Doe ip: 6598322 DATE:  ahainelea Pace: 1 JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM AGENCY INFORMATION AGENCY : NSA RECORD NUMBER : 144-10001-10212 RECORDS SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : DOCUMENT INFORMATION ORIGINATOR : NSA ~ FROM : DIRNSA-LOWMAN CONGRESSIONAL REVIEWS 0 : DASD (INTEL) % ae ° ees TITLE : SSC QUERIES CONCERNING WARREN COMMISSION DATE : 01/26/76 Z PAGES : 4 - SUBJECTS : INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO QUANBECK'S LETTER DOCUMENT TYPE : MEMORANDUM CLASSIFICATION :-- RESTRICTIONS : 1B CURRENT STATUS : X DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 07/01/97 OPENING CRITERIA : ORIGINATING AGENCY’S DETERMINATION REQUIRED COMMENTS ; -[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED Released on 11-01-2017 under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2017 Note)
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY . CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND 25755 Serial: N0078 26 January 1976 TOP SECRET MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECs Eee OF DEFENSE (INTELLIGENCE) SUBJECT: Senate Select Committee Queries to NSA Concerning the Warren Commission Reference your letter dated 14 January 1976 transmitting a request from Mr. Alton Quanbeck of the Senate Select Committee Staff. The following information is provided in response to Mr. Quanbeck's letter, keyed by paragraph to his letter (inclosed - see underlined portions). Most of . the information was made available to the SSC Staff, Mr. Jim Johnson, during an interview with Dr. Louis Tordella on 20 January 1976. Para. 1. - NSA requested permission to retain photocopies of those reports on which we had worked merely as record copies of our efforts on behalf of the Commission. It was felt that if a question should arise at that time concerning what analytic efforts had been involved and the number of manhours expended, a record copy would prove useful. No operational use was made of these documents except to hold them on file for a period of time which cannot now be determined. To the best of our present knowledge, the photo- copies have now been destroyed. Absolutely no results relevant to the assassination were obtained through NSA's analytic look at the exhibits. The Commission, in the person of Mr. Allan Dulles, had asked Dr. Tordella, informally, to review the exhibits for any secret writing or codes which might have been contained in the documents. Dr. Tordella, after causing a careful review of the documents by NSA crypt- analysts, reported verbally to Mr. Dulles and other Commission members that nothing whatsoever had been achieved by the , -analytic effort. No written reply was submitted. Classified by BIRNSA/f Exempt fram GIRS, Ft
A r-——Doc ID: 6598322" a Serial: NOO078 Para. 2. - NSA is uncertain as to what is precisely meant by these comments, but we assume that the comments on - names refer to our biographic files which are maintained on foreign personalities of potential intelligence significance. As the Committee knows, these biographic files are maintained (now at CIA incidentally) as analytic support. It is also possible that the Commission was referring to the fact that names are frequently seen in traffic collected for foreign intelligence purposes and therefore NSA might have access to foreign names not otherwise available to the Intelligence Community. Para. 3. - It may well be that CIA did obtain such transmissions and pass’ them to NSA for analysis, but no one presently working that analytic area recalls such a request. Discussions with Dr. Tordella also failed to shed any light on this subject. There are no files or records which we have been able to locate from that time frame which would sub- stantiate such a claim. In fact, the only file the responsible analytic group has been able to locate concerning a request from the Warren Commission deals with a file compiled from open sources citing major dates in the last months of Oswald's life. Presumably the date file was to be compared with NSA product on/about the key dates in the hope that something could be deduced. The file does not contain any "hits." The analysts who performed. .this effort have since retired. Para. 4. - The informal request from Mr. Dulles is the known total extent of NSA's role in assisting in the investigation. The file discussed in Paragraph 3 is the only file thus far recovered. There is no information which can now be identified which was developed from Cuban or Soviet ‘transmissions relating to the assassination. Para. 5. - We have no information on this subject at all. However, pursuant to the subject raised during the Tordella interview, we have searched our files manually, and as Mr. Lowman agreed during the Tordella interview, we have recovered three product reports (Inclosures 2 through 4) which show that Cuban military forces did go on alert immediately after the assassination. There is no SIGINT evidence, however, that the Cuban forces were alerted prior to the assassination, thereby suggesting that they had PELOE knowledge of the event.
- ——Poc ID: 6598322: «! Serial: NOO78 Para. 6. - No hard copy material of any kind was provided to the Commission (see Para. 1). DAVID D. LOWMA Special Assistant to the Director for Congressional Reviews 4 Incls: a/s
P ooct 6598322: eo | = Serial: NO0078 ~ —y cc: DIR D/DIR ESS ESS/R . ESS, Mr. Lowman NoRD ee Peksa | | USCHFOTENGNENO) A, Miss Caracristi (Less Incls) weet L2 2 1 os Be ee - M/R: Inclosures - 2 ehiduah 4. -are Sroduct reports numbered 2/0]__K66-6 63, 2/0/[__196-63 ana 2/0f__]R58~- 63. 44USC2107(5)(g)(2)(D) b(v) f Frank Foster/0/ESS/3161s/26 Jan 76/kjb 7