Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency (106 page)

Another mission that draws valuable
dollars, equipment, and personnel away from critical operations is the use of
NSA in the endless drug war. According to NSA officials, the Drug Enforcement
Administration is constantly pressuring the agency to provide it with
ever-greater assistance and resources.

Yet even with the continued growth
in targets and missions throughout the 1990s, from wars to drugs to terrorists,
the agency's budget and personnel ranks were slashed by a third.

Shortly before he tragically killed
himself in the summer of 2000, House Intelligence Committee staff director John
Millis was asked about the readiness and capabilities of NSA and the other spy
agencies. "I think," he said, "we're in big trouble."

For half a century, NSA had fought
a war against a giant nation with fixed military bases, a sophisticated
communications network, a stable chain of command, and a long history from
which future intentions could be anticipated. Now that has all changed.
Terrorists are stateless and constantly on the move, their organizational
structures are always in flux, and the only thing that is predictable is that
they will be unpredictable. And when they do communicate, their infrequent
messages join with billions of other pieces of communication—e-mail, cell
phones, data transfers—zapping around the world at the speed of light in a
complex digital web of bits, bytes, and photons.

To succeed against the targets of
the twenty-first century, the agency will have to undergo a metamorphosis,
changing both its culture and technology.

More than eight decades earlier,
another metamorphosis took place. Walking into a twenty-five-foot vault in the
old Munitions Building, William F. Friedman yanked on a dangling cord attached
to an overhead lightbulb. Surrounding him was all that remained of what had been
America's Black Chamber. Yet with just a few assistants, over the course of the
next ten years he transformed the defunct Black Chamber into the Signal
Intelligence Service, which succeeded against all odds in breaking the Japanese
Purple code. This ended up shortening World War II and thus saving thousands of
lives. That kind of heroic breakthrough is the challenge for NSA. But they do
not have a decade.

DIRECTORS AND DEPUTY DIRECTORS OF
THE AFSA

AND NSA

Armed Forces Security Agency

Director

Rear Admiral Earl E. Stone, USN 15
July 1949-25 July 1951

Major General Ralph J. Canine, USA
15 July 1951-4 November 1952

Vice Director

The following served concurrently
and had specific areas of responsibility in addition to representing their
respective services.

Colonel S. P. Collins, USA Captain
Joseph N. Wenger, USN Colonel Roy H. Lynn, USAF

National Security Agency

Director

Major General Ralph Canine, USA

(Acting)

4 November 1952-21 November 1952

Lieutenant General Ralph Canine,

USA

21 November 1952-23 November 1956

Lieutenant General John A.
Samford,

USAF

24 November 1956-23 November 1960

Vice Admiral Laurence H. Frost,
USN 24 November 1960-30 June 1962

Lieutenant General Gordon A.
Blake,

USAF

i
July
1962-31 May 1965

Lieutenant General Marshall S.
Carter,

USA

1 June 1965-31 July 1969

Vice Admiral Noel Gayler, USN 1
August 1969-31 July 1972

Lieutenant General Samuel C.
Phillips,

USAF

1 August 1972-14 August 1973

Lieutenant General Lew Allen, Jr.,

USAF

15 August 1973-4 July 1977

Vice Admiral Bobby R. Inman, USN 5
July 1977-31 March 1981

Lieutenant General Lincoln D.
Faurer,

USAF

1 April 1981-27 March 1985

Lieutenant General William E.
Odom,

USA

5 May 1985-31 July 1988

Vice Admiral William O. Studeman,
USN 1 August 1988-8 April 1992

ZZYZX page number

Vice Admiral J. M. McConnell, USN

22 May 1992-22 February 1996

Lieutenant General Kenneth A.
Minihan, USAF

23 February 1996-15 March 1999

Lieutenant General Michael V
Hayden,

USAF

25 March 1999-

Deputy Director

Rear Admiral Joseph N. Wenger,
USN* 2 December 1952-28 July 1953

Brigadier General John B.
Ackerman,

USAF*

26 October 1955-4 June 1956

Major General John A. Samford,
USAF* 4 June 1956-24 November 1956

Joseph H. Ream

2 February 1957-18 September 1957

Dr. Howard T. Engstrom

18 October 1957-1 August 1958

Dr. Louis W. Tordella

1 August 1958-21 April 1974

Benson K. Buffham

22 April 1974—50 April 1978

Robert E. Drake

1 May 1978-30 March 1980

Ann Z. Caracristi

1  April 1980-30 July 1982

Robert E. Rich

31 July 1982-3 July 1986

Charles R. Lord

9 July 1986-13 March 1988

Gerald R. Young

14 March 1988-28 July 1990

Robert L. Prestel

29 July 1990-1 February 1994

William P. Crowell

2 February 1994-12 September 1997

Barbara A. McNamara

8 November 1997-30 June 2000

William B. Black, Jr. 22 September
2000

*Title was actually vice director.

