and Approved for Release by NSA on 11-30-2021 pursuant to O 13526 Title page publication page and pp 1-6 MDR 111082 Tt P StJe lt 'P Published Monthl-y by Pl Techniques and Standards for the Personnel of Operations VOL VI No 2 _________ l I _ Non - Responsive FEBRUARY 1979 'f0P SEOBfi f @JflfJlll lf 8POIH I FROM THE EDITOR BY DAVID H WILLIAMS EO 3 3b 3 PL 86-36 50 USC 3605 -···- ------ ' '------One of my first actions after becoming the have never appeared and I'm sure there are new editor of CRYPTOLOG was to sit down and numerous examples both current and ancient read through the back numbers One of my prin- of both of them here and there around the cipal discoveries was finding out that virtual• Agency ly all of the articles could be assigned by general type to one or another of a rather small nWllber of categories By far the most requent was the This is Such-and-such article a straightforward description of something an organization an analytic technique or skill a machine program a new piece of equipment or whatever This article is the lifeblood of the publication and every issue contains at least t o examples of the type A special sub-category of this article is the Here's BOIJ We Handle or HandZed Suchand-such piece covering one organization's approach to an operational problem To my m ind one o these was The Iron Thumb byj11 '111111 11111111lln-- I '- March 197r on the subject of 4' Group's machine assist to the Chi ese language translator 1-----------------------1 t r Another• frequent t heme is found in the Cry of AnguiBh item which describes some major injustice frequently relating to promoticns especially-in regard to their inequitable distribution t'b persons of one case usually linguists vis a-vis another usually engineers Articles o t this sort are often followed by a flurry of rebuttals and counter-rebuttals in subsequent issues lnte estingly one subdivision of- Cry of Anguish the comment on the performjnce appraisal or the performance appraisal system never receives any response in defense of that system One of my favorite articles is Oops We Goofed Thls article which understandably appears rel4tively infrequently details some organizatioq 1 s adventures and misadventures in going astraJ in the handling of some SIGINT phenomenon -and how the eventually c9 ed with it 1nese So both analysts sat at their desks accumulating further instanc es of their respective mystery transmissions getting no closer to a solution Then one day the two analysts who had • There are however two types of potentially never met were sent to some meeting on some • worthwhile 11 1ticles which to my recollection now-forgotten topic During a coffee break I PL 86-36 50 use 3605 February 79 CRYPTOLOG •Pagel fi1i1Clllfll iPO lili EO 3 3b 3 PL 86-36 50 USC 3605 ----------_ Ol @RDf - · 8P81i li they happened to begin talking about baffling•_ ______________________ • analytic problems in their areas • • If either of these analysts had had some • forum in which to publicize his quandary the • two of them might have gotten together a lot sooner So if you have any l iling up in your desk drop a note to CRYPTOLOG 1aybe we can help you find the other half of your puzzle Or if you have any examples of breakthroughs made without the slightest intervention of any 1tscientific know-how and technical expertise send them along Incidentally if you have something you think you might want to contribute in either category or on any other subject for that matter but you feel a slight lack of self• confidence in your ability to put it down on paper call or drop in at the CRYPTOLOG office We're always glad to provide whatever editorial assi tance might be needed The CRYPTOLOG office is located in Pl Room 2N039 the telephone is 3957s - February 79 • CRYPTOLOG Page 2 Sf l@Rf IT 8f8HD • Non - Resp o n siv e I 1 PL 86-36 50 USC 36051 • •• THE COMINT CHAIN 11GANG'1 I _ _ _ _ _fG51 • got a glimpse of how far-ranting NSA's activities are at NSA Day l97 right after I came on board I got the immediate feeling that there was a lot abobt the Agency I would never see ostensibly ecause had no need to know It also became•clear quite early that it would often be hard to find someone with sufficient knowledge to ans er my questions even when I did have a need to know Being inquisitive that's the word tha applies to me -- nosey applies to other guy and being interested in learning what the reaJ career prospects are in the Agency I began tG ask questions about how things work in other • offices I asked my intern friends to compare • and contrast what they had seen I asked my classmates at the training school what their jobs were like I also happened to hear conversations involving the occasional visitors to my work space I really wsn' t trying to eavesdrop l even went so far as to listen to what was being taught in my