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----·---------------------~-=~~===~---------, SECURITY ~IFICATION 

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The Ka tional. Becuri ty Agren'7 

------·---------------------~------~==::-:-:-::~ DATE COMMENT NO. 1 

l·IREA "1p,e_;.,,. ~/~J 

T'oe tolloving was 

Saturday 18 April: 

FROM 

PROD 20 April 1953 

transmitted on the A••ociated Pre•• Wev.t ticker on 

WA8HIJl1ro1' - (AP) -THE RATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY IS ORB OF THE ID3T 

SECRET OF AMERICA 'S SEcm.'T SERVICF.s 1 AJm IF YOU OOULD Stll UP r.iS JOB Ill ORE 

WORD 1 THAT WORD WOULD BE: COD&S. 

THE DEFE?EE DEPAR'D4E!IT BR'lBBES OFF ALL QUERIES ABOU.r 'mE AGENCY BY 

CALLIBG IT A '"FACILI'l'X' OOICERXED WITH SPEC:r~I.IZED RESEARCH AND TMIKDG 

AC"!'IVI'l'IES." 

'l'BE l, 100-PACJE PRES IID'l'IAL BUDGET OOITAINS NO MElfl'IO!f OF IT. DI'l'DR 

IS rr LISTED IN TBE FEDERAL GOVE1Ul4EIT SECTIOI OF THE WASHDOrOI TBLBPBOD BOOlt 

WOF D' THE PE:RTAGOR 'S CM1' DIRECTOR'(, 

B'C11' EllOlXiH ll01i -SECRK'l: lltroRM\TIOJI HAS SURVIVED FROM THE DA.YB vm !Bl 

MILITARY SERVICES MADITAIJllED SEPABATE CCllMU1'ICA'l'IO!E-Ilfl'ELLIGDCI!: G80t1P8 '10 

IBDICA'I!: 'mIB MUCH: THE UID'Il5D AGDCY IS Ill TBE GI.OBAL BlSIDSS O~ lllllm, 

PRO'J!:C'l'Im ARD BREAICIM COIES A.RD SECRET CIPBEBS. 

GG lo414A 4/1.8 

!'_.,,,. ~. g • HARPER / ' J Captain 1 U. 8 . lf&Ty 

- A••i•tant Director, Production 

cc: SBC 

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roved for Release b NSA on 05-14-2014 ursuantto E.O. 1352 ·- · ·-

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REF ID:A66474 

New York Herald Tribune, Sunday, May 3, 195.3 

City Edition, page 18 

Secret Unit 

. Mission: to 

Solve Codes '. 

WASHINGTON, (JP).-TheNatidnal Security Agency is one of 

the most secret of America's 

r;ecret services, and if you could sum up its job in one word, that 

word would be codes. 

The Defense Department brushes oif all queries about the 

as-ency by calling it a "facility concerned with specialized re- r;earch and training activities." 

'?he 1,100-page Presidential 

budget contains no mentioμ of 

1t. Neither is it listed in the 

Federal goverment section of 

the Washington telephone book nor in the Pentagon's own directory. 

Unified A~enc1 

:But enough non-secret fnfor-

:tnation has survived from th~ 

~days when the military services 

' maintained separate communications-intelligence groups to 

Indicate this much: the unJfted 

agency is in the global business 

of making, protecting and breaking and secret ciphers. A sQll.rch of the basic reference 

books does reveal the exis~nce 

-;without explanation in this 

day of armed forces uniftcation 

-of Army and Navy security agencies. The Navy organiza- tion, howewel.-, has the same addresses as does the present 

director of tne National Security Agency, Lt. Gen. Ralph J. 

Canine. 

:Before ,military uniftcation, 

the services were not so secretive 

about their activities m co:rn- munications-intelligence. Testifying before Congressional com- mittees in 1947, Navy omcers bolstered requests for fUnds by &tying their security ag&ncy employed 700 uniformed and -iOO 

civili3n personnel. 

· 'world-Wide Posts 

The Navy s~g_then it.s arency 

operated listening posts in far corners of the world, naming Bahrein Island, in the Persian 

Gulf: Port Lyautey, in French 

Morocco: Quito, Ecuador: Bermuda; Japan: Iceland; Newfo.undland; England, and the 

Philippines. 

Shortly after the Air Force 

became a, separate service from 

the Army, air omcers went to 

Congress with a request for a multi-million dollar communications security center near Kelly Field, Texas. Air generals said 

they would require incinerators 

big enough to bum up to twelve 

tons of papers every twenty-four hours and enouiih barbe4 wire 

a.r.d steel fencing to enclose a iOO-acre site. 

'Phe most authorative source 1 ._.,Information on the doings of1 

the services' security arms be-' 

fore unification are Army re- gulations published in Febl'uary,

1 

19•9. These clearly set forth the 

mission and operation of the 

agency. 

••clandestine" Trame 

The .Army agency, which now forms a large part of the com- bined effort, was given respon- r;ibllity for producing communi- cations intelligence, for investigating means employed In 

''clandestine" communications, 

and for the preparation, dedection and processing of secret 

inks, lJlicro-photos, codes and 

ciphers. , . The Army agency's mission 

also included the "surveillance of 

f11endly radio and wire traffic." 

The regulations Cefined com- munications intelligence as all 

Information derived from the 

study of intercepted messages .. The regulations also said the 

agency would maintain fixed and 

rn.oblle units, some overseas. The headquarters and administrative branches of the unified 

agency remam in the Washington area, with important sup- po1'ting facilities in nearby 

Maryland and Virginia. Published, but unconfirmed reports have placed its payroll at from 

3.000 to 7,000 persons In the 

United States. How many are working oversea~ Js a deep secret. I