Tuesday, October 13, 2009

USAFSS Misawa History Page

The USAFSS Misawa website contains a well documented history page. The United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) was the Air Force intelligence from 1948 until 1979. After some name changes, the service is currently known as the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (AF ISR). I've published a post, earlier this month, on the USAFSS Silent Wariors and the shootdown of one of their C-130's.

The Misawa history page contains three excellent pdf documents: USAF Intelligence History Timeline brings the complete story from the USAFSS in 1948 to the AF ISR Agency in 2008, USAFSS - An Enlisted Command about its unique enlisted force, and the NSA 50th Anniversary publication about the National Security Agency's history between 1952 and 2002. These extensive documents provide a detailed overview on Signals and Electronic Intelligence in the US Air force and NSA.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Electronic Intelligence at NSA

The National Security Agency (NSA) just published the history of Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) at the National Security Agency. ELINT is all information that is obtained from electronic signals, other than speech or text. Within ELINT there are two main branches, Technical and Operational ELINT.

U.S. Air Force Boeing RC-135U ELINT platform

Technical ELINT or TechELINT is the interception and analysis of signals that origin from radars, weapons systems, navigation systems and such, in order to retrieve information on how these systems work, perform and how they are used. TechELINT is useful to determine what technology the opponent applies, the capabilities of his equipment and how to take countermeasures against his systems.

Operational ELINT or OpELINT is focused on the interception of all kinds of signals on specific locations, in order to find out the opponent's location and structure. OpELINT determines the operational structure (order of battle) of the opponent forces, the so-called Electronic Order of Battle (EOB). This, of course, is important to assess his strength and provides vital tactical information on the battlefield.

U.S. Army Beechcraft RC12 GUARDRAIL COMINT & ELINT Platform

The document explains the origins of modern ELINT in the Second World War, and later on the establishing of the Army-Navy Electronics Evaluation Group (ANEEG) within the Department of Defense. NSA eventually took over the ELINT operations in close cooperation with other agencies such as the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) with its satellites and the Navy aircraft platforms.

NSA published two interesting documents about ELINT.
More on Signals Intelligence on this blog and the Cold War Signals page on our website.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

CI Centre Podcasts

George Blake
There are some interesting podcast interviews, related to espionage, on the website of the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre). The first one is a talk with CI Centre President David Major about the unmasking of MI6 officer George Blake, the KGB mole and who revealed the Berlin tunnel SIGINT operation to the Soviets.

Michael Goleniewski, a Russian Spy in Poland, passed information to the CIA which lead to the surveillance of KGB spy handler Konon Molody, aka Gordon Lonsdale. This resulted in the arrest of the Portland spy ring. Goleniewski also revealed that a mole was operating in the MI6, British foreign Intelligence. Further investigation by MI5 lead to George Blake (photo), who knew about the Berlin tunnel from the earliest beginning of the planning. The David Major talk is available as part 1 and part 2.

Kim Philby
The second podcast is an interview with former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin about Kim Philby, one of the most notorious spies ever. Philby (photo), headed the Soviet counter-espionage section of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service and, at the same time, was a successful Soviet agent, causing devastating damage to Western Intelligence.

After the defection of KGB agent Golitsyn his treason was exposed and Philby fled to the Soviet Union. After being received as an hero, he settled in Moscow and received a pension. Without any goals or challenges in his life, Philby started drinking heavily. Oleg Kalugin was put on his case and reintroduced him in the KGB, asked his help on some cases, and let him give lectures, which gave a Philby new goals in his life.

The Kalugin interview is available at this podcast link. These podcasts are available on the CI Centre Podcast page, where you can find many other fascinating talks and interview.

More info on my weblog about the Berlin tunnel and KGB Geneneral Kalugin, and further reading on Philby on my Book Review. And here are two videos from the Cold War Spies series about and with George Blake and Kim Philby.




Saturday, October 03, 2009

Silent Warriors

September 2, 1958. A four-engined C-130 Hercules from the US 7406th Support Squadron with tail number 60528 is flying along the Turkish-Soviet border. Six crew members and eleven US Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) personnel are on board.

The aircraft is flying in Turkish airspace, from Incirlik to Trabzon, and its mission is to gather intelligence by orbiting near the Soviet border. They are instructed to stay 100 miles from Soviet airspace. The crew reports passing over Trabson at an altitude of 25,500 feet and acknowledges a weather report.

Soviet air defense radars are tracking the C-130. At 1440 hours, four MiG-17 interceptors from the 25th Fighter Regiment's Yerevan base are scrambled and are heading toward the C-130. Suddenly, the C-130 mysteriously deviates from his route, turns east and crosses the border into Soviet Armenia. According to the Soviets, they entered their airspace at 1507 hours.

C-130 at NSA, refurbished to resemble C-130A-II #60528 (source NSA)

The first two Soviet interceptors arrive at 1508 hours and Senior Lieutenant Lopatkov fires several warning shots at 1509. The pilots of the C-130 start to maneuver and climb to an higher altitude. Meanwhile, the other two MiG arrive and the pilots request permission to engage the C-130. At 1511 hours, their Command gives permission to attack the C-130. All four MiGs attack the airplane in turn, using their cannon and rockets.

