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(U//FOUO) Experiences of a SIGINT'er in Baghdad
FROM:
Unknown
Run Date: 02/08/2005
Working as the Data Acquisition (S3) lead in Baghdad (U//FOUO)
(U//FOUO) I've never been overly prone to writing about my experiences, but following Donna
Rober's Jan 7 SID today article I allowed myself to be "persuaded" to submit an article for SID
today . You see, Donna took over my job in Baghdad as Data Acquisition (DA) lead at the end of
my four month rotation and within a month had gladly shared her experience with the larger
NSA workforce, whereas I had not.
(TS//SI) Let me begin by saying that this was one of the most interesting and rewarding jobs I
have had as an NSA'er. The "reward" part was sometimes hard to see on a day-to-day basis, but
in retrospect it was certainly there. Most of the DA projects I was involved with had a two to
twenty-four month timeline. Thus it was hard to do much more than push each project a little
further down the road. The things that you get to see through to completion, you probably had
little input on at the start, and the things that you initiate, you don't get to see through to
completion. The CSG and CST* personnel in Iraq have the advantage of going home at the end
of each shift knowing that they made a difference in that day's fight. The DA teams from OTRAS
or other organizations can leave at the end of their deployments knowing that they found signals
and fielded equipment that is making a difference. The reward from the DA lead position takes
looking at it from the longer prospective.
(TS//SI) Looking at my experience in retrospect, I am very gratified to have been a part of what
NSA is doing in Iraq. Anyone who ever thinks of NSA as "risk averse" should get involved in
what DA is pursuing in Iraq. Organizations from across DA to include CTG , LA , SSO , and TAO
are involved in a large number of access projects that push the envelope in different ways.
Being the DA lead in Baghdad provided the opportunity to be at the forefront of what is
essentially an all-out effort to penetrate Iraqi networks using everything in the tool box of the
most sophisticated SIGINT agency in the world. Working daily with personnel from across NSA
to bring our technology to bear at the optimum access points not only provided an excellent
education in cutting-edge tools and techniques but also an education in the power of "enabling"
in a no-holds barred fashion. It was an opportunity to see NSA people and organizations being
very forward-leaning and aggressive.
(TS//SI) Being the "field rep" for a number of projects entailed deciding daily which priorities
were most important and had to be on that day's to-do list and which could wait another day. It
meant juggling not only priorities but also juggling operational avenues and approaches to
determine the best path for arranging access. This meant continually evaluating relative risks
(physical, counter-intelligence, and discovery risks) and gains of each approach. The great thing
was that the Iraqi Issue Management Team (IMT) and supporting DA offices seldom secondguessed me -- they understood that risk management is best accomplished in the field and
worked with the field to get the job done.
(TS//SI) The position also entailed working daily with a wide spectrum of personnel including:
Iraqi government personnel engaged in telecommunications and IT issues for Iraq; small and
medium sized Iraqi communications contractors; the CEO's and Chief Technical Officers of the
major Iraqi telecommunications service providers; Iraqi cabinet level officials; State Department
personnel at all levels; US military communications personnel from a 2-striper to a 2-star; and
CIA personnel in the field.
(TS//SI) Every day in Baghdad, I started the day looking forward to what I had to do. By the
end of the day (12-15 hours later), the to-do list for the next day would likely be even longer
with a number of things still left from the previous day but that was okay. Every day was
different and brought fresh challenges, and fresh opportunities to consider different ways to
pursue the target. This is not to say that everything was rosy, for there were certainly many
setbacks along the way. Some projects seemed to move backwards faster than they moved
ahead and some roadblocks did ultimately prove to be insurmountable. However, every day did
provide the opportunity to see the SIGINT system being as aggressive as we have ever likely
dared to be in pursuing the target. Would I do it again? You bet!
* (U) Notes:
CSG = Cryptologic Services Group
CST = Cryptologic Support Team
"(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