Signals intelligence by alliances, nations and industries

Multilateral SIGINT

Many organizations, national or not, are responsible for communications security as well as SIGINT; the organization makes codes and ciphers that it hopes opponents cannot break. There is a synergy between the two components; there is a saying among cryptologists that no one is qualified to create a cipher

Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

unless they have successfully cryptanalyzed

Cryptanalysis

Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...

a cipher of equivalent complexity.

Many US and allied SIGINT activities are considered Sensitive Compartmented Intelligence, and carry the special security marking, "HANDLE THROUGH COMINT CHANNELS ONLY", which is abbreviated as a suffix to the security classification. SECRET SIGINT material would be marked (S-CCO). For exceptionally sensitive TOP SECRET material, there might be an additional codeword, such as (TS-CCO-RABID).

UKUSA Agreement

SIGINT and security procedures are closely coordinated under what is called the UKUSA Community

UKUSA Community

The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement is a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence among the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It was first signed in March 1946 by the United Kingdom and the United States and later...

, which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is widely rumored that those five nations cooperate in a major SIGINT activity codenamed ECHELON

ECHELON

ECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UK–USA Security Agreement...

. Of the UKUSA partners, NSA is the US element, Britain's is the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Canada has the Communications Security Establishment

Communications Security Establishment

The Communications Security Establishment Canada is the Canadian government's national cryptologic agency. Administered under the Department of National Defence , it is charged with the duty of keeping track of foreign signals intelligence , and protecting Canadian government electronic...

and a few other small groups. Australia puts these activities in the Defence Signals Directorate

Defence Signals Directorate

Defence Signals Directorate is an Australian government intelligence agency responsible for signals intelligence and information security .-Overview:According to its website, DSD has two principal functions:...

. New Zealand has the Government Communications Security Bureau

Government Communications Security Bureau

The Government Communications Security Bureau is an intelligence agency of the New Zealand government.The mission statement is given as:To contribute to the national security of New Zealand through:...

ECHELON

It is fair to say that there is something called ECHELON

ECHELON

, and it is very large. There is no unclassified definition of what it really does, and there are conflicting unofficial reports on its capabilities and operations. Duncan Campbell is the source of much information, but many of his claims have been challenged by independent sources. It is a 2000 report, and his claims that NSA has published no details of its operations is not the case in 2007. Another extensive report is that of the European Parliament in 2001. Campbell himself refined his definitions a year later. His "strict" definition of ECHELON is that it is a satellite interception component of the partners of the UKUSA Agreement. Even among the UKUSA members, according to Campbell, there may be other satellite interception stations not called ECHELON, probably in Australia and possibly in Great Britain.

It is generally accepted that ECHELON is a cooperative system, principally among the UKUSA Agreement partners, to intercept satellite, microwave, and other communications around the world, searching for information of interest to its members. The geographic distribution of the members allows much more effective worldwide coverage. This article does not replace the separate ECHELON

ECHELON

Wikipedia article, but will complement it.

Campbell cites Jeffrey Richelson as defining, in the 4th edition of The American Intelligence Establishment, an "official" list of "third party" participants in ECHELON (or perhaps the UKUSA SIGINT alliance) as Norway, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Campbell further indicated that US payments to Norway and Denmark were stopped in 1992, and those countries intended to do their own satellite interception.

There are also conflicting reports about the relationship, if any, between ECHELON and US government warrantless monitoring wanted by the George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

administration. Many reports focus on ECHELON's capability to intercept signals transmitted through free space, such as microwave

Microwave

Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...

and communications satellite

Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...

s. Given that much of the world's communications have moved to optical fiber cables, which are difficult but not impossible to intercept.

Much ECHELON specification is based on clues, such as noting the geographic location of various large satellite receiving antennas, then plotting the vertical and horizontal coordinates of the parabolic "dish" of the antenna. These can be correlated with the known positions of communications satellites to project that the antenna is intended to receive the signals of a particular satellite.

Other countries may be cooperating with the UKUSA countries, including Ireland and Switzerland, although Switzerland has an independent capability. There are also conflicting reports about France cooperating with ECHELON, but also operating an independent capability.

NATO

Communications and data exchange electronics are intended to be interoperable among NATO members, although not all countries will share sensitive data. Tactical information usually will be shared.

ASEAN and related groups

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN rarely ), is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has...

(ASEAN) consists of ten countries of the region: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei and Laos. Five of the ten countries have concerns with Islamic terrorism, and most are also concerned with piracy. Formed in 1967, the countries also shared several decades of concern over Communist threats. Their cooperation improved over time, although there still was support from outside powers.

Given Singapore's small but potent military, it made basing arrangements in Singapore, in Malaysia and the Philippines. Thailand and Malaysia have a good record working together against the Communist Party of Malaysia.

