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(S) Success Against al-Zarqawi's Group in Northern Iraq
FROM: CPT
, USA
CST Stryker Officer-in-Charge
Run Date: 11/18/2005
(S) SIGINT plays major role in defeating insurgents.
(S//SI) "Tactical SIGINT is dead..." Speaking those words will get you kicked out of Northern
Iraq, where SIGINT recently contributed to the killing or capture of 134 high-level insurgents
and countless associates over a 90-day period. As a result of these successes, nearly all of the
known leaders of the al-Zarqawi Network as we know it in Northern Iraq are either
dead or detained. The capture of these senior and mid-level leaders and facilitators has
dramatically weakened the enemy and significantly contributed to coalition force protection.
(S//SI) On-the-scene SIGINTers working with MNF-NW (Multi-National Force - Northwest) have
contributed greatly to these successful operations. This team, CST** STRYKER in Mosul, has
leveraged national level cryptologic support to more than 700 MNF-NW operations, in addition to
providing more than 1200 threat tippers to support continuous combat operations throughout
the area of operations.
(S//SI) They say that "necessity is the mother of invention" and this is even more true in
wartime. When the first SIGINT analysts arrived in Mosul, they inherited a war-torn city filled
with anti-Coalition insurgents. As insurgent tactics evolved and the commander's need for realtime SIGINT became a necessity, Soldiers developed faster and better ways of producing
actionable intelligence. They developed locally created tools -- the Quadra Spectre Geolocational system, 5-Digit Comparator, a TMSI** query tool -- and solid procedures for reducing
the time from identification of a target until maneuver forces go after it.
(S//SI) One tool, the Quadra Spectre, pulls chronolog data, correlates Short Message System
(SMS) text messages, and most importantly provides near real-time locational data used for
targeting. The time saved in analysis had a snowball effect. Greater time could be spent on
correlation, finding new targets, perfecting target packages, and providing real-time threat
tippers to units. The tool shortened days of painstaking analysis to mere hours, leading to a
number of SIGINT successes for Task Force Freedom. SIGINTers are currently networking all of
Northern Iraq's GSM tactical collection, combining efforts and tracking insurgent movement
from just north of Baghdad to all the way to Rabiyah.
(S//SI) The configuration of the MNF-NW SIGINT Cell has also undergone improvements. Task
Force Freedom combined analysts from NSA's Cryptologic Support Team with analysts from the
Stryker Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR), and 11th ACR all
into one cell, then consolidated the linguists, allowing them the opportunity to release threat
tippers in near real-time. MNF-NW also cultivated a relationship with agencies in their AOR** (
SCS Mosul and DIA**, for example) to fuse SIGINT products, thereby preventing duplication of
effort. These steps created a combined effort capitalizing on our ability to report, analyze,
target, and fuse actionable intelligence for the warfighter. MNF-NW SIGINT "Mini Intelligence
Community" structure and operations is the model for the future of tactical SIGINT.
(S//SI) These new ways of operating, coupled with a Command that understands SIGINT and
has capitalized on it, has reinvigorated the old adage of "intelligence drives operations." TFF
Commander
and the Stryker BDE Commander
believe wholeheartedly in Signals Intelligence.
(S//SI) SID's gamble with imbedding Cryptologic Support Teams with tactical units has
paid huge dividends. Although they couldn't save every Soldier, the CST's added the
horsepower tactical units needed to bridge the gap between national and tactical SIGINT... And
forward-deployed analysts are not alone in the fight, thanks to great support from CSG**
Baghdad, CENTCOM, NSA/CSS Georgia and NSA HQ!
(U) The Stryker armored personnel carrier
**(U) Expanded abbreviations:
CST = Cryptologic Support Team
TMSI = Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity
AOR = area of responsibility
DIA = Defense Intelligence Agency
CSG = Cryptologic Services Group
"(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