Doc ID: 6598287 DATE: 03/24/97 PAGE: 1 JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION FORM AGENCY INFORMATION AGENCY : NSA RECORD NUMBER : 144-10001-10153 RECORDS SERIES : AGENCY FILE NUMBER : | | | DOCUMENT INFORMATION _ ORIGINATOR : NSA FRO TO : D DAVID MARWELL, ARRB- | 7 RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS POSED BY JFK ARRBo = RT DATE : 96/01/95 ; PAGES : SUBJECTS : 1960'S INTERCEPTION OF SOVIET /CUBAN/MEXICAN DRUG SMUGGLERS © -ER WHAT ACTIONS WERE TAKEN BY NSA FOR MMEDIATE JFK ASSASSI -ER- 1960'S COLLECTION/DECIPH ERING/ ANALYZING “COWNS CAPABILITIES RE DOCUMENT TYPE : LETTER CLASSIFICATION : RESTRICTIONS : 1B CURRENT STATUS : X DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 06/01/95 | o OPENING CRITERI ORIGINATING AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REQUIRED COMMENTS : Oigiret pubruvetsed © hte Released on 11-02-2017 under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2017 Note) [R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED
Doc ID! 6598287 . NATIONAL SECU RITY AGENCY FORT GEORGE G- MEADE, MARYLAND 20755-6000 N5P4-033-95 1 June 1995 Mr. David Marwell Assassination Records Review Board 600 E Street NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20530 Dear Mr. Marwell: tter of March 9, 1995 we tasked appropriate elements of (FOQUO) In response to your le NSA Operations and Archives as well as the Legislative Affairs Office (LAO) and Office of General Counsel (OGC) to search for information responsive to your questions. The following represents the composite response of these elements. CU) “What technical capabilities did NSA have during the early 1960’s for collecting, deciphering, and analyzing communications?” . —S~eee} 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 the USSR, both High Frequency and Line-of—Sigit, in Cuba, and those communications exchanged intemaconally berween coun- tries. We accomplished this through a mixture of fixed sites manned by armed forces personnel, Second and Third Parties, and clandestine and airborne and shipborne platforms, exchanges with nciphered communications of interest, special sources. We exploited many ¢ communications and those of a few other countries that employed very sophis-, military ‘ ticated cryptosystems. Our analytic capabilides were excellent, both in our civilian and workforce. EAUSC2IO7{6X NE) Il (U) “What COMINT did NSA actually intercept during the early 1960’s from iméSovier | Union, Cuba, and Mexico, from organized crime or internagonal —ES—Ceo- NSA produced COMINT on many facets of the Sovief target, munications to military drug smugglers?" # ow—to-medium grade adeavors, exploiting miiny | oreducts on all facets cipher systems on these targets... On the Cuban urget. we prodtiiced many as well, from mulitary coniumand and contol communications. We also produced product on f_ fargets, mainly There were no reflections in any of these proc- ucts of any activity that might have been related to the assassination, only post—assassinacon re- flections of U.S. political and protocol developments and Cuban releases of statements denying crime or narcotics smuggling at that mme. One organization did follow international arms trade activity and issued product reports, but there was nothing to te any of their reporting to the as- sassinanon. ‘ (U) “What acnon s did NSA take in the immediate wake of President Kennedy’s assas- sination? For example, did any agency task NSA to perform any funcuons regarding the assas- sination? Was any task force, group directorate, or other entity at NSA formed or charged with any responsibilities for collecting informacion that in any way pertained to the assassinadon of President Kennedy? Was any tatfic analysis performed? Were any product reports produced? Were there any TSRs? Relea -02- sed on 11-02-2017 under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2017 Note) Coated by NERCESW tite! e == 3 wee re eT aS