For some years, the ASEAN countries have held annual intelligence summits. It is unclear, however, if intelligence ties preceded or followed the development of military relationships. The author poses the challenge, "Do arrangements such as ECHELON exist outside the relationships between "great" powers? Literature shows that broad relationships exist among regional powers for various reasons. In the case of ASEAN, states brought together to fight communist insurgency find that they can maximize security by cooperating in covert operations and intelligence sharing."

Technology has accelerated ASEAN intelligence cooperation. For example, Malaysia and Singapore jointly monitor the South China Sea electronically. It is reasonable to assume that the less sensitive aspects of SIGINT, such as Direction finding

Direction finding

Direction finding refers to the establishment of the direction from which a received signal was transmitted. This can refer to radio or other forms of wireless communication...

are part of that surveillance. Other sources include the Five Power Defence Arrangements

Five Power Defence Arrangements

The Five Power Defence Arrangements are a series of defence relationships established by a series of bilateral agreements between the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore signed in 1971, whereby the five states will consult each other in the event of external aggression...

(FPDA) of Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, which includes three members of the UKUSA alliance with strong national SIGINT organizations.

Spurred by terrorism concerns, the ASEAN states, in May 2002, agreed on an Action
Plan that provided for enhanced cooperation in intelligence sharing and coordination of anti-terror laws. In August 2002, ASEAN and the United States issued a “Joint Declaration . . . to Combat International Terrorism," which was followed by an ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting on terrorism, to be jointly sponsored by Malaysia in the US. The US proposed that a regional counterterrorism training center be established in Malaysia. Accompanying the Anti-Terrorism Center is an intelligence-sharing agreement among Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Thailand, a first meeting of which was held in Manila in January 2003. An obvious question, without a simple answer, is how much SIGINT capabilities these countries have.

Some of these countries are reluctant to get too close to the US, involving nationalist issues in the Philippines and Islamic parties in Malaysia and Indonesia. Singapore, among the regional nations, seems most comfortable in exchanging intelligence information with the US, especially receiving SIGINT in return for HUMINT

HUMINT

HUMINT, a syllabic abbreviation of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to intelligence gathering by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT...

. Singapore has established sharing between the US PACOM

United States Pacific Command

The United States Pacific Command is a Unified Combatant Command of the United States armed forces responsible for the Pacific Ocean area. It is led by the Commander, Pacific Command , who is the supreme military authority for the various branches of the Armed Forces of the United States serving...

Joint Intelligence Center and Singapore’s Joint Counterterrorism Center, and Singapore also is leading in accepting US goals for maritime security, with a Strategic Goods Control law in January 2003. That law made Singapore the first major port to meet US homeland security rules for cargo. Singapore wants more US X-ray equipment, and possibly MASINT sensors.

US relations to an ASEAN or other group may be more domestically acceptable, in countries suspicious of the US, than bilateral arrangements. There are obvious reasons for regional nations wanting US intelligence support, including SIGINT. Nevertheless, the eagerness of the US to help against Islamic groups strikes at local sensitivities.

Other coalitions

UN and other, often ad hoc international coalitions have no predefined SIGINT interoperability; establishing even basic communications interoperabilities is one of the first and most urgent tasks of any coalition.

Australia

Australia's main organization is in the Defence Signals Directorate

Defence Signals Directorate

. It operates collection stations for multilateral and national use. Australia has systems interoperable with UKUSA, and ECHELON.

Canada

Canada has the Communications Security Establishment

Communications Security Establishment

and several other groups, especially military tactical groups. Canada has systems interoperable with NATO nations, UKUSA, and ECHELON.

China

China's main SIGINT effort is in the Technical Department, or Third Department of the General Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, with additional capabilities, primarily domestic, in the Ministry of State Security (MSS). SIGINT stations, therefore, are scattered through the country, for domestic as well as international interception. Prof. Desmond Ball, of the Australian National University, described the largest stations as

the main Technical Department SIGINT net control station on the northwest outskirts of Beijing
large complex near Lake Kinghathu in the extreme northeast corner of China

Some Western analyses of the third Department claim it maintains a staff of more than 130,000, though this figure cannot be independently confirmed.

As opposed to other major powers, China focuses its SIGINT activities on its region rather than the world. Ball wrote, in the eighties, that China has several dozen SIGINT stations aimed at Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and India, as well as internal communications...."

Of the stations apparently targeting Russia, there are sites at Jilemutu and Jixi in the northeast, and at Erlian and Hami near the Mongolian border. Two Russian-facing sites in Xinjiang (Sinkiang), at Qitai and Korla may be operated jointly with resources from the US CIA's Office of SIGINT Opeations, probably focused on missile and space activity.

