Doc ID: 6878946
Doc Ref ID: A4268793
AGENCY: NSA
JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM
IDENTIFICATION FORM
AGENCY INFORMATION
RECORD NUMBER: 144-10001-10287
RECORDS SERIES :
AGENCY FILE NUMBER :
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
ORIGINATOR : NSA
FROM NSA
TO : ARRB
TITLE
.
NSA RESPONSE TO ARRRB QUESTIONS RE NSA CAPABILITIES/RECORDS
DATE: 04/01/98
PAGES ₤4/01/98
SUBJECTS
NSA RESPONSE TO ARRRB QUESTIONS RE CAPABILITIES/RECORDS
DOCUMENT TYPE: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT
CLASSIFICATION : T
RESTRICTIONS: 1A, 1B
CURRENT STATUS : X
DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 07/24/98
OPENING CRITERIA :
ORIGINATING AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REQUIRED
COMMENTS :
[R]
-
ITEM IS RESTRICTED
DATE: 10/08/98
PAGE: 1
Released pursuant to Executive Order 14176, DECLASS. OF RECORDS CONC. THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRES. JFK, SEN.
RFK, AND THE REV. DR. MLK, JR.
Doc ID: 6878946
OF
DEPART
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UNITED STAT
DEFENSE & V
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NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE. MARYLAND 20755-600Q
Serial: N5P/017/98
01 April 1998
Mr. T. Jeremy Gunn
Executive Director
Assassination Records Review Board
600 E Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Gunn:
(U) In response to your letter of November 28, 1997, we tasked
appropriate elements of the NSA Operations and the NSA Archives elements to
search for information responsive to your questions. In addition, a member of
my staff reviewed our United States Intelligence Board (USIB) and USIB SIGINT
Subcommittee record holdings. The following represents the composite
response of these elements.
(TS-CCO) Question #1: What were NSA targeting priorities and capabilities
against Cuba in Mexico City during the period 1963-1964? Including
records of the U.S. Communications Intelligence (COMINT) Board,
what records does NSA possess on tasking and results from these
capabilities? In particular, did NSA target communications between
Havana and Mexico City? (During the meeting Messrs. Hatch and
Fogarty suggested that the Army Security Agency had a facility in the
American Embassy in 1963 targeting the Cuban Embassy, although its
operations did not meet with great success.) Mr. Hatch stated that
Mr. (Howard K.? Harold? Johnny?) Johnson, a former NSA employee,
might have more specific knowledge of such an operation and that you
could contact him.
(TS-CCO) ANSWER: A record of the SIGINT Subcommittee of the USIB
from August 1993 provides a recap of the USIB SIGINT Subcommittee's Priority
National Intelligence Objectives. Included in this recap are objectives
[requirements] to obtain information on 1) Soviet and Cuban military
.
capabilities, 2) Soviet and Cuban capabilities, intentions, and efforts to initiate
or support internal warfare in other countries, 3) critically important political,
economic, and scientific and technical developments in Communist countries
[USSR, Cuba]; actual or potential conflicts within the ruling groups, major
developments in Soviet and Cuban external policy, and 4) the reactions of Latin
American governments and peoples to developments in and with respect to
Cuba.
DRV FM: NSA/CSS Manual 123-2
Dated: 24 February 1998
DECL ON: X1, X3, X5, X6,X7,X8
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(TSC) An NSA COMINT Technical Report (A5/A6 COMINT TECHNICAL
REPORT #1-66- A Survey of Soviet Communications in Cuba) regarding SIGINT
results of the targeting of Cuba was reviewed by Dr. Hall. This appears to be the
most comprehensive record of our capabilities against Cuba for the 1963-1964
timeframe. Numerous Cuban cryptosystems were exploited during the early
1960s, including some Cuban military and illicit agent communications
through depths or diagnosis and exploitation. NSA had an excellent capability
to meet the SIGINT challenges of the 1960's. We had field sites in position to
copy the signals of interest in Cuba, and those communication exchanges
internationally between countries.
