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(U//FOUO) White House Official Visits NSA to Learn About SIGINT
Production
FROM:
, Chief, Levant and North Africa Division (S2E3), and
, Account Manager for the White House (S112)
Run Date: 03/24/2006
(U//FOUO) National Security Council official makes special weekend visit to SID, gets a taste of
how SIGINT analysts do their jobs.
(U//FOUO) On Saturday, February 4, the Signals Intelligence Directorate hosted Dr. Michael S.
Doran, Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs for the National Security Council
(NSC), The White House, for an orientation of the SIGINT process and demonstrations of SIGINT
capabilities. Dr. Doran was accompanied by his associate, Mr. Michael Singh, Director for Syria,
Lebanon, Egypt and North Africa.
(U//FOUO) Dr. Doran (first from the left) and others meet with President Bush at the President's
ranch, August 11, 2005. From left to right: Dr. Doran, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State
Jim Wilkinson, Vice President Cheney, President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, Assistant
Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Dina Powell, then-Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Liz Cheney, and Under Secretary of State
for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes (photo from Washington Post)
(S//SI//REL) Dr. Doran arrived in the NSC last August, straight from academia, where he was an
associate professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton. With no government or intelligence
background, Dr. Doran found himself fascinated by SIGINT, especially intelligence
produced on Syria and Lebanon. The SIGINT reporting was voluminous, but suggested
possible conflicting opinions by various principal targets. Dr. Doran asked for a SIGINT
assessment report to help him better understand the current situation between Syria, Lebanon,
and the UN Independent International Investigation Commission regarding the assassination of
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.
(S//SI//REL) During a feedback session with Dr. Doran and Mr. Singh to discuss that SIGINT
assessment, they asked several questions about how NSA produces its SIGINT reports. They
readily accepted an invitation to visit NSA to see the process first-hand. As Dr. Doran
was only available to visit on a weekend, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Product Line
kindly agreed to that request.
(TS//SI//REL) Upon their arrival at NSA, Messrs. Doran and Singh were welcomed by Mary Jo
Coyner, MENA Global Capabilities Manager;
Chief of the Levant and North Africa
Division;
Chief of the Levant Branch;
, SIGINT National Intelligence
Officer for Near East and South Asia (SINIO NESA); Deputy SINIOs for NESA
and
and
Account Manager for the White House. Following an NSA
orientation briefing, they were escorted into operational spaces, where they received various
demonstrations and experienced a day in the life of an NSA analyst:
Senior Arabic language analyst and team chief
provided an overview of her
team's focus and a demonstration of various analytic tools, including call chaining and
telephony tasking.
Senior Arabic voice language analyst
gave Dr. Doran and Mr. Singh the
opportunity to listen to several high-level Syrian government conversations, while giving
additional insight that only one with years of voice target experience could provide. Both
visitors were exposed to the variances in intercept quality and gained an appreciation for
how challenging transcription can be.
Senior Arabic language analyst and team chief
demonstrated fax processing
and viewing tools, provided insight into scanning and determining priorities, and gave
examples of the variety of reporting vehicles, including web-based reporting, used to tell
the Levant intelligence story.
demonstrated Syrian ELINT databases and near-real-time PROFORMA
depictions of the
.
(TS//SI//REL) That morning, Dr. Doran's visit coincided with the torching of the Danish embassy
in Damascus. This provided an unexpected opportunity to show our guests how NSA responds to
such time-sensitive international situations. In this case, senior analyst
demonstrated how NSA-Washington analysts interacted with their NSA/CSS Georgia
counterparts, who had the lead in monitoring the Syrian internal security situation, and with SCS
Damascus personnel who were already monitoring Syrian police frequencies.
(TS//SI//REL) Dr. Doran and Mr. Singh next paid a courtesy call to Acting Deputy SIGINT
Director Jim Cusick. Dr. Doran praised NSA analysts for their ability to integrate several
intercepted communications into a single SIGINT report, providing context and likening it to a
story well told. Mr. Singh reported that he had been present at a National Security Principals
Committee meeting, and heard the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and
others praising the "amazing" quality of the SIGINT reporting on the Levant situation.
(U//FOUO) As you can see, our products and services directly touch and affect actions and
decisions at the highest levels of the White House and the Executive Branch. We hope that their
visit to NSA will make them even stronger users of SIGINT.
"(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