Other stations aimed at South and Southeast Asia are on a net controlled by Chengdu, the capital of Szechuan. There is a large facility at Dayi, and, according to Ball, "numerous" small posts along the Indian border.

Other significant facilities are located near Shenyang, near Jinan and in Nanjing and Shanghai. Additional stations are in the Fujian and Guangdong military districts opposite Taiwan.

On Hainan Island, near Vietnam, there is a naval SIGINT facility that monitors the South China sea, and a ground station targeting US and Russian satellites. China also has ship and aircraft platforms in this area, under the South Sea Fleet headquarters at Zhanjiang immediately north of the island. Targeting here seems to have an ELINT as well as COMINT flavor.

There are also truck-mounted mobile ground systems, as well as ship, aircraft, and limited satellite capability. There are at least 10 intelligence-gathering auxiliary vessels.

As of the late nineties, the Chinese did not appear to be trying to monitor the US Pacific Command to the same extent as does Russia. Whether they will attempt to do so depends, in part, on the status of Taiwan.

Cuba

While Cuba had traditionally been a Soviet client, it both has been developing indigenous capabilities, including equipment design and manufacture, as well as having Chinese-operated stations on its soil. Within the Cuban intelligence ministry, a Counter-Electronic Warfare Department was established in 1997, at the same level as the Technical Department and the Foreign Intelligence) Department. In 1992, a tactically oriented Counter-Electronic Warfare Department was created. The national intelligence organization also runs electronic warfare and SIGINT for the Air Force and Navy.

Russia and China, at various times, have operated or are operating intercept stations in Cuba, as well as Cuban-operated facilities. The largest and best-known, Lourdes SIGINT Station

Lourdes SIGINT Station

The Lourdes SIGINT facility, located near Havana, Cuba, was the largest facility of its kind operated by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service or FIS, outside of Russia. Located less than from Key West, the facility covered . Construction began in July 1962...

, was shut down by Russia in 2001, along with the Russian station at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Four ground stations (q.v.) are in Cuba, two of which are operated by China.

Denmark

Denmark is a NATO member and thus has access to a wide range of SIGINT equipment and techniques. A journal article (information from abstract on Ingentaconnect) from 2001 states that all four countries of Scandinavia, including NATO members Denmark and Norway, and neutral Sweden and Finland, cooperated in collecting SIGINT on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Norway and Denmark did not allow American personnel in their intercept centers, but did receive American financial and technical help. The author suggests Sweden, while neutral, cooperated with US and UK intelligence in the early stages, and possibly later, in the Cold War.

The Danish Sigint service, Forsvarets Central Radio, was also active at the same time, and fed the U.S. data from 8 stations located from Greenland to Bornholm. He states that US funds from the 1950 agreement were cut off, to Norway and Denmark, in 1992, and those two countries planned to do their own satellite interception. It should be noted that the Pusher HF/DF system used by Denmark is not designed for satellite but for terrestrial interception; it is not clear what, if any, effect that the reported US funds cutoff had on the Pusher system output.

The Danish periodical, Ekstra Bladet, on Sept. 18, 1999, published an article titled "WHERE THE SPIES ARE LISTENING—Take a walk with us through the most secretive secrets of the FE (the Intelligence Agency of the Danish Armed Forces). The authors describe a visit to an apparent SIGINT collection facility, called Sandagergård, at Aflandshage south of Copenhagen. Sandagergård is operated by the Danish intelligence agency. According to the article, Denmark has participated, since 1947, in ECHELON. Denmark participates in the global surveillance system known today as UKUSA, and known in the press as Echelon. The agreement was reached with Cdr. P.A. March, then second in command of FE, with the American Office of Strategic Services

Office of Strategic Services

The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...

(OSS), predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

(CIA). The CIA was formed by the National Security Act of 1947, and, by 1947, the OSS had been dissolved although there were interim agencies that might have negotiated an agreement.

The agreement was that the Americans were to supply the equipment free of charge. Denmark's payment was to allow a large American ear to listen in on everything that was intercepted by Denmark's FE agents. In 1950, the agreement was formalized by Commander Finn Haugsted and Minister of Defense Rasmus 'Jetfighter' Hansen. The article cites Cdr. March's memoirs as the source, and says he refers to the Danish SIGINT organization as 'the Social Democrat's Child' Under the agreement, the US was to supply the technical equipment, while Denmark would supply the land and staff.

In 1999, however, the Social Democratic Minister of Justice, Minister of Defense former Minister of Research (responsible for Denmark's telecommunications) denied knowledge of ECHELON.

When the journalists visited the Sandagergård facility, they saw a Pusher HF/DF system, which is a smaller version of the Wullenweber

Wullenweber

The Wullenweber is a type of Circularly Disposed Antenna Array sometimes referred to as a Circularly Disposed Dipole Array . It is a large circular antenna array used for radio direction finding...

intercept & direction-finding antenna, and two radomes. Discarded paper and packing materials identified shipments of products from IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation, Microsoft and Unisys. They also identified a SIGINT post at Skibsbylejren near Hjørring.

