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(U) Back in Time : Who Remembers the FRAC?
FROM:
Special Advisor, Foreign Affairs Directorate
Run Date: 05/24/2006
(S//SI) OK, it was the Foreign Relations Advisory Council, an NSA body that provided SIGINT
foreign relations advice and council to both the DDO* (as in the individual, and the organization)
and the DDP* (as in the Office of Foreign Relations, the Director of Foreign Relations, and the
senior NSA Third Party Policy Official, known back when, as the Third Party Program ManagerTPPM).
(S//SI) The FRAC was established in late 1996 following the demise of a more senior advisory
body known as the Foreign Relations Steering Group (FRSG). The FRSG was established at the
end of the Cold War as a senior advisory body with Key Component membership to provide
steerage for foreign relations at a pivotal moment in time as we transitioned from the Cold War.
In fact, the FRSG met only on rare occasions, and following a three-year period of inactivity,
delegated much of its responsibility to a newly formed FRAC, which became the principal foreign
relations review board.
(S//SI) The FRAC emerged largely in recognition that there were very few issues that would rise
to the attention of the FRSG, that the FRSG would be hard to call to order due to its high level
membership, and that the FRAC, with membership at the operational office and comparable
technical and support levels would be a better forum for framing and adjudicating issues.
(S//SI) Underlying these management structures were the CDO (Country Desk Officer)-led
Country Teams. By the mid-to-late 1990s, CDOs and Country Teams were becoming the favored
means for addressing Third Party matters, and the last FRAC meeting was held on 29 August
2000 to discuss changing the Export Control Evaluation Process, expanding the SIGINT
relationship with India, and providing TEBAG* to Norway.
*(C) Notes:
DDO = Deputy Director of Operations
DDP = Deputy Director of Plans, Policy and Programs
TEBAG = Telemetry Beaconry Analysis Guide
(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