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What’s It Like to Deploy for SID? The Expeditionary SIGINT Town Meeting Tells All

SUMMARY

NSA staffers who returned from deployments in the Middle East described their experiences and took questions from colleagues at an event to recruit for such deployments. Over 800 NSA’ers have been deployed to the “front lines of SIGINT.”

DOCUMENT’S DATE

Oct 28, 2005

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

Mar 01, 2018

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DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL (U//FOUO) What's It Like to Deploy for SID? The Expeditionary SIGINT Town Meeting Tells All FROM: SIGINT Communications Unknown Run Date: 10/28/2005 (U//FOUO) SIGINT is playing an important role - perhaps a decisive role - in the ongoing war in the Middle East. Much of this success can be attributed to NSA's deployment of SIGINT representatives to work directly with the warfighters as they carry out their daily operations. Already we have deployed over 800 men and women to the front lines, where they have helped save untold lives. Their list of accomplishments is long and their pride is enormous. So how can we maintain and expand this SIGINT support? (U//FOUO) To address this issue, MG Quirk hosted an Expeditionary SIGINT Town Meeting on 19 October in the Friedman Auditorium. The purpose of the meeting was to inspire the workforce to seize the opportunities for deployment that currently exist, and to answer any questions or concerns that people may have. MG Quirk talked about the importance of the deployments and the benefits to the individual, the customers and national security. NCR CENTCOM, narrated a slide show to give a sense for the on-the-ground conditions that deployers will encounter. In addition, the SID Deputy Directorates each gave a brief presentation on expeditionary jobs sponsored by their directorate. (U//FOUO) The highlight of the show, however, was a series of presentations by NSAers who have returned from duty in the Middle East. They gave a brief account of themselves, their job, and their experiences overseas. To a person, they described their experience on the front lines of SIGINT as the highlight of their career and more meaningful professionally than anything they had ever done before. These are people with spouses, children, pets, and other responsibilities. Still, they forward-deployed - and were glad they did! (U//FOUO) Never before had they felt as though they were making such a direct and important contribution. They also praised the full support that management and analysts at NSA provided to them -- support which made it impossible for them to fail. Furthermore, the process of deploying to the region and the unique experiences they had there were unforgettable. Many expressed a strong desire to deploy again. (U//FOUO) In addition to the town meeting in the Friedman, a two-hour follow-on session was held to allow prospective deployers the opportunity to ask in-depth questions of the people who have "been there" and from the deployment office people who "got them there." (U//FOUO) If you are interested in exploring deployment opportunities , see the NSA Deployment Center webpage ("go deployment-center"). There is a network of people to get you trained, prepared and ready to go. (U//FOUO) If you missed the presentation, it is now available on streaming video: Expeditionary SIGINT Town Meeting video . "(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)." 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