This report clearly shows that Denmark operates SIGINT equipment. It cannot be determined, from this information alone, if the operation is for Danish use only, in support of NATO, or indeed part of ECHELON. Denmark hosts the regional NATO command for the Baltic Approaches (BALTAP) from a base at Karup.

In September 1999, Minister for Defense Hans Hækkerup said Denmark cooperates with other countries on surveillance, but would not identify the countries or agencies. According to the authors, the US 650th MI Group is the sole point of contact to NATO. Denmark.

Finland

Finland, while neutral, was reported to be cooperating with the other Scandinavian countries in obtaining SIGINT on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

France

The French intelligence agency DGSE has responsibility for national-level SIGINT, including a ship and the currently inactive aircraft. There are multiple land-based sites.

A French Army publications mentions Emeraude as an apparently tactical SIGINT "listening module". Press reports suggest there is another system, nicknamed Frenchelon

Frenchelon

Frenchelon is the nickname given to French signal intelligence system in reference to its Anglo-American counterpart ECHELON.- History :Its existence has never been officially acknowledged by French authorities, although numerous journalists, based on military information have mentioned it, since...

in the press, run by DGSE and possibly providing economic intelligence to French industry.

Germany

After the end of the Cold War, Germany treated military-related SIGINT differently than other nations, making it a part of the defense-wide electronic warfare organization rather than an intelligence organization. The first unit was set up in Osnabruck in 1957. In 1959, German and Dutch SIGINT personnel met to establish a long-standing, especially close cooperation. Today Germany operates many different SIGINT platforms.

Greece

Greece's main SIGINT organization is Branch E of the national (civilian) intelligence service, Ethniki ypiresia pliroforion (EYP). Branch E reports to the Deputy Director General A, who reports to the Director General
.

The military has limited tactical capabilities, interoperable with NATO. A 12-day major exercise in Greece, Trial Spartan Hammer (TSH) ‘06, involved 2,000 personnel from 14 NATO countries and 15 NATO agencies, including the SIGINT & ESM working group (SEWG) under the NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Capability Group. It was the second NATO joint Signal Intelligence/Electronic Warfare (SIGINT/EW) demonstration. Canadian Forces involved included the Electronic Warfare Centre (CFEWC), HMCS Iroquois, 772 EW Squadron, the Joint Intelligence Fusion Capability and the Directorate of Space Development.

Ireland

An Irish magazine suggests that Ireland is abandoning some of its neutrality and becoming more allied with ECHELON. One motivation may be that "C3 (Garda Intelligence and Security) will get a few crumbs of information about Irish druggies in Amsterdam".

India

India is implementing AWACS and SIGINT using the Israeli Aircraft Industries Phalcon, which will be installed in Russian Ilyushin-76 aircraft, the same aircraft used for Russia's own A-50 AWACS.

India's main SIGINT directorate is under the Ministry of Defense.

Japan

In 1996, Japan created its first post-WWII major intelligence organization, the Defense Intelligence Headquarters

Defense Intelligence Headquarters

The is the official signals intelligence agency of the Japanese government, under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Defense. It is currently one of the biggest Japanese intelligence agencies with its creation and structure modeled after the American Defense Intelligence...

(DIH).

Its SIGINT Division is the largest in the organization, with a Ground Self Defense Force unit in Ichigawa, targeting North Korea. The Division also has two Wullenweber

Wullenweber

The Wullenweber is a type of Circularly Disposed Antenna Array sometimes referred to as a Circularly Disposed Dipole Array . It is a large circular antenna array used for radio direction finding...

intercept and direction finding, as well as offices in Kobunato (in Niigata Prefecture), Oi (in Saitama Prefecture), Tachiarai (in Fukushima Prefecture), and Kikaijima (in Kagoshima Prefecture).

Jordan

Beginning in the 1990s, and according to with a declaration of Jordan as a combat zone for U.S. personnel on Sep. 19, 2001, there has been increasing intelligence cooperation between the US and Jordan. Arkin states there are permanent US SIGINT ground stations now in Jordan.

New Zealand

The Government Communications Security Bureau

Government Communications Security Bureau

(GCSB) is responsible for signals intelligence was established in 1977, with responsibility for Communications and Technical Security as well as SIGINT. Computer security responsibilities were added later.

Predecessor organizations included the New Zealand Communications Security Committee (NZCSC), created after WWII, from the Prime Minister's Department, and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence. While New Zealand had SIGINT functions before WWII, in 1955, the function was organized into the New Zealand Combined Signals Organisation (NZCSO), under the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff.

