DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
(U) Write Right: Seven Things Not To Do in a SIGINT Report
FROM:
of the Reporting Board (S12R)
Run Date: 08/21/2006
(U//FOUO) This month's "Write Right" has a special guest columnist
filling in for usual contributor
:
(U//FOUO) Sometimes being in the right place at the right time
means that you see things others do not. This can be downright
frightening, as members of the Reporting Board can attest.
Usually, a report will be forwarded with the question, "Can we do
that?!" Quite often, the answer is "no." Here is the Reporting
Board's list of what not to do in a SIGINT report, based on some
reports that have come our way recently.
1. (U//FOUO) Omit the SIGINT - You'd be surprised how
many reports do. Or how many focus not on the SIGINT,
but on collateral, on detailed background (going back
hundreds of years in some cases), or on recommending a
course of action. Give the SIGINT bottom line and wellthought-out, reasoned analysis (in comments) about what
the SIGINT means, and let your customers take it from
there.
2. (U//FOUO) Release information from a target to a
target - Say you have some traffic that came from the
Elbonian Ambassador's comms and you have written a
report. Make sure that you do not include a tear line that is
releasable to Elbonia. That's likely to make the Elbonians
cranky.
3. (U//FOUO) Write UNCLASSIFIED tear lines - You are
encouraged to sanitize to SECRET (sometimes even
CONFIDENTIAL), but unless you're sitting behind a verrrry
big desk, you may not sanitize below that classification. If
you're wondering whether your desk is big enough, check
here: list of Original Classification Authorities .
4. (U//FOUO) Cross-reference other IC Agency reports Long story short: the "Third Agency Rule" says not to do
this. Likewise, don't refer to "...a CIA report..." or "... FBI
information..." since that inappropriately reveals the source
of your collateral.
5. (U//FOUO) Focus on the U.S. - If your report starts out
with "a U.S. Person," "a U.S. Company," or "the U.S.
President," change your focus. Find the foreign intelligence
and focus on that.
6. (U//FOUO) Report on U.S. Activities - If you think your
report should have a "US_" Intelligence Source Indicator
(ISI), then you should think really hard about that and what
it is we do here.
7. (U//FOUO) Disseminate to one addressee - At a
SERIES:
(U) Write Right '06
1. Write Right : Grab
Bag
2. Write Right :
Frequently Asked
Question: Where Do
I Go for Help With
USSID SP0018
Issues?
3. Write Right : The
Style Manual vs.
USSID 300 -- er,
USSID CR1400
4. Write Right : The
Paperless Society
5. Write Right : Is That
Collateral, or Is It a
Comment?
6. Write Right : What's
a URS Center?
7. Write Right : Caveat
Scrutator (Or, 'But I
Saw It on the
Internet!')
8. Write Right : Seven
Things Not To Do in a
SIGINT Report
9. Write Right :
Breaking an Old
Reporter's Heart
10. Write Right : Where
Does It Say I Can't?
11. Write Right : Urban
Myths of SIGINT: 'I
Can Just Mark It
ORCON'
12. Write Right : Loaded
Words: Don't
Politicize Reports
minimum, reports must go DNI and SECDEF. If an
addressee asks you to do otherwise (this is called "Single
Agency Dissemination"), resist the urge and seek guidance.
"(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