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‘Foreign Releases’ Pay Off in War on Terrorism

SUMMARY

Foreign releases — U.S. signals intelligence reports released to governments cooperating on a “mutually beneficial activity” — have lead to arrests linked to foreign fighter networks outside Iraq, in countries such as Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

DOCUMENT’S DATE

Feb 22, 2006

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE

Aug 15, 2018

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Page 1 from ‘Foreign Releases’ Pay Off in War on Terrorism
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL (TS//SI) 'Foreign Releases' Pay Off in War on Terrorism FROM: Chief, Consumer Services (S12C) Run Date: 02/22/2006 (TS//SI) The case-by-case release of US SIGINT-derived info to foreign governments has led to the capture of terrorists abroad. (C) Sometimes NSA's customers come across information in a SIGINT report that they'd very much like to share with another country's liaison officials or intelligence service. Usually this occurs when the US and the foreign government are cooperating on some mutually beneficial activity, and the SIGINT information can advance the cause. A mechanism is in place for such a scenario: the "foreign release" process. This passing of information can be a major boost to advancing US interests, as shown by the below note sent from an NSA employee in Iraq to the office at NSA that handles foreign releases (S12C3): "(TS//SI) FORRELs [foreign releases] for a large part are taken as routine, [but] here in Iraq they are some of the most important work we do, especially for the JIATF-W*. Our main focus is the foreign fighter facilitation networks outside Iraq that are funneling people in. We have built a good relationship with other countries that have quietly, off the radar, joined the fight. The information we provide is actioned on a regular basis by foreign governments and even though it is not reported in the press at home, if you read FBIS* and see people being arrested in Algiers, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and other countries, it is because of the efforts from you to get the FORRELS out to those countries. As written in previous email, sometimes we don't take the time to go back and share that information, as sometimes we don't know it until weeks later and have moved on to another fight, so again thanks for all your support and for all you do. (U) WE ARE WINNING, one bad guy at a time!!!!!!!!!" -- JIATF-W NSA Officer-in-Charge, Iraq "(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