The TECSEC function of the Government, which essentially involves the provision of protection from eavesdropping or "bugging", was undertaken by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Defence, prior to the formation of the GCSB. Those capabilities were however limited, and the role was passed to GCSB upon its formation.

During the mid 1970's (74-76) two separate reviews were conducted into the SIGINT and COMSEC activities of the New Zealand Government. One of the aims of the COMSEC study was to investigate the possibility of establishing vital operating standards and a capability to produce national cryptographic key material.

Formally established on 1 September 1977, the GCSB was located within the Ministry of Defence for reasons of cover. "The fact of" GCSB was disclosed, in 1980, to the Cabinet and Opposition Leader, but with SIGINT functions excluded. Only in 1984 was the SIGINT function of GCSB announced by the Prime Minister. In 1982, the HF radio interception and Direction finding

Direction finding

Direction finding refers to the establishment of the direction from which a received signal was transmitted. This can refer to radio or other forms of wireless communication...

station at Tangimoana was opened.

After a number of reviews in the late 1980s, GCSB was separated from the Defence Ministry, reporting directly to the Prime Minister in 1989. This act coincided with the creation of the satellite communications interception station at Waihopai, near Blenheim.

According to Nicky Hagar, New Zealand is part of ECHELON

ECHELON

via the UKUSA Agreement.

Norway

Norway, a NATO member, was reported to be cooperating with the other Scandinavian countries in obtaining SIGINT on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. According to Campbell, there were two bilateral agreements for a SIGINT alliance between Norway in the US, one in 1954 and the next in 1979. US funding, however, ceased in 1992, and Campbell said that the Norwegians planned to begin their own satellite interception.

Russia

Russia's approximate counterpart to NSA is FAPSI

FAPSI

FAPSI or Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information was a Russian government agency, which was responsible for signal intelligence and security of governmental communications...

, with additional capability in the GRU

GRU

GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...

Sixth Directorate.***

Russia with the FAPSI-GRU surveillance facility at the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen’s Ras Karma Military Airbase, near QaDub on Socotra Island which lies opposite the coast of Somalia at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean. This facility allows intercept of signals from Afghanistan and Diego Garcia. Tupolev Tu-142M-Z ‘Bear’ – the Beriev A-50 ‘Mainstay’ and the IL-38 ‘May’ surveillance planes operate from bases in Syria, South Yemen, and Cuba. Ports also support Russian SIGINT "trawlers", or, more correctly, small intelligence collection vessels.

Russia had operated large SIGINT stations in Cuba and Vietnam until 2001, but the chief of the General Staff, Anatoly Kvashnin, while the station in Lourdes, Cuba had been vital during the cold war "Now, the military-political situation has changed and there has been a qualitative leap in military equipment. With that money we can buy and launch 20 communication, intelligence and information satellites, and buy up to 100 sophisticated radars," Given US SIGINT satellite launches typically are quoted in the billion-dollar range, this seems an odd calculation.

Vietnam found the Cam Ranh Bay station useful for information on Chinese movements in the South China Sea. While Russia took some equipment back with them, it is not known how much capability the Vietnamese still have.

There have been a number of reports that the US helped, using SIGINT satellites, Russian fighters to target and shoot down the Chechen leader, Dzhokhar Dudayev in April 1996.

Spain

Spain operates both a SIGINT ship and a SIGINT aircraft in an apparently strategic function. Its submarines have SIGINT, at least for targeting.

The air component is a 707 variant, modified by Israel and equipped with Israeli and Spanish electronics. As well as an Elta EL/L-8300 SIGINT system, the aircraft has a Tamam Stabilised Long Range Observation System (SLOS) high-resolution TV camera and recording systems. The SLOS is reported to have a range of at least 62 miles (100 km). The aircraft has been reported around the western edge of North Africa, the Western Sahara and the Mediterranean.

Spain has been reported to have acquired an ex-East German AGI, which it may operate in cooperation with its SIGINT aircraft. The vessel concerned is the 1,900 ton renamed Alerta. In East German service, she had extensive antennas and a large radome. Based in Cartagena, the SIGINT work is reportedly by two Israeli companies and a Spanish firm. A different source says that the SIGINT equipment is Russian. A Saturn 35 satellite antenna has been, according to Spanish sources, added.

Its submarines have at least tactical SIGINT. Spanish boats have the domestically produced Indra BLQ-355, which may have been exported. With its participation in the EADS consortium, Spain obtains access to new technologies. Spain appears to be developing a coordinated SIGINT approach using submarine, ship, and aircraft platforms.

Sweden

In 1942, Swedish SIGINT successes were such that it was split out from the General Staff's intelligence branch and made autonomous. At the end of WWII, it was suggested that of European nations, Sweden's SIGINT was second only to Great Britain's.

