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(S//SI) SID's 'Hot Pursuit' Targets North Korea
FROM:
Asia Target Analysis
Run Date: 08/13/2003
(S//SI) The Cryptanalysis and Exploitation Group and its predecessors have a long history of
analytic effort against the North Korean target, both from a cryptanalytic and a signals analytic
perspective. Though there have been notable successes, often the story has been one of much
hard work and frustratingly little payoff: either the communications of highest interest have
been difficult to access or, if they were accessible, they have been protected by intractable
encryption. From the NSA position as "interloper", the North Korean method of operation with
regard to its communications has been successful due not as much to sophisticated technology
as to its stringent implementation of tried and true techniques carried out with almost unrivaled
operations security.
(S//SI) Since February of this year, the Office of Target Pursuit has redoubled its effort to focus
not only its own resources against North Korea but also to join together with other stakeholders
of the target within SID. This renewed effort has taken the form of a so-called "Hot Pursuit",
employing the idea implemented for the Iraq conflict as a model and embodied by a group
representing a wide range of disciplines, including cryptanalysis, signals analysis, collection,
target reconnaissance and survey, special access, network exploitation, SIGDEV, and
reporting/intelligence analysis. The group has been meeting regularly to cooperate in the
building of plans for prosecuting the North Korean target in the most productive manner. Though
Target Pursuit is spearheading this effort with the goal of maximizing the use of its own
resources, it and other offices with a North Korean focus are correlating their work and the
ensuing results.
(S//SI) The Hot Pursuit group began its work in a "data gathering" mode. This included the
development of a signals environment baseline. An evaluation of the baseline and the priorities
and requirements associated with those signals led to the selection of a short list of signals or
topics considered to be of highest importance, i.e., those which, if exploited, would produce the
largest intelligence gains against the target. Though the group has considered the target as a
whole, its emphasis has been on military communications. Subsequently, target experts
composed strategy papers outlining SID's status against the given subject and associated gaps
and goals for filling the gaps. The group established a website as a repository for this and
related information, at the TS//SI level.
(S//SI) The group made a transition from data gathering mode to completing the strategies and
implementing them during an all-day meeting on 26 June and a follow-up meeting on 1 July.
During these meetings, a subset of the community Hot Pursuit group reviewed and discussed
the chosen topics, adding more detail to the strategies and assigning actions for bridging the
identified gaps. OpSIGINT has been involved in the process from the start and is helping to
complete the action items resulting from the strategy session.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108