Doc ID: 6598287 —FS=CES} Collectors, based on their personal recollections, were alerted to put greater empha- sis on Soviet Bloc 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 for- eign intelligence reporting on the assassination. Any voice and cipher waffic were 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. ° (U) “Did NSA ever collect, isolate, or segregate any records relating to the assassina- tion?” (FOUO) One file, related to Lee Harvey Oswald, was accessioned into the NSA/CSS Archives +n 1986. The LAO holds five files that topically relate in some way to the Assassination. In 1993 NSA searched for and collected documents in response to Public Law 102-526. Copies of the records responsive to the law are held in the Office of Policy. (U) “What actions has NSA taken, since 1964, with respect to the assassination? For example, other than with respect to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), has NSA had any program to collect any data with respect to the assassination?” (FOUO) Since 1964 NSA has answered queries from various congressional committees. Files about the information provided are held by the LAO and OGC. NSA's only program to collect data related to the assassination was the response to PL. 102-526. (U) “What files or records has NSA ever had pertaining to congressional investigations of the assassination or the intelligence community? For example, are there (or were there) NSA Sies on the Warren Commission, the HSCA, the Church Committee, the Pike Committee, etc.” (FOUO) The LAO, OGC and Archives holds files related to this question covering all of the topics except the Warren Commission. (U) “What records retention (and records destruction) policies has NSA ever proposed or implemented that might have affected records pertaining to the assassination? You stated, for example, that records identifying Americans were destroyed in the wake of the Church Commit- tee investigation, and you suggested that records identifying Oswald might have been among those destroyed: What were the destruction orders: who implemented them; how many records were destroyed; and how were records identified for destruction?” (FQUO) NSA has created records disposiuon schedules for some documents. However, SIGINT records disposition remained predominantly unscheduled during the period in question, and consequently their handling is uncertain. Serialized records (reports) are usually retained intact and are preserved to this day. The retention or destruction of other types of records were not handled systematically. The decision to retain or destroy was made by the originating ele- ments. ((U) “What records from intercepts involving the Soviet Union, the Soviet Bloc, Cuba, and Mexico from the early 1960’s are still extant? For example, does NSA have untranscribed Cuban tapes from 1963 (but that may subsequently have been broken)? What records does NSA have from the Bay of Pigs and from the Cuban Missile Crisis? —~S=CEO} There are end-product reports, code books on mrget communications and cipher traf- fic available dating from the early 1960's on these targets in the NSA archives. Our records show no instances of codes being broken in which we did not go back and decrypt traffic from
a pee EO esc —2 ae the period that had been unexploitable at the time. It is our standard practice to do so regardless of the circumstances. When such events occur it is also the SIGINT modus operandi to ensure all voice material having any possible connectivity whatsoever to the event is scanned for intelli- gence purposes. We found no indications of any SIGINT collection that did not get reviewed. Such records also cover the missile crisis and Bay of Pigs tmeframes as well. There has been an historical perspective written in 1984-85 on the SIGINT effort during the Missile Crisis that also touches on the Bay of Pigs, and one is planned on the Assassination (no esumated completion date). , , (U) “Does NSA have files on American defectors to Communist countries during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s?” —FS5—€E0}- There was one NSA organization which, as part of their mission, tacked the activi- ties of such individuals in the 1960’s, first manuaily and later by machine. However, almost all records of such endeavors and files were destroyed in "1974, and any such activity ceased in the wake of the Church and Pike Committees’ reports on such acuvines and the subsequent Execu- tive Order issued. The two exceptions to this would be files on Martin and Mitchell who were employees of NSA. (U) “Did any foreign government or intelligence service ever supply NSA with any in- formation pertaining to the “assassination?” (FOUO) We are unaware of any informacion of this subject ever being passed by any foreign government or intelligence service to NSA. (FOUO) We have also collected a list of personne! who were working the target arthe - time or who have conrributed to these answers. After you have reviewed these responses, please do not hesitate to contact us to on (301) 688-6798 with any questions which you have. ‘CLAUDLA C. COLLINS Chief Information Security Policy