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(S//SI) Quick Deployment Keeps CT Collection Flowing
FROM: SIGINT Communications
and General Production Services (S31554)
Run Date: 08/01/2005
(U) Needed systems up and running within 40 days.
(TS//SI//REL) In previous SID today articles* we've described how SIGINT can be used to locate
terrorists who use Internet cafes in Iraq. What happens when some of those Internet café
terminals are migrated to a new communications hub, causing the SIGINT System to lose its
collection? Such a situation happened in September, 2004 when DVB-S** Directway terminals in
Iraq switched to a new hub in the United Arab Emirates. Faced with the loss of potentially
crucial intelligence, the Counterterrorism (CT) Product Line issued an urgent requirement to
reestablish the collection.
(TS//SI//REL) Representatives from Data Acquisition (S3), SCS , and SIGDEV immediately
began to work on the problem. They determined that an SCS site in Ankara could access the
signals, but there was a problem: the site wasn't set up to collect and process DVB-S. The race
was on to deploy the needed capabilities as quickly as possible.
(TS//SI//REL) The deployment faced several challenges, including:
limited power and space in Ankara,
limited bandwidth to the site,
dataflow issues,
the need to upgrade software to handle HPEP data compression, and
the need for extensive work to integrate and test the deployed systems.
(TS//SI//REL) Despite these hurdles, a functioning system was up and running within a short 40
days. The payoff was also swift: a CT analyst reported that this collection had prompted a
successful raid in Kirkuk, netting "multiple bad guys" and a weapons cache. With luck, other tipoffs based on this collection will follow in the future. Congratulations to all who worked together
to make this success a reality!
*(S) See these related articles:
Mastershake
Trafficthief
** (U) DVB-S = Digital Video Broadcasting by Satellite
"(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