Sweden's Defence Radio Institute, while neutral, was reported to be cooperating with the other Scandinavian countries in obtaining SIGINT on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Switzerland

A number of reports suggest Switzerland both has its own SIGINT but may cooperate with ECHELON. In the spring of 2000, Swisscom announced that it was selling its satellite earth stations, in Leuk, Geneva, Basel and Zurich, to a US firm, Verestar. Swisscom announced in spring 2000 that it would withdraw from the satellite industry to "concentrate on its core activities....The Swiss military sees the purchase of the satellite stations by the US as a potential threat to national security, arguing that the infrastructure could be used for spying." Verestar is a major European provider of Internet Exchange Point

Internet Exchange Point

An Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers exchange Internet traffic between their networks . IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic which must be delivered via their upstream transit providers, thereby reducing the average per-bit...

s.

The article suggested Switzerland has independent capability. "Switzerland has been conducting its own satellite project since 1993, dubbed Satos 3. Initiated by security chief Peter Regli, it is similar to the Echelon project, but on a much smaller scale. Regli's successor, Dino Belasi, continues to develop the project with the objective of developing a network capable of dealing with "threats from technology, terrorism and nuclear weapons".

United Kingdom

The major SIGINT organization of Great Britain is the Government Communications Headquarters

Government Communications Headquarters

The Government Communications Headquarters is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces...

(GCHQ). The various military components have tactical SIGINT elements. MI-5

MI5

The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...

, the counterespionage organization, also has specialized SIGINT capability for detecting receivers as well as illegal transmitters.

Britain is trying to find a balance between the very real "special relationship" with the US and the UKUSA partners, and still having a significant European role. Transnational terrorism, as well as multinational organized crime, have led to increased sharing among domestic security organizations. In the case of Britain, this is the Security Service MI5

MI5

with France's DST, Germany's BFV and the other domestic agencies in the so-called Club of Berne.

Britain and France

Cooperation with France, by any other government, because the multiple intelligence agencies do not coordinate well with each other. There is no equivalent of the British Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) or US Intelligence Board (USIB). While priorities do come from a national Comité Interministériel du Renseignement, there is no central information and analysis coordination. The particular structure of the French government hurts centralization, because the President and Prime Minister both would want control.

Nevertheless, British and French intelligence, perhaps more on the foreign side, sometimes work closely, as an extension of the relationship formed when the British Special Operations Executive

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...

(SOE) helped the French Resistance

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

. The relationship was strengthened when the French President, Mitterrand, ordered the French intelligence services to assist Britain in the Falklands conflict. France helped track an Argentine ship that was thought to be attempting to obtain additional French-made Exocet missiles.

The most important ELINT and radar MASINT

Radar MASINT

Radar MASINT is one of the subdisciplines of Measurement and Signature Intelligence and refers to intelligence gathering activities that bring together disparate elements that do not fit within the definitions of Signals Intelligence , Imagery Intelligence , or Human Intelligence...

cooperation between Britain and France was detailed radar information on the French Exocet anti-shipping missile, which had already sunk HMS Sheffield and threatened other ships. While the Argentines had only five Exocets, each could kill a ship, and they were trying to get more. Mitterrand's analyst disclosed several comments from Mitterrand during the Falklands war, specifically dealing with the British request for detailed information on the Exocet, so electronic countermeasures

Electronic countermeasures

An electronic countermeasure is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar or other detection systems, like infrared or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy...

(ECM) could be planned to misdirect it. Mitterrand, according to his analyst, said, "I had a difference of opinion to settle with the Iron Lady. What an impossible woman, that Thatcher! “With her four nuclear submarines on mission in the southern Atlantic, she threatens to launch the atomic weapon against Argentina — unless I supply her with the secret codes that render deaf and blind the missiles we have sold to the Argentineans. Margaret has given me very precise instructions on the telephone."

Thatcher had already been surprised by an offer of French assistance. Again according to the analyst, Jacques Attali, his former aide, said that Mitterrand called her on the day after the Argentine invasion and told her: "I am with you."

Mitterrand told his analyst "She is furious. She blames me personally for this new Trafalgar . . . I have been forced to yield. She has them now, the [Exocet radar] codes. If our customers find out that the French wreck the weapons they sell, it’s not going to reflect well on our exports."

While the highest levels of government may cooperate, and there is a good working relationship with the French domestic service, DST

Direction de la surveillance du territoire

The Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security of France against foreign threats and interference...

, there is less mutual aid between GCHQ and the French SIGINT organization in the DGSE. Part of this is that French and British targeting is different, with France focused on the Francophone countries of the world. The French also are suspicious of the British ties to NSA. During the Falklands war and in counterterrorism, there has been effective SIGINT cooperation.

