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(S//REL) Dispatch from CSG Baghdad
FROM: an IA Intern Currently in Baghdad
Run Date: 01/12/2004
(U//FOUO) Note from SIGINT Communications: We close out our
"IA Interns Abroad" series with this report from an analyst on the
ground in Baghdad:
(S//REL) When Operation Iraqi freedom began last March, I was
midway through my second tour as an Intelligence Analysis intern.
Having recently completed an Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction
tour, and working on a dynamic SIGINT assessment project for
CENTCOM in my new office, I found myself unsatisfied with the
prospect of watching this war on CNN. On March 20, the day after
the first bombs fell in Iraq, I volunteered for a NIST deployment.
(S//REL) With other mission obligations to fulfill, I wasn't able to
deploy until October 2003. By that point, I hoped there would still
be some value in going. "The war's over," people would say. "Why
would they send you to Iraq now ?" Within a few days of my
deployment, it was clear that perhaps the hardest part of this war
was still being fought by tens of thousands of military personnel. I
would be serving as one of only six analysts tasked with providing
SIGINT support to capture/kill operations and force-protection
actions executed by four large military divisions in the Iraqi
theater.
(S//REL) CSG Baghdad works hand-in-hand with the intelligence
components of Combined Joint Task Force 7 (CJTF-7), providing
everything from regular reports on SIGINT activity in suspicious
areas to real-time tracking of targeted handsets during operations.
Our team of fewer than fifteen people serves as "NSA forward,"
working with CENTCOM and the CJTF-7 Intelligence Fusion Center
to support and protect almost 100,000 troops, controlling twothirds of Iraq.
(S//REL) Unlike the sometimes black and white nature of active
combat, the current situation in Iraq is frequently gray. While local
Iraqi contractors cheerfully pour concrete in our parking lot, we
don't really know if any of them are working with the terrorists
lobbing mortars at our outer walls. A routine afternoon of guard
duty for a friend of mine suddenly turned when he was narrowly
missed by a sniper - while on our base. A colleague and I had lunch
at the Al Rashid hotel downtown a few short days before several
rockets hit the building. After my first of many nights walking
home from work in my flack vest and Kevlar helmet, I thought,
this isn't what I had in mind when Iraq was so quiet this summer.
(S//REL) But if things have to get worse before they get better,
they're certainly looking up now. I am now three months into a
four-month tour. During these three months, my team has
provided direct, actionable SIGINT support to dozens of operations
that have resulted in the capture or elimination of countless
terrorists. One month ago, we were among the first to know that
Saddam Hussein had been captured.
SERIES:
(U//FOUO) IA Interns
Abroad
1. Coming Soon: IA
Interns Abroad
2. 3 1/2 Months in
Qatar: Supporting
CENTCOM
3. 3 1/2 Months in
Qatar: Outside of
Work
4. Deployed to
Afghanistan
5. Camp Virginia to
Camp Victory: In
Kuwait
6. Camp Virginia to
Camp Victory: Into
Baghdad
7. NISTing in Kabul and
Baghdad - Part One
8. NISTing in Kabul and
Baghdad - Part Two
9. Working at Prince
Sultan Air Base, SA
10. Deployment
Sketches - Part 1
11. Deployment
Sketches - Part 2
12. Dispatch from CSG
Baghdad
(S//REL) As a civilian analyst, I never thought I'd have the
opportunity to serve in a military operation. After my time in Iraq,
I have a new perspective on the men and women who protect our
nation's security on the front lines, while we support them from the
rear. Having lived with the troops for three months, in the same
dusty tents, eating the same unremarkable chow, I have begun to
consider them family. Someday I'll show my grandchildren pictures
of us opening our Christmas care packages, members of four
services and several civilian agencies all wearing the same uniform.
I'll tell the stories of being on watch when Ambassador Bremer
announced, "We got him." Of counting down to 2004 in Saddam's
palace, still carrying our rifles and pistols while defiantly enjoying
our New Year's Eve party. Walking to my office through the
inescapable mud and home through "celebratory" fire.
(S//REL) Mostly, I'll tell them how I traveled thousands of miles to
see for myself that the work we do really does make a difference to
the boots on the ground. Having worked now through three agency
elements in Phases I-IV of OIF - at the Fort and in the field - I am
firmly convinced that neither side can work effectively without the
other. I now see my work as both a privilege and an awesome
responsibility. When I return home, I surely won't miss the
grueling shifts, the dirt, the food, or the occasional fear. But I'll
leave knowing that this country is well on its way to recovery. And
we have helped.
(U//FOUO) SIGINT Communications would like to thank all of the
interns who contributed articles to this series. Many readers have
commented on the value of these first-hand insights from those
supporting military operations in the field... thank you!
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid comms)."
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