(TSC) Product reports based on the targeting of Mexican Diplomatic
communications were reviewed by two members of my staff. Some of these
reports were the result of targeting of communications between Havana and
Mexico City. However, no records responsive to the John F. Kennedy
Assassination Records Act of 1992 were located other than those already passed
to the ARRB. There were no reflections in any of these products of any activity
that might have been related to the assassination, only post-assassination
reflections of U.S. political and protocol developments. NSA has approximately
12 shin boxes [4 linear feet] of Mexican Diplomatic records.
(S) In early December 1997 the ARRB staff was provided with the name
and phone number of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command
(INSCOM) historian who has information regarding an Army Security Agency
(ASA) collection site in Mexico City during the 1963-1964 timeframe. The
INSCOM historian is Jack Finnigan who can be reached on 703-706-2630.
Mr. Finnigan advised us of information contained in an ASA unit history report
that was written by J. Johnson. In addition, I understand that members of your
staff met in December 1997 with Mr. Frederick Berghoff, former Chairman of
the National SIGINT Committee (previously known as the USIB SIGINT
Subcommittee), who provided the ARRB staff with his recollections of NSA
activities regarding the Central and South American Regions in the early-1960s.
(U) Question #2. What, if any, additional NSA capabilities were added to target
communications sources within Cuba between November 1962 and the end of
1964? What information does NSA have on the targeting of communications
sources within Cuba by CIA? Was there any liaison between NSA and CIA on this
issue? NSA stated that it may have between six and twelve boxes of Cuba-
related material. Of what do these records consist? May the ARRB staff examine
these records?
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(TS-CCO) ANSWER: The records of the USIB SIGINT Subcommittee for
the period November 1962 through 1964 were recently reviewed. No SIGINT
Objectives were included in the SIGINT Subcommittee's objectives regarding
Mexico for the 1962-1964 timeframe. The August 1963 SIGINT Subcommittee
record recaps SIGINT Objectives and the 5 and 18 November 1963 and the 10
January 1964 records indicate that requirements to target Soviet forces in Cuba
and Soviet-Cuban Agreements were already receiving priority SIGINT coverage.
The 2 December 1963 record appears to show a change in priorities because it
presents "pertinent examples of actions underway or planned...": 1) increase in
intercept and more timely consolidated reporting on Cuban military problems,
2) intercept and analysis of communications related to illicit...activity...seeking
information on Cuban illicit nets in particular., 3) A new attack on the problem
of tracing the movements of Cuban subversive agents and of travel by Cubans
into the U.S., the Soviet Bloc and Latin America, 4) Additional ship and airborne
intercept of Cuban communications is planned, and 5) Increased efforts to
develop information on the technical characteristics of the internal military and
paramilitary communications of all Latin American countries.
(TS-CCO) NSA collectors, based on their personal recollections, were
alerted to put greater emphasis on Soviet Block and Cuban military targets to
look for signs of increased readiness in their force posture. Analysts at NSA
were also looking for signs of diplomatic reactions to, and foreign intelligence
reporting on, the assassination. Any voice and cipher traffic was thoroughly
processed from the surrounding timeframe. Analysts on targets that were
unexploitable from a cryptanalytic standpoint reviewed traffic patterns to
ensure that no deviations indicating unusual activity had been overlooked.
(S-CCO) A review of the United States Intelligence Board (USIB) records
held by NSA shows CIA and NSA top-level Agency cooperation/coordination on
intelligence targeting via the USIB. However, according to recollections of
individuals working at NSA in the mid 1960s, liaison between CIA and NSA for
the 1962-1964 timeframe was limited and no record of CIA/NSA cooperation/
coordination at the working levels of the agencies was located. We searched for
records of CIA targeting of Cuban communications, but no records were located.
However, the USIB records make repeated reference to Committee on Overhead
Reconnaissance (COMOR) Biweekly Report on High-Level Coverage of Cuba with
the caveat that the information was distributed through restricted channels.
Because we do not have copies of the COMOR reports, we are unable to
determine if the tasking of these missions was limited to PHOTINT, or if SIGINT
was also performed from the overhead vehicles. COMOR was the predecessor
of the SIGINT Overhead Reconnaissance Subcommittee (SORS). The SORS
committee is a subcommittee of the current U.S. SIGINT Committee. The
Chairman of the SORS is Mr. John Berwin (phone number: 202-496-9828).
