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(U//FOUO) What's Happening in the Iraq Terrorism Development
Center?
FROM:
Ops Chief, Iraq Terrorism Development Center
Run Date: 03/25/2004
FROM:
Ops Chief, Iraq Terrorism Development Center
(S//SI) Since standing up in September 2003 , the Iraq Terrorism Development Center has
continued to perform its metadata and geo-spatial discovery efforts searching for potential
threats against U.S. and Coalition forces in Iraq, and it has matured its analytic techniques and
processes. The coordination process between the ITDC; the MENA, CT, and GEO product lines;
the Army TCAE; the Meade Operations Center; and the Extended Enteprise is working smoothly
with analysts from across those organizations talking on a daily, if not hourly, basis. As a result,
we've scored some successes.
(S//SI) One example of the ITDC's success was its real-time support to the 82nd Airborne. On
25 February 2004, HUMINT indicated that a known insurgent leader was planning a mortar
attack against Camp Saint Michael, an 82nd Airborne forward operating base (FOB) located at Al
Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Acting on this HUMINT tip, analysts in the ITDC almost immediately
identified two telephones that had been active in that area, one of which had already been
identified as associated with the insurgent leader. The times and locations of the phones' activity
were passed to the 82nd Airborne for threat warning. A mortar attack did occur that evening,
with no casualties or damage to the base.
(S//SI) Over the next few days, ITDC analysts continued to watch the area, identifying another
telephone of interest, and reporting on the locations of the three devices. On 3 March, 82nd
Airborne and FOB Saint Michael assets conducted a raid on the areas identified in and around the
ITDC reporting. The operation was successful: they confiscated stockpiles of weapons including
mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and other small arms and apprehended at least 18
individuals. Through collaboration with the Army Technical Control and Analysis Element
(ATCAE), the ITDC was able to quickly provide threat warning information to the customer and
obtained, in some cases, real-time information when attacks on the base occurred, allowing
analysts to focus their discovery efforts on those times.
(S//SI) Many new targets are being passed from the development stage to the OPI's* for
sustained collection and enhanced support to forces in Iraq. In addition, the ITDC now issues
Informal Technical Notes (ITN's) documenting its analytic discoveries. Because these documents
contain SIGINT sources and methods, their dissemination is limited to members of the SIGINT
production chain; however, when the discovery analysis merits formal e-gram reporting, the ITN
is redrafted and issued by the appropriate OPI through the traditional reporting process to a
broader audience.
(S//SI) The ITDC has established a webpage (at "go itdc") where information can be found about
the ITDC and its mission. The titles of products issued as a result of ITDC analysis are listed
there. Unfortunately, classification issues prevent the entire text of the ITN's and resulting
product reports from being posted; however, a password-protected link is being set up where
these documents will be posted in future.
(S//SI) Of note, the ITDC has suspended its 24-hour presence. This concentrates the expertise
of the ITDC analysts to its core hours, and relies on the expertise of the already existing
watches (most notably, the GEO Watch and the CTWO**) to handle crises and requests for near
real-time support. This has worked out well, with cooperative efforts with GEO Watch being
especially successful.
*OPI = Office of Primary Interest
**CTWO = Counterterrorism Watch Office
"(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