It is not known if Britain will receive information from the French experimental Essaim

Essaim (satellites)

Essaim is a French military reconnaissance microsatellite constellation. Its main purpose is to collect and map signals intelligence across the world. The DGA describes it as a "vacuum cleaner for [radio] waves".- Description :...

Britain and Germany

There is HUMINT cooperation between German and British intelligence services.

United States

The National Security Agency

National Security Agency

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...

(NSA) is the major SIGINT organization of the US, with other SIGINT activities in other parts of the intelligence community. There is SIGINT capability in several other agencies, often concerned with just one aspect, such as collection or tactical use. US military forces all have tactical SIGINT and COMSEC (Communications Security) units. The director of NSA wears a "second hat" as the director of the Central Security Service, which coordinates the military operations, which may both make use of national resources (i.e., TENCAP, or Tactical Exploitation of National Intelligence Capabilities) or provide data to the strategic analysts elsewhere in the intelligence community. There is a limited cryptanalytic capability, principally aimed at domestic criminals, in the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

(FBI). CIA has some joint activities with NSA, which may include the covert or clandestine placement of SIGINT sensors.

US doctrine includes a flexible interface between the strategic and tactical, in military operations. Under the TENCAP program, warfighters can benefit from systems intended for the national intelligence level. Under the complementary Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities (TIARA) programs, tactical units acquiring information of interest to the national level can feed it up the chain to the appropriate organizations.

The interaction of the US intelligence community, especially COMINT, for domestic law enforcement and counterterrorism is extremely complex, balancing civil liberties versus security needs. There is no consensus on this balance and the matter is very controversial.

The SIGINT industry

A variety of firms build SIGINT equipment, and the various government agencies typically have strong in-house prototyping. In the US, the major manufacturers are easy enough to find at trade shows such as that of the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association (AFCEA), but details are often scanty until there is a meeting at which classified information can be exchanged. Several firms, however, do have a much higher profile.

One challenge, especially in the US where there are many mergers and acquisitions, and in Europe where a consortium model is more common, is keeping track of the names of manufacturers. As one example, the SIGINT business of Watkins-Johnson, a SIGINT electronics vendor with a long history, was acquired in 1995 by Condor Systems. Watkins-Johnson refocused to make its core business the manufacture of components. Condor Systems, in turn, was acquired by EDO Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems Inc.(EDO RSS). An actual piece of equipment, however, might still have a Watkins-Johnson label.

Boeing

A very large aerospace industry and defense industry vendor, Boeing makes many systems, including the 707

707

Year 707 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 707 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* Empress Gemmei succeeds to the Japanese...

platform on which the US E-3

E-3 Sentry

The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system developed by Boeing as the prime contractor. Derived from the Boeing 707, it provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, and is used by the United States Air Force , NATO, Royal Air Force , French Air Force...

AWACS is built, and the 767

767

Year 767 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 767 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.-Africa:* The Kharijite Berbers of Tlemcen and Tiaret...

platform for Japan's AWACS. It is building the P-8 replacement for the P-3

P-3 Orion

The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable by its distinctive tail stinger or...

maritime patrol aircraft, and has proposed a SIGINT variant. See discussion of this aircraft under SIGINT

EADS Consortium

European Aeronautic Defence and Space CompanyEADS N.V. (EADS) is a large European aerospace corporation, formed by the merger on 10 July 2000 of Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) of Spain, and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of Germany. The combined organizations, especially the French and German components, have extensive military electronics experience.

Elbit Systems

This Israeli firm, with worldwide strategic partners, owns all of the former Israeli military electronics manufacturer, Tadiran

Tadiran

Tadiran refers to a former Israeli conglomerate, which was founded in 1962 by the merger of two companies, Tadir and Ran...

. It has US manufacturing operations, which sometimes create US export control restrictions. Elbit is teamed with Thales Group

Thales Group

The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...

to produce the UK's standard UAV

Unmanned aerial vehicle

An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...

General Dynamics

A diversified US military contractor, it divested itself of aviation lines of business and now concentrates on land and naval systems. General Dynamics C4 Systems, in Scottsdale, AZ, makes SIGINT products including the Army's Prophet ground SIGINT system.

GTE

GTE Government Systems is now part of General Dynamics

General Dynamics

General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...

. GTE merged its communications operations with Verizon

HARVESTER

A British firm that makes the "HARVESTER family of SIGINT database applications provide unique and cost-effective solutions to a wide range of collection requirements" has a website that can serve as a basic tutorial on the technical aspects of what SIGINT systems collect.

Israel Aerospace Industries

Israel Aircraft Industries

Israel Aerospace Industries or IAI is Israel's prime aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 16,000 employees as of 2007...