APPENDIX      B

NSA LINGUISTIC CAPABILITY

NSA has provided training for
linguists in at least ninety-five languages, including:

Afrikaans

Albanian

Algerian

Amharic

Arabic

Armenian

Azerbaijani

Basque

Belarussian

Bengali

Berber

Bulgarian

Burmese

Cambodian

Chinese, all dialects

Czech

Danish

Dari

Dutch

Egyptian

Estonian

Finnish

French

Georgian

German

Greek

Haitian Creole (Kreyol)

Hebrew

Hindi

Hungarian

Icelandic

Ilocano

Indonesian

Iraqi

Italian

Japanese

Jordanian

Kazakh

Kirghiz

Korean

Kurdish

Kuwaiti

Lao

Latvian

Levantine

Libyan

Lingala

Lithuanian

Macedonian

Malaysian

Moldovan

Mongolian

Moroccan

Nepali

Norwegian

Papiamento

Pashto

Persian-Farsi

Polish

Portuguese, all dialects

Punjabi

Pushto

Quechua

Romanian

Russian

Saudi

Serbo-Croatian

Sinhalese

Slovak

Slovene (Slovenian)

Somali

Sotho

Spanish

Sudanese

Swahili

Swedish

Syrian

Tagalog

Tajik

Tamil

Thai

Tibetan

Tigrinya

Turkish

Turkmen

Tunisian

Ukrainian

Urdu

Uzbek

Vietnamese (all dialects)

Visayan-Cebuano

Xhosa

Yemeni

Yoruba

Zulu

Also, all dialects of Arabic,
including Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian, Egyptian, Levantine, Syrian,
Jordanian, Sudanese, Saudi, Kuwaiti, Iraqi, Yemeni, and Modern Standard.

APPENDIX C

CRYPTOLOGIC OCCUPATIONS AT NSA

EXPERT SIGINT LINGUIST SENIOR
LANGUAGE ANALYST LANGUAGE ANALYST LANGUAGE INTERN These occupations are
involved with the translation into English of technical documents and the
content analysis of materials of special significance or priority.

EXPERT VOICE LINGUIST SENIOR VOICE
LANGUAGE ANALYST VOICE LANGUAGE ANALYST Convert foreign language voice
intercept into written English. This may involve gisting (reproducing the
essence of an intercepted conversation) and content analysis of voice
intercepts to determine significance and priority.

EXPERT CRYPTOLOGIC LINGUIST SENIOR
CRYPTOLOGIC LANGUAGE

ANALYST CRYPTOLOGIC LANGUAGE

ANALYST

The application of linguistic
principles, theories, and practices to the analysis and solution of a wide
variety of cryptologic problems concerning foreign written and voice
communications. Analysts advise on the construction, grammar, and syntax of
language, and vocabulary development. Other work may involve translation,
transcribing, gisting, and scanning.

EXPERT RESEARCH LINGUIST SENIOR
LANGUAGE RESEARCH

ANALYST

LANGUAGE RESEARCH ANALYST The
planning and development of glossaries, course materials, dictionaries, and
reference works. These occupations also involve computer studies of the
characteristics of target languages.

CRYPTANALYTIC EXPERT SENIOR
CRYPTANALYST CRYPTANALYST—GENERAL CRYPTANALYST—MACHINE CRYPTANALYST—MANUAL
CRYPTANALYTIC SUPPORT

TECHNICIAN CRYPTANALYSIS INTERN
The application of analytic techniques, methods, and procedures for the
analysis or solution of complex cipher problems.

TRAFFIC ANALYTIC EXPERT SENIOR
TRAFFIC ANALYST TRAFFIC ANALYST TRAFFIC ANALYST INTERN The analysis of
telecommunications patterns for intelligence and cryptanalytic
purposes.                                      SIGNALS ANALYSIS EXPERT

SENIOR SIGNALS ANALYST

SIGNALS ANALYST

SIGNALS ANALYSIS INTERN

The analysis and evaluation of
foreign

signals to derive and compile
strategic,

technical, and scientific
intelligence. Also the exploitation of raw electronic signals and processed
signal components to derive valuable intelligence information on the identity,
function, characteristics, and capabilities of the signal and radiating
equipment.

COLLECTION EXPERT SENIOR
COLLECTION MANAGER COLLECTION MANAGER Development and evaluation of programs,
policies, requirements, and instructions involved in signals intelligence
collection.

SENIOR COLLECTION OPERATIONS

CONTROLLER COLLECTION OPERATIONS

CONTROLLER

Managing, administering,
directing, advising on, or performing work involved with the production of
signals intelligence.

