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intelligence (SIGINT) programs kept Allied information secure porting combat operations for the Department of Defense.” and left the enemies vulnerable. Headquartered at Fort George Meade, located between But at the close of the conflict, a new, threatening power—the | Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland, the NSA boasts the Soviet Union—was beginning to provoke the Cold War by most enviable array of intelligence equipment and personnel in enslaving Eastern Europe. These signal intelligence agencies now the world. The NSA is the largest global employer of mathemati- had a new enemy towards which to turn their electronic eyes and cians, featuring the best teams of codemakers and codebreakers ears to ensure that the balance of power could be maintained. The — ever assembled. The codebreakers' job is to crack the encryption volleys of electronic hardware and espionage that would follow codes of foreign and domestic electronic communications, for- for 40 years would be the breeding ground of the ECHELON spy warding the revealed messages to their enormous team of skilled system. linguists who can review and analyse messages in over 100 lan- The diplomatic foundation that was the genesis of ECHELON guages. The NSA is also responsible for creating the encryption is the UKUSA agreement. The agreement has its roots in the codes that protect the US Government's communications. BRUSA COMINT (communications intelligence) alliance formed In its role as gang leader for UKUSA, the NSA is primarily in the early days of World War II and ratified on 17 May 1943 by involved with creating new surveillance and codebreaking tech- the United Kingdom and the United States of America.‘ The nology, directing the other cooperating agencies to their targets Commonwealth SIGINT Organisation, formed in 1946-47, and providing them with training and tools to intercept, process brought together the postwar intelligence agencies of the UK, and analyse enormous amounts of signals intelligence. By pos- Canada, Australia and New Zealand.* Forged in 1947 between sessing what is arguably the most technologically advanced com- the US and UK, the still-secret UKUSA agreement defined the munications, computer and codebreaking equipment of any gov- relations between the SIGINT departments of those various gov- ernment agency in the world, the NSA serves as a competent and ernments. Direct agreements capable taskmaster for UKUSA. between the US and these agencies also define the intricate relationships THE ECHELON NETWORK of these organisations. The vast network created by the Foremost among those agencies is Forged in 1947 between the US UKUSA community stretches across the US National Security Agency the globe and into the reaches of (NSA) which represents the and UK, the diplomatic space. Land-based intercept stations, American interest. The NSA is des- foundation that was the genesis intelligence ships sailing the seven ignated as the "First Party to the . . seas and top-secret satellites whirling [UKUSA] Treaty". The UK of ECHELON is the still-secret 20,000 miles overhead all combine to Government Communications UKUSA agreement. empower the NSA and its UKUSA Headquarters (GCHQ) signed the UKUSA agreement on behalf of the UK and its Commonwealth SIGINT partners. This brought Australia's Having divided up the world Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), among the UKUSA parties, each Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and agency directs its electronic "vacuum-cleaner" equipment towards New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau the heavens and the ground to search for the most minute commu- (GCSB) into the arrangement. While these agencies are bound by nications signals that traverse the system's immense path. The additional direct agreements with the US and each other, these NSA facilities in the US cover the communications signals of allies with access to the entire global communications network. Very few signals escape its electronic grasp. four countries are considered the "Second Parties to the Treaty". both American continents; the GCHQ in Britain is responsible for Third Party members include Germany, Japan, Norway, South Europe, Africa and Russia (west of the Ural Mountains); the DSD Korea and Turkey. There are sources that indicate China may in Australi sts in SIGINT collection in Southeast Asia, the also be included in this group, on a limited basis.° southwest Pa c Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean areas; the GSCB in New Zealand is responsible for southern Pacific Ocean THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY collections, particularly the South Pacific island nations group; The prime mover in the UKUSA arrangement is undeniably the —_ and the CSE in Canada handles interception of additional northern US National Security Agency. The majority of funds for joint Russian, northern European and American communications.‘ projects and facilities (discussed below) as well as the directions The backbone of the ECHELON network are the massive lis- for intelligence-gathering operations are issued primarily through _tening and reception stations directed at the Intelsat and Inmarsat the NSA. The participating agencies frequently exchange person- satellites that are responsible for the vast majority of phone and nel, divide up intelligence collection tasks and establish common — fax communications traffic within and between countries and con- guidelines for classifying and protecting shared information. tinents. The 20 Intelsat satellites follow a geostationary orbit However, the NSA utilises its role as the largest spy agency in the locked onto a particular point on the equator.’ These satellites world to have its international intelligence partners do its bidding. carry primarily civilian traffic, but they do additionally carry President Harry Truman established the NSA in 1952 with a diplomatic and governmental communications that are of particu- residential directive that remains classified to this day. The US lar interest to the UKUSA parties. Government did not acknowledge the existence of the NSA until Originally, only two stations were responsible for Intelsat inter- 957. Its original mission was to conduct the signal intelligence cepts: Morwenstow in England, and Yakima in the US state of (SIGINT) and communications security (COMSEC) for the Washington. However, when the Intelsat 5 series was replaced United States. President Ronald Reagan added the tasks of infor- with the Intelsat 701 and 703 satellites—which had much more mation systems security and operations security training in 1984 precise transmission beams that prohibited reception of southern and 1988 respectively. A 1986 law charged the NSA with sup- hemisphere signals from the Yakima base in the northern “and UK, the diplomatic foundation that was the genesis of ECHELON is the still-secret THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY The prime mover in the UKUSA arrangement is undeniably the US National Security Agency. The majority of funds for joint projects and facilities (discussed below) as well as the directions for intelligence-gathering operations are issued primarily through the NSA. The participating agencies frequently exchange person- nel, divide up intelligence collection tasks and establish common guidelines for classifying and protecting shared information. However, the NSA utilises its role as the largest spy agency in the world to have its international intelligence partners do its bidding. President Harry Truman established the NSA in 1952 with a presidential directive that remains classified to this day. The US Government did not acknowledge the existence of the NSA until 1957. Its original mission was to conduct the signal intelligence (SIGINT) and communications security (COMSEC) for the United States. President Ronald Reagan added the tasks of infor- mation systems security and operations security training in 1984 and 1988 respectively. A 1986 law charged the NSA with sup- NEXUS - 21 Forged in 1947 between the US UKUSA agreement. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1999