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(U) InSIDer's View of History: The Adventure Continues -- Evacuation
from Belgrade
FROM:
Chief European/Central Asia Division, Field Operations Office (F611)
Run Date: 08/12/2004
FROM:
Chief European/Central Asia Division, Field Operations Office
(F611)
(S//SI//REL) Note from SIGINT Communications: Last week we ran
one of
adventures from when he worked in the
field for the Special Collection Service (SCS). This is the other:
(TS//SI) After two exciting and educational years in Moscow we
moved on to a much quieter and more civilized assignment in
Milan, Italy. The living was good and the work, though rewarding,
never presented the challenges we faced in Moscow. Our next
assignment, Belgrade, would turn out to be more like Moscow than
Milan.
(U) Belgrade at this time was an exciting and interesting place.
Local politics were in a state of turmoil and the local population
became more and more dissatisfied with the national government
as time progressed. Anti-government demonstrators were
marching through the city every day. As long as the marchers
didn't venture into certain areas of the city, there was minimal
police interference.
(TS//SI) The main mission of the SCS site was to monitor events in
Bosnia, particularly the Serbian conclave there. We had excellent
access and were producing numerous transcripts locally as well as
forwarding a huge volume of intercept to the Balkans Division at
NSAW. As the situation worsened in the Kosovo Region of Serbia
the site's focus shifted, especially when accusations of atrocities
were made against Serbian forces in the region. The site also had
good access into this region and continued to provide timesensitive reporting to U.S. officials at the embassy.
(TS//SI) The U.S. government entered into negotiations with
Slobodan Milosevic to try to find a solution to the Kosovo situation.
Richard Holbrooke was the primary U.S. negotiator and was an
avid reader of the site's material. Following months of promises
made and promises broken, Mr. Holbrooke presented a final
proposal to Slobodan Milosevic that, if rejected, would lead to
international intervention. Milosevic deferred acceptance of the
proposal to the national parliament knowing that they would reject
it. By this time, all but essential embassy personnel had been
evacuated. There were about ten American officers, including two
SCS members, left at the embassy as well as the Marine Security
Guard Detachment. The site had been working 18-20 hour days for
more than a week at this point.
(TS//SI) After presenting the proposal, Mr. Holbrooke returned to
the embassy to watch the parliamentary debate on Serbian
television. Most of what was left of the Embassy staff watched
along with him as the proposal was soundly rejected. Mr. Holbrook
SERIES:
(U) InSIDer's View of
History '04
1. InSIDer's View of
History ... A Lesson
in Personal
Accountability
2. InSIDer's View of
History : How a Four
Star General Once
Waited for a Lowly
Captain to Finish
Eating Lunch
3. InSIDer's View of
History : In SHAPE,
In France
4. InSIDer's View of
History : 'Soviet
Rocket' Strikes
Chicksands
5. InSIDer's View of
History: Onboard Air
Force Two Bound for
Moscow
6. InSIDer's View of
History : Testifying
Before Congress...
Who Turned Out the
Lights?
7. InSIDer's View of
History : Resourceful
NCOs at Goodfellow
8. InSIDer's View of
History : Desert One
- The Iranian
Hostage Rescue
Mission
9. InSIDer's View of
History : SIGINT
Appearing in the
Press
10. InSIDer's View of
History : Meeting
President Reagan
11. InSIDer's View of
History : 'Local
Support' as Stress
Management
quickly left for the airport where a plane was waiting to return him
to Washington. We waited for word from the State Department to
begin our final destruction and evacuate the Embassy. It didn't
take long for that word to come. Two of us destroyed the site's
equipment, about $6 million worth, in a little over six hours. Other
embassy officers were doing the same thing in their offices.
(U//FOUO) After a long night we met in the embassy garage at 5
A.M. A convoy of armored vehicles took us to the airport to board
a U.S. Navy C-9 that was waiting to evacuate us to Budapest. The
Marines with us were fully armed. Nobody was sure what to expect
from the local government, but we made it to the airport with no
hindrances and safely left the country. Our drivers, locals known as
Foreign Service Nationals (FSN), were not so lucky: when they left
the airport they were chased all of the way back to the embassy.
12. In SID er's View of
History : Quite a
Welcome!
13. In SID er's View of
History : The
Adventure Continues
-- Evacuation from
Belgrade
(TS//SI) The U.S. started bombing the country later that same
day. Many of the embassy FSNs left their country, going first to
Hungary and then as refugees to the U.S. Some of them stayed in
the U.S., but others returned to Belgrade following the fall of the
Milosevic government.
(U) My wife and I, after a week in Budapest, evacuated to the U.S.
where we spent three months before going on to our next
assignment. All of the personal effects that we had with us in
Belgrade were lost, though we did get a handful of things back
after the embassy reopened two years later.
(TS//SI) Most everybody who has spent time with SCS in the field
has similar stories. We are at the very forward tip of the SIGINT
enterprise to support national policymakers in whatever way we
can. We work wherever necessary, be it Baghdad or Paris,
sometimes leaving our families behind, sometimes having them
with us. The work isn't always exciting and the living conditions
vary tremendously, but we all have the satisfaction of seeing first
hand how the product of our efforts is put to use. We know many
of our customers personally and always try to give them our best.
(U//FOUO) See other editions of InSIDer's View of History :
A Lesson in Personal Accountability
How a Four Star General Once Waited for a Lowly Captain to
Finish Eating Lunch
In SHAPE, In France
"Soviet Rocket" Strikes Chicksands
Onboard Air Force 2 Bound for Moscow
Testifying Before Congress... Who Turned Out the Lights?
Resourceful NCOs at Goodfellow
Desert One - The Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission
SIGINT Appearing in the Press
Meeting President Reagan
"Local Support" as Stress Management
Quite a Welcome!
(U//FOUO) Do YOU have a story to tell? We want to hear it! Please
see the kickoff article for details.
"(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