MORSE COLLECTOR All positions with
duties involved in the study or interception of radio emanations transmitted in
international Morse or similar codes. The intercept operator may search for,
identify, collect, record, and/or transcribe the signals.

MULTIMODE COLLECTOR Duties
involving the identification, reporting, and processing of foreign
electromagnetic emissions.

SIGNALS CONVERSION EXPERT SENIOR
SIGNALS CONVERSION

SPECIALIST

SIGNALS CONVERSION SPECIALIST
Advise on, supervise, or perform work involving the transformation of signals
into a format or media amenable to their identification for further analysis.

CRYPTOLOGIC ENGINEER ENGINEERING
INTERN Positions at the supergrade level that require the highest degree of
technical knowledge and skill in order to plan, develop, direct, advise on, and
implement engineering programs that deal with NSA's key cryptologic missions.

CRYPTOLOGIC COMPUTER

SCIENTIST

COMPUTER SCIENTIST COMPUTER ANALYST
Study and analyze cryptanalytic problems to evaluate whether and how solutions
might be obtained using computer technology.

SENIOR FREQUENCY

MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST FREQUENCY
MANAGEMENT

SPECIALIST

Perform a variety of duties
associated with radio frequency engineering and management, radio-wave
propagation, and electromagnetic compatibility. The work requires the ability
to study and advise on technical and general operational aspects of
telecommunications systems with a view toward supporting NSA projects.

EXPERT CRYPTOLOGIC

MATHEMATICIAN SENIOR CRYPTOLOGIC

MATHEMATICIAN CRYPTOLOGIC
MATHEMATICIAN CRYPTANALYTIC MATHEMATICIAN

INTERN

Perform work involving the
development and application of mathematical methods for the investigation and
numerical and analytical solution of cryptologic problems in various
subject-matter fields where the exactitude of the relationships, the rigor and
economy of mathematical operation, and the logical necessity of results are the
controlling consideration.

SENIOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH

ANALYST

OPERATIONS RESEARCH ANALYST
OPERATIONS RESEARCH INTERN Design, develop, and adapt mathematical,
statistical, econometric, as well as other scientific methods and techniques to
analyze cryptologic problems. Performance of this responsibility requires the
ability to construct quantitative models that will provide insight into the
probable effects of alternative solutions to the problems. The primary purpose
of operations research studies and evaluations is to provide a decision maker
with sound, scientific, and quantitative bases by which to sharpen intuition
and judgment in making his decisions.

CRYPTOLOGIC SCIENTIST Positions at
the supergrade level that require the highest degree of technical knowledge and
skill in order to plan, develop, direct, advise on, and implement one or more
complex and important physical science (physics or chemistry) programs to
accomplish NSA's cryptologic mission.

CRYPTOLOGIC EDUCATION AND

TRAINING EXPERT Advise on,
administer, and perform professional work involving research, conceiving and
planning comprehensive training programs for use at the National Cryptologic
School and elsewhere.

SENIOR INVESTIGATOR

INVESTIGATOR

Positions involved with
investigating

candidates for employment or
access,

reinvestigations of employees and
other affiliated personnel, and counterintelli-gence activities and the
investigations of other matters under the jurisdiction of the director, NSA.

SENIOR POLYGRAPH EXAMINER
POLYGRAPH EXAMINER Administration and supervision of polygraph examinations as
part of counterin-telligence and personnel security investigations.

TECHNICAL SECURITY OFFICER
TECHNICAL SECURITY SPECIALIST Performs technical security research and

surveys.

SENIOR CRYPTOLOGIC MATERIAL

CONTROLLER CRYPTOLOGIC MATERIAL

CONTROLLER

Involved with the planning,
development, and operation of systems that assure accountability of cryptologic
equipment and other materials, such as magnetic tapes. This also includes the
forecasting of cryptologic material requirements and trends.

CRYPTOMATERIAL CHECKER Operation
of inspection and quality control systems for the prepublication editing,
proofreading, and checking of cryptographic materials.

INFOSEC
EXPERT                          
/^

Perform research into programs
designed to safeguard U.S. and other designated telecommunications from
unauthorized disclosure or exploitation.

INFOSEC OPERATIONS OFFICER INFOSEC
OPERATIONS ANALYST Develop Infosec systems for U.S. and other designated
communications. Review established information security programs for
communications insecurities. Analyze foreign intelligence systems and
practices, technological advances, trends, and developments in order to develop
and interpret data on the crypto-logic accomplishments and potential of foreign
countries.

INFOSEC SYSTEMS OFFICER INFOSEC
SYSTEMS ANALYST INFOSEC INTERN Determine vulnerabilities of communications
systems and devise or develop the methodology for minimizing those
vulnerabilities.