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(U) NSA's Oldest Third Party SIGINT Partnership
FROM: (S//SI)
Country Desk Officer (CDO) Turkey
Run Date: 10/07/2005
(S//SI) Our "oldest" Third Party partner is Turkey, with whom we've had a SIGINT relationship
since 1949. That begs a question, since NSA wasn't created until November 1952. This article
answers that question and sketches the relationship between NSA and our two Turkish SIGINT
partners.
(S//SI) The NSA/CSS Representative, Turkey (NCR TURK), located in beautiful Ankara with a
staff of about 40 NSAers, is responsible for providing SIGINT technical assistance, engineering
advice, maintenance support, equipment, and training to both of the Turkish SIGINT
organizations:
the General Electronic Service (GES) , a military SIGINT command under the J2
Intelligence Directorate of the Turkish General Staff (TGS); and
the Electronic and Technical Intelligence (ETI) Directorate, the SIGINT element of
the civilian Turkish National Intelligence Organization (TNIO).
(S//SI) Our SIGINT exchange with these partners includes information on a variety of regional
military targets and a significant amount of data on terrorism targets, to include international
groups and indigenous terrorist organizations such as the Kurdistan People's Congress (Kongra
Gel / KGK, formerly known as the PKK). In return, GES provides information on Russian military
forces, regional activity in the Caucasus, and
GES also identifies shipping
traffic in the Dardanelles and collects radar signatures under the SEA SENTRY program. GES and
ETI provide language assistance on KGK/PKK traffic; and ETI and NSA have a dedicated circuit
for CT [Counterterrorism] analytic exchanges.
(S//SI) Throughout the Cold War, Turkey's location on the Black Sea afforded the US with
unique access to the underbelly of the Soviet beast. Turkey is now a committed US/Coalition
partner both in the Global War on Terrorism and in NATO peacekeeping and stabilization
operations throughout the region. Turkey's borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria have obvious
geopolitical significance for US military planners and political strategists. In addition, ongoing
joint signals surveys between NSA and GES have the potential to provide unique access to
emerging targets of interest.
(TS//SI) In answer to the question begged above, the US/Turkey SIGINT relationship did begin
in 1949, but it was based on a verbal agreement between CIA and ETI, with CIA offering funding
and equipment to ETI in exchange for raw COMINT traffic. In 1979, the program of support for
ETI was assumed by NSA and incorporated into the Consolidated Cryptologic Program (CCP).
The legal basis for the US SIGINT relationship with GES stems from a June 1954 Joint Military
Facilities Agreement that was further amplified in a 1962 MOU that committed the US to provide
SIGINT information, training, equipment, and assistance in the development of a SIGINT
capability for GES.
(TS//SI) NSA entered into this 1962 agreement with the TGS in exchange for Turkish permission
to operate US SIGINT sites on Turkish soil. NSA's overt SIGINT operations in Turkey ceased with
the closing of Sinop in September 1993. SCS continues to conduct covert SIGINT collection from
sites in Istanbul and Ankara.
(U) Adana Mosque, on the Seyhan River in Adana, Turkey
(U//FOUO) This article is reprinted from the Foreign Affairs Digest, September edition.
"(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