professionalization courses The upshot of all my investigation was the decision to write a tunnel vision overview of COP IINT operations mainly for a friend in the Agency for whom the word product has little to do with the publication of intelligence That term tunnel vision is a disclaimer so that if anything inaccurate -is said it can be blamed not on my personal inadequacy but on my limited perspective one of my original aphorisms states that what you see depends on where you stand With that warning you the reader are now ready for a worm's •eye view of the chain of COMINT Production I us who have veteran's preferences might have to exercise them to get jobs in HEW or DOE or maybe even forget the preferences and scramble for jobs in productive enterprises Because we must wait for something to happen the best the Agency can do is to try to plan to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment • · Fast-breaking events are in an entirely dif ferent league Because of the limitations of monir polit i cs and technology NSA simply • cannot have a finger in every possible pie Fdr that i-eason private newspaper reporters are occasi nally much better equipped for gathering informat ion in remote places than we are or • for that 'l latter better adapted than anyone in-• side the Intelligence community The Agency • subscribes to three wire services to take ad- vantage of •he mobility of their reporters • Right in the first link then we depend on • factors large l y beyond our control in order to• get needed infermation into the hands of our • decision makers • 0 ---------------------- · Worthwhile Nel e The first link in the chain is a newsworthy event Actually the newsworthy event is so important to end product that a better metaphor might be an anchor or a hook or some other object on the business end of a chain In reality until something important outside the intelligence system occurs the system has no function no reason for being If all t hreats to national security military and economic evaporated once and for all those of February 79 CRYPTOLOG • Page • • J EO 3 3b 3 PL 86- 36 50 USC 360 EO 3 3b 3 PL 86-36 50 USC 3605 T8f eJ OMlf ffAIHRIU - - • • These first four links are all outside of • NSA and the intelligence community The rest • of the chain is directly controlled by the • community Easy Inter-cept Modei-n Titanamisaicn Afte-r a 111es·sage is encrypted the next step is to trahs111it it In this fourth link of the chain there are still some factors over which the Agencr has no control The way a message ra 1 3i n proble ns •For the Attatioy T I pf see the translation ''Thanks for ______________________ anuary 1978 February 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 4 18P HD6RM' UhlBM EO 3 3b 3 PL 86-36 50 use I 3605 PL 86-36 50 USC 3 6 10P iltJRIT tiF1IIRrt • 'I • Rgpid Jecryrption ••• formed by ------• _______ J scanning •• linguists is called dispositioning or• To perform that task the scanner must not only keep abreast of a flu1d set of requirements imposed by those who oversee • • the Agency but also stay on top of what has •• already been published and what the consUJ11ers • of our roduct think is hot an iven time Efficient Staff - Once a message has been translated it still must run a gauntlet before it gets sent to the consumer usually it only gets a little bru' Occasionally t e nature o e conanents merits restricting the distri- bution to an extremely small number of people • After all the appropriate coordination is finished the edited translator's copy is sub- • mitted to the Flex Room where the message is • entered as data into the COlllJ uter The people in the Flex Room have the unenviable task of • reading the handwriting of a huge number of translators and reporters properly copying names of people from all over the world and coping with a large vocabulary - - all of tn1s under periodically high pressure Friday afternoon is the worst In addition they have to put up with the angry remonstrations o• of those who feel that their masterpieces are• butchered by the miss ellin s that turn u in the final co -- --- ---9 ' _____________ One the most important functions pero e 1ngu1st 1n rea ng s or her own product often just has to grin and bear it There's many a 1 slip 'twixt the cup and the lip Do prato a boca se perde a sopa February 79 • CRYPTOLOG • Page 5 IOP illillJl1 l llllll l J PL 86-36 50 use 3605 ---·----· · • • JiOP ilHilllliff IJI IRA • • t Interested Customers Casting Off Well there vm1 have it folks Everything you never needed to know about production Obviously in such a short space many things had to be glossed over or skipped altogether Anyone whose career field was slighted will just have to expand my horizons through an article in this magazine I Non - Respons i ve I February 79 CRYPTJLOG Pa -e 6 'JQR 'illlCPFT I'IICM ft