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(TSC) Regarding the "six to twelve boxes" discussed during our meeting
with Dr. Hall and members of the ARRB Staff in November 1997, these boxes
referred to are records regarding Mexican Diplomatic communications. As
mentioned in response to Question #1, a recent review of these records did not
result in locating any records not already identified as responsive to the JFK
Assassination Records Act. The ARRB staff is welcome to examine these
records as well as any other of the records mentioned in this letter. The records
pertaining to Cuba and Mexico for this timeframe held by NSA have been
researched and those believed to be responsive to the John F. Kennedy Records
Act of 1992 have been provided to the ARRB.
(S-CCO) Question #3. What capabilities and targeting priorities did NSA have against
Cuba outside of Mexico City and Cuba itself during the time period 1960-1964?
What records of this targeting and any results might still exist?
(TSC) ANSWER: For the timeframe 1960-1964 NSA targeted and was
successful in collecting Cuban communications to/from its Embassies and/or
diplomatic missions in: Algiers, Athens, Bamako, Beirut, Belgrade, Berlin,
Brussels, Bucharest, Conakry, Colombo, Copenhagen, Djakarata, Geneva, The
Hague, Hanoi, Helsinki, Karachi, London, Lisbon, Moscow, New Delhi, Rome,
Santiago, Sofia, Tel Aviv, Ulan Bator, Vatican City, Prague, Accura, Cairo, Paris,
and Vienna. We maintain copies of SIGINT product reports, which are NSA
reports based on the intercept of communications, for this period. Those
reports deemed responsive to the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act of
1992 have been forwarded to the ARRB.
(TS-CCO) Question #4. What policy recommendations from the time period 1960-64
might still exist which reflect NSA policy making or tasking on Cuban
diplomatic or military communications outside of Cuba?
(U) ANSWER: As stated previously, the USIB SIGINT Subcommittee
records show the objectives (requirements for targeting) and are available for
review by ARRB members or staffers.
(S-CCO) Question #5. Are there any COMINT Board recommendations or tasking on
the targeting of Mexican communications during the period 1963-1964? Does
NSA have any other independent knowledge of these targets?
(S-CCO) ANSWER: No recommendation specific to Mexico was located,
however, the USIB SIGINT subcommittee record of 2 December 1963 presents
as one of the "pertinent examples of actions underway or planned...:"
"Increased efforts to develop information on the technical characteristics of the
internal military and para military communications of all Latin American
countries".
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(TS-CCO) Question #6. Including all records of the COMINT Board, what records does
NSA have that refer to the targeting of any Soviet assets in Mexico City that
were in place during the period 1963-1964? What were NSA capabilities and
targeting priorities against Soviet targets in Mexico City from 1963-1964?
(TS-CCO) ANSWER: No records referring to NSA targeting of Soviet
assets in Mexico City were located. Our interest in Mexico and our capability
against any targets in Mexico City was very limited.
(S-CCO) Question #7. Did NSA produce a Technical SIGINT Report (TSR) on Mexican
capabilities in 1963?
(S-CCO) ANSWER: A search for any Technical SIGINT Reports or similar
documents was performed in January 1998 but no records documenting NSA's
capabilities against Mexican target for the period 1960-1964 were located.
(S-CCO) The ARRB staff was provided with the name and phone number
of an INSCOM historian, Mr. Jack Finnigan (Phone Nr. 703-706-2630), who has
information regarding an Army Security Agency collection site in Mexico City
during the 1963-1964 timeframe. In addition ARRB staff members met with
Frederick Berghoff, the former Chairman of the National SIGINT Committee, to
obtain some “recollections" from Mr. Berghoff regarding NSA's interest and
capabilities regarding Mexico in 1963.
(U) If you have any questions or need additional clarification regarding
the information provided, please contact either Lee Schroyer or Claudia Collins
of my staff on (301) 688-6798.
Sincerely,
Приве
JOANN H. GRUBE
Deputy Director of Policy
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