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(S//SI) A Detailed Look at the Visit of Lt. General Vaipot Srinual, Thai
Armed Services Security Center Commander
FROM:
Country Desk Officer - Thailand (DP12)
Run Date: 01/31/2006
(S//SI) The Foreign Affairs Directorate hosted the Thai Armed Forces Security Center
Commander, Lt. General Vaipot Srinual, for a day of discussions with DIRNSA and NSA
directorates in an effort to seek NSA's support in fighting the insurgency and terrorist attacks in
southern Thailand. General Vaipot came with a message on behalf of the Thai Minister of
Defense, Thammarak Isarangura Na Ayutthaya, that the Royal Thai Government is at war with
the insurgents in the south and that the situation must be contained before it spreads to other
parts of Thailand, creating regional instability.
(S//SI) Lt. General Vaipot Srinual and DIRNSA, in DIRNSA's office
(S//SI) General Vaipot said that the goal for our SIGINT Partner, Division 6, is to provide
actionable intelligence to disrupt terrorist activities and penetrate the terrorist networks. He said
that Thailand needs to get better intelligence on both the international and domestic aspects of
the insurgency, thus he proposed targeting the Malaysian satellite, MEASAT-1, moving forward
with a MUSKETEER microwave assessment from Narathiwat, and developing a focused GSM
effort, preferably through cooperative access. In addition to the primary focus of the visit,
various organizations took the opportunity to address a number of issues relating to our
partnership.
(S//SI) The day started off with an NSA Overview by Gary Grantham, Principal Director for
Foreign Affairs, which was very well received by General Vaipot. He was very interested in how
NSA operates under the oversight of Congress and how it interacts with its various customers,
departments, and agencies. Gary explained the dual offensive and defensive missions of NSA
and how the two tracks complement each other in exploiting foreign adversarial
communications, while at the same time protecting US Government communications. As Gary
described NSA's interaction with US military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, General Vaipot
asked several questions in an obvious attempt to draw analogies to the current situation in
southern Thailand. The overview briefing was followed by a roundtable discussion with the
Foreign Affairs Directorate, which addressed some of the specific problems confronting Division
6.
(S//SI) Following the discussions with the Foreign Affairs Directorate, the Thai delegation met
with Signals Intelligence Directorate leaders Rick Ledgett, Data Acquisitions;
International Crime and Narcotics;
Counterterrorism Production
Line; and
Counterterrorism Issue Manager. The discussions continued along the
same lines as with the Foreign Affairs Directorate, but focused on what actions the Thai might
take to assist NSA in its effort to provide more effective advice and support. Although the
primary focus of General Vaipot's visit was to address the crisis in southern Thailand, the Office
of International Crime and Narcotics took the opportunity to discuss counternarcotics and Burma
issues with
and
.
(S//SI) Prior to Lt. General Alexander's hosting lunch, the Thai delegation met in his office for
discussions on a variety of issues. General Vaipot was very interested in how NSA, being such a
large organization and having to interact with so many agencies and departments, functions. He
acknowledged that in Thailand, the communications between agencies and even within agencies
is not the best and that he wants to better understand how to get folks to work together and get
intelligence to the people who can use it. This led to a discussion on NSA operational philosophy
and business practices, which included a brief sidebar on the "Lean Six Sigma" program, with
General Alexander producing several books on the subject. General Vaipot was familiar with the
subject and very interested in seeing NSA's interest in applying those principles.
(S//SI) After the DIRNSA-hosted luncheon, the Thai delegation again met with SID
leadership for operational discussions. Charlie Meals led the roundtable and broached a
number of topics such as SIGINT Seniors Pacific, the PRC, the Thailand Liaison Team reporting
effort, and the current unrest in southern Thailand. Charlie provided General Vaipot with some
background on how SIGINT Seniors Europe has worked over the years and how we are trying to
achieve the same cooperation in the Pacific. Although General Vaipot will not be at SIGINT
Seniors Pacific, he said he very much supported the effort and was interested in seeing the
relationship grow.
(S//SI) General Vaipot continued driving home the theme of his trip, to get NSA's support to
provide actionable SIGINT on the insurgency in southern Thailand. As with his visit with
DIRNSA and FAD, he stressed the need for SID to help support Thai efforts to target microwave,
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), and FORNSAT collection to get a better handle
on the situation.
(S//SI) To further expand on General Vaipot's interest in NSA's thoughts on PRC strategic
interests in Southeast Asia, Dr. Dave Shore, Chief of Strategic Intelligence Issues, and
SINIO for East Asia, provided perspective of US concerns on Chinese leadership intent
across a wide range of issues, including military (People's Liberation Army) modernization,
economic growth, and the Bird Flu.
(S//SI) The last briefing for the day was the upcoming MUSKETEER HESTER TDY. The TDY will
provide a 21-day assessment of a microwave link in southern Thailand in an effort to isolate
insurgent communications. This particular TDY is a follow-on to a survey 18 months ago in
which it was noted that 66% of the calls were to/from GSM phones as well as some international
dialing to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and China. Although a recent snapshot
indicates a significant decrease in the volume, all parties agreed that to proceed with the
assessment is paramount.
(S//SI) All in all, it was a very productive visit. General Vaipot came with a message from his
Defense Minister that AFSC needs to improve its intelligence collection, especially in producing
actionable intelligence. He repeatedly mentioned that the crisis in southern Thailand is
worsening and that time is not on their side. The goal of AFSC intelligence support to the Thai
efforts in the south is to enable governmental entities to disrupt terrorist activities and penetrate
terrorist communications networks. General Vaipot believes that the best way to achieve this
goal is to take a three-pronged approach:
1. targeting the MEASAT-1 satellite, to access the communications of insurgent leaders in
Malaysia and learn more about the training camps and funding for cross border activity;
2. continuing with the MUSKETEER microwave assessment; and
3. developing a GSM collection strategy, preferably through cooperative access.
(S) Thailand now has 30,000 troops in the south and considers itself at war with the insurgents.
With over 1,000 people killed in the past 18 months, General Vaipot feels that the pressure to
turn the tide on the unrest is greater than ever and that there is a risk of the violence
spreading, if not contained soon.
(U) This article is reprinted from the Foreign Affairs Digest, November 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