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(S//SI) Australian SIGINTers Surge to Protect US Troops in
Philippines
FROM:
Foreign Affairs Officer, NSA/CSS Pacific (F406)
Run Date: 05/11/2006
(S//SI) DSD worked 24/7 to tip off US forces to the location of terrorists who might attack them.
(S//SI) BALIKATAN 2006 (BK06) was a two-week long joint exercise conducted from midFebruary to early March 2006 between the military of the United States and the Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP). The exercise was held in the Philippines, including the southern island of
Jolo, a poor and predominantly Muslim island. Jolo is known to be a stronghold of two major
terrorist groups, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). In the SIGINT
division-of-effort, NSA/CSS Hawaii works the ASG, while our Australian partner, the Defence
Signals Directorate (DSD), works the JI.
(S//SI) While there are normally fewer than 50 US military on Jolo to advise the AFP on how to
combat the terrorists, during BK06 that number swelled to about 400. The all-source analytic
component of US Pacific Command (PACOM) was concerned that the extra US and AFP troop
presence could present a tempting target for the JI, ASG, or even both working together. Even
though there had been intelligence indicating that at least the JI had attack plans in the works,
the consensus was that the groups would probably not risk an attack during BK06.
(S//SI) However, those assumptions changed rapidly just after BK06 began, when SIGINT
detected that JI had just transported two suicide-bombing volunteers from Malaysia to Jolo. The
last piece of a current threat stream was now in place, with the increased US military contingent
as the likely target. Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC) and USPACOM requested
help from the SIGINT Community to provide increased vigilance and expedited reporting to help
ensure protection of the forces deployed for BK06.
(S//SI) Since DSD has the lead for SIGINT on JI, they were contacted to see what they could
do. Their response was immediate and comprehensive. Leveraging their assets, they launched a
24/7 effort that included compressing processing and reporting timelines to provide outstanding
force protection and tracking of High Value Targets (HVTs) on Jolo. On several occasions during
BK06, their SIGINT enabled PACOM operators to plan and conduct operations against HVTs on
Jolo.
(U) Suspected member of rebel group Abu Sayyaf escorted away from reporters in Manila Court
(Reuters)
(S//SI) The PACOM Command element, the Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) and
SOCPAC passed along kudos on DSD's work on a near-daily basis. DSD's work also helped the
JIOC to better analyze HVT locations and possible future movement, in addition to allowing
another layer of analysis that filled existing intelligence gaps and provided analysts with a better
understanding of relationships between terrorists, their capabilities and intent.
(S//SI) The bottom line is that DSD's response probably saved lives. Once again, DSD
demonstrated the key role that our partners play in SIGINT collection in general, and
specifically, the Global War on Terrorism.
(U//FOUO) See a related SID today article: (U) Quarterly Update: What's Happening in Hawaii
(U//FOUO) This article is reprinted from the Foreign Affairs Digest , April 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