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New CT Intelligence Exchange With Asia-Pacific Partners

SUMMARY

The NSA has begun signals intelligence-sharing partnerships with seven other countries' intelligence agencies about 12 specific terrorist groups active in the Asia-Pacific region.

DOCUMENT’S DATE

Mar 30, 2005

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

Feb 05, 2018

TAGS

East Asia

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Page 1 from New CT Intelligence Exchange With Asia-Pacific Partners
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL (S) New CT Intelligence Exchange With Asia-Pacific Partners FROM: Charlie Meals Signals Intelligence Deputy Director Run Date: 03/30/2005 U.S. and seven other nations now sharing regional counterterrorism reporting (S//SI) (S//SI) In 2004, the Director proposed that NSA take the lead in establishing a collaborative effort to fight terrorism in the Asia-Pacific region. The pieces started falling into place in January 2005, when Australia, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and the UK announced their willingness to share intelligence on terrorist targets in the Asia-Pacific region. (S) The inaugural meeting of this group, named SIGINT Seniors Pacific (SSPac), will not take place until mid-April. However, as the Director stated when he addressed the group: "In these dangerous times, I don't believe we can afford to move slowly." In response to that urgency, the intelligence exchange began on 21 March with the U.S. forwarding sanitized reports to the seven other SSPac members. (S) While the bulk of the U.S.'s relevant reporting will likely come from the Counterterrorism (CT) Product Lines here at NSA and at KRSOC, the global nature of the target and its association with other targets of interest suggest that there will be occasions when relevant reports are generated from other product lines, such as: S2A - Regional Targets; S2B - China/Korea; S2C International Security Issues; and S2E - MENA. (S) The CT shop (S2I) has developed guidelines and provided instructions to the Partnership Dissemination Cell (PDC) on how to select from its products for release to the SSPac members. CT has named 12 terrorist groups as candidates for inclusion in this exchange and spelled out the restrictions designed to meet both the classification limit (CAT 2) and the distribution requirements of this collaboration. These guidelines have allowed the PDC to select appropriate reporting for dissemination to the SSPac membership. (U) I call upon all other SID product lines that might have material relevant to this exchange to develop their own guidelines for sharing. By doing so, we can bring to the Asia-Pacific region, in the Director's words: "the same, or even greater, cooperative watchfulness than the European region now has." (U) See related SID today articles: (S) The Partnership Dissemination Cell - Information Sharing With Third Party SIGINT Partners (S) Proposal: Third Party Sharing of Info on Terrorist Threats (S) Korea, Singapore, and Thailand Agree to Join Pacific Collaboration Against Terrorism (U//FOUO) POCs: SIGINT Senior Pacific: and Partnership Dissemination Cell: DP1 S12C3 "(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
Page 2 from New CT Intelligence Exchange With Asia-Pacific Partners
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108