(IAI), which recently changed its name, is the largest defense contractor in Israel. It sells worldwide, although the United States has, on occasion, blocked a sale, which included US technology, to a nation the US considered unfriendly.

Within the context of SIGINT and related ISTAR

ISTAR

ISTAR stands for Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing the information they gather.Information is collected on...

product is the airborne Phalcon system, often described as an AWACS radar and battle management system, but having significant ELINT capabilities. Based on an Active Electronically Scanned Array

Active Electronically Scanned Array

An Active Electronically Scanned Array , also known as active phased array radar is a type of phased array radar whose transmitter and receiver functions are composed of numerous small solid-state transmit/receive modules . AESAs aim their "beam" by broadcasting radio energy that interfere...

(AESA) radar and antenna, the Phalcon fuses data from the radar, but also IFF

Identification friend or foe

In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...

, COMINT and ELINT sensors. When the supplemental sensors detect an item of interest, the system control computer begins an active search for more information from other on-board and ground-based sensors.

First exhibited in 1993, full Phalcon, other than one on an Israeli 707, has been sold to Chile and India (Ilyushin Il-76

Ilyushin Il-76

The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose four-engined strategic airlifter designed by Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967. Intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-12, the Il-76 was designed for delivering heavy machinery to remote, poorly-serviced areas...

platform), although a sale to the PRC was blocked by the US. A subset was sold to South Africa, and a miniaturized version will be installed in Israeli Gulfstream G550 SIGINT aircraft. This will include S- and L-band radars, as well as passive sensors.

Narus

Another firm is Narus, which started as a security vendor for very large telecommunications and Internet service providers, has a product called the "NarusInsight Intercept Suite (NIS) enables capture of packet-level, flow-level, and application-level usage information along with complete session packets for forensic analysis, surveillance, or for satisfying regulatory compliance."

Narus' CEO was interviewed about the general subject of cyberwarfare, perhaps an even broader problem than SIGINT. Oslan, when asked to describe cyberwarfare, said "This is my opinion only, but I think that what would constitute an act of war over the Internet would be something that maliciously, directly cripples a country’s ability to function. If somebody brought down our electrical infrastructure and crippled our economy, I think that would be an act of war. How we could treat that, government to government, is a policy question. You are not using guns and bullets anymore. What is the appropriate response as your armies move from physical entities to virtual entities?" If one continued the military metaphor here, the armies, whether physical or virtual, need intelligence.

Large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) increasingly believe that "deep packet inspection

Deep packet inspection

Deep Packet Inspection is a form of computer network packet filtering that examines the data part of a packet as it passes an inspection point, searching for protocol non-compliance, viruses, spam, intrusions or predefined criteria to decide if the packet can...

" is required to protect their internal infrastructure, as well as their customers, from malicious hacking and computer crime. The same type of tools with legitimate ISP security applications also have COMINT interception and analysis capability. See "2000s" for a discussion of the surveillance capabilities of such software.

Northrop Grumman

A major US defense industry player, they make a variety of sensors, as well as the Global Hawk UAV

Unmanned aerial vehicle

, which uses Raytheon

Raytheon

Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...

SIGINT electronics. The EuroHawk variant of this UAV has SIGINT electronics from EADS.

Raytheon

A major US defense contractor, Raytheon's own materials identify it as the SIGINT contractor for the Global Hawk Unmanned aerial vehicle

Unmanned aerial vehicle

(UAV). See further discussion of this product under Aircraft Platforms.

Swedish-South African-EADS

A consortium of Swedish CelsiusTech (formerly Saab Technologies) and Grintek Ewation, the latter a South African partnership with the European EADS consortium. Through their common international trademark Monitoring, Reconnaissance, Counter Measures (MRCM) they field a full range of SIGINT technologies.

Thales

Thales Group

The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...

is a French electronics company involved in, among others, defense and security markets. It was earlier called Thomson-CSF

Thomson-CSF

Thomson-CSF was a major electronics and defence contractor. In December 2000 it was renamed Thales Group.-History:In 1879 Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston formed the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in the United States....

, but changed its name after acquiring Racal

Racal

Racal Electronics plc was once the third-largest British electronics firm. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including: as voice and data recorders; point of sale terminals; laboratory instruments;...

. Its ownership is split among the Government of France, Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent

Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...

, and Dassault Group

Dassault Group

Dassault Group, is a French group of companies led by Serge Dassault.Managing directors are Claude Dassault and Olivier Costa De Beauregard.- Subsidiaries :*Dassault Aviation;...

.

Its joint venture to build the British Watchkeeper WK450 UAV, UAV Tactical Systems, is 51% majority owned by Israeli company Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems Ltd. is one of the world's largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. Established in 1967, and based in Haifa, Israel, Elbit employs 11,000 people worldwide....

and Thales UK. US participation in Elbit imposes some US export controls.

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