The camera of the third MiG captures the C-130 with its left outboard engine on fire and the fourth MiG pilot reports the C-130 breaking up before his attack. Seven minutes after the first attack, the C-130 crashes and explodes on impact, killing all seventeen crew members. It takes four days for the United States to confront the Soviets with the disappearing of their spy flight.

MiG 17 gun camera photo of C-130 #60528 (source: Soviet Air Defense archives)

On September 12, Soviet authorities acknowledged that they found an aircraft that 'apparently crashed' on their territory. Five months later, the US goes public on a United Nations meeting and present tape recordings of intercepted conversations between the Soviet fighter pilots during the attack on the C-130. The Soviets continue to deny any involvement in the shootdown. The remains of the six crew members were returned. There was no word on the eleven USAFSS members that were aboard the C-130.

This wasn't the first nor the last. During the Cold War period, more than 40 reconnaissance aircraft were shot down. Flying these spy missions was a risky business and the reconnaissance programs were kept secret. The public never knew about these losses and their families and fellow soldiers were left to mourn alone.

The end of the Cold War allowed the US to release some information and pay tribute to these Cold War warriors. In 1991, Russian President Yeltsin began releasing information on the shoot down. In 1993, a US Army graves excavation team recovered an ID tag that belonged to a USAFSS technician aboard 60528.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has a special page with the story on the C-130 aircraft 60528 and declassified documents with additional information. You can also listen to the actual recordings and read the transcripts of the intercepted radio traffic between the MiG pilots as they engage the C-130. A good moment to remember the soldiers, fallen in the silent war. Read NSA's C-130 Shootdown pages with many documents and audio recordings of the MiG pilots.

The Aerial Reconnaissance memorial at the National Vigilance Park, near the NSA building, honors these silent warriors. NSA also published A Dangerous Business about the U.S. Navy and National Reconnaissance during the Cold War and also released a quarterly titled The SIGINT on Thirteen Soviet Shootdowns.

There are several websites, dedicated to lost U.S Air Force, Navy and Army crews. 6994th Security Squadron and Silent Warriors are two of them. A history of the USAFSS is found in  Freedom Through Vigilance. The EC-47 History Site is dedicated to the Douglas EC-47 electronic warfare platforms, sometimes referred to as "Electric Gooneys". The Armed Forces Super Store blog has America's Cold War Missing in Action about the 1969 downing of U.S. Navy EC-121M Warning Star. More details at NSA's EC-121 Shootdown (pdf).

More on Signals

See also Cold War Signals on our website.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

US Strategic Intelligence on the USSR

Soviet SS-18 Satan launch
(see video footage)
The National Security Archive recently published its Nuclear Documentation Project on the The Nuclear Vault. Many previously classified interviews with former Soviet officials reveal that US Strategic Intelligence exaggerated the Soviet aggressiveness during the Cold War. The interviews give a unique insight on the Soviet strategic weapons policy and decision-making during the Cold War.

Apparently, the Soviets, who always assumed a first strike by the US, tried to keep a nuclear superiority in terms of numbers only for defensive reasons. Although the Soviet military preferred a proportional response to an attack, they didn't believe that a nuclear war could be limited. The interviews confirm that the USSR never had the intend to launch a first strike, but did consider a preemptive attack in case of a real threat.

With a US first strike scenario in mind, they believed their nuclear overweight would deter the US of executing a first strike. The Soviet military was convinced that a conventional superior Warsaw Pact could stop a NATO offensive without using nuclear weapons, but feared a response with tactical nuclear weapons that would escalate to the use of strategic weapons.

U.S. Titan II in silo
(see video footage)
They knew a nuclear assault on NATO forces in Europe would cause an ecological disaster that would also affect Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. This lead to a situation where the USSR was trying to avoid war at all costs, but if attacked, would use any weapons they had, leading to an all-out nuclear war.

This means that a US policy of keeping up with the USSR might have been an unnecessary and dangerous path towards an involuntary and catastrophic response by the Soviets. The failing US assessment of the Soviet threat could have caused a situation of "you get what you asked for". Fortunately, it never came that far.

All documents are available for download at this Nuclear Vault page. The many interviews with all those former Soviet officers, analysts and important decision makers, and their views on nuclear deterrence issues are a most fascinating read. All chapters of document 2 are a must. Especially chapter IV (alt. link) about strategic decision making and Brezhnev's incompetence are astonishing. Don't miss the General Danilevich interview (alt. link)!

Tickling the tense nerves of the Soviets isn't a great idea, as you can read at 1983 - The Brink of Apocalypse. More about the autonomous Soviet missile launch system at Dead Hand Revealed.

Visit the Russian and Soviet Nuclear Forces Guide on FAS for more intermation and detailed tech specs of all types of missiles.