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(S//SI) SIGINT Helps End the Career of Bomb-Maker in Iraq Known
as 'Chicken Man'
FROM:
Customer Outreach and Advocacy Officer, MHS (F77)
Run Date: 07/12/2006
(S//SI) Nine terrorists in Iraq - including a known manufacturer of improvised explosive devices
- were killed or captured by US forces recently, with the help of a SIGINT-based targeting
package from Menwith Hill Station (MHS).
(TS//SI//REL) Background: " FEZ " is a collaborative project run by MHS that focuses on
intercepting SIGINT related to the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group (GICM), a "most wanted"
terrorist group currently shown as a critical gap (red) on the Strategic Mission Assessment . MHS
Mission Operations partnered with the European SIGINT Center in Darmstadt, Germany to
attempt to develop access to GICM activities, plans and intentions in North Africa and Europe.
(S//SI) IA intern makes a breakthrough: An Intelligence Analysis intern on tour at MHS
found reporting on an Algerian bomb maker and GICM associate active in Iraq. Telephony
analysis of the numbers associated with this individual revealed ties to known and suspected
improvised explosive device (IED) networks and Mujahadeen groups in Iraq, as well as multiple,
untasked but related, telephone numbers.
(S//SI) Following up on leads: The team identified three Iraqi GSM* numbers linked to the
Algerian, and tasked those numbers for identification and characterization. The lead intelligence
analyst and lead language analyst worked together over the next two weeks to identify
additional leads both through call records and content analysis. Transcripts from one of the Iraqi
GSM numbers confirmed they were seeing GICM-related communications: it showed activity
related to the shootdown of a U.S. helicopter on 14 May, the death of non-Iraqi "brothers," and
other insurgent-associated activity.
(S//SI) "Chicken Man" is identified: When a caller in one the transcripts referred to
"chickens" falling from the sky (a reference to the downed US helicopter), he was nicknamed
"Chicken Man." He was identified as a known IED manufacturer, evidently now working in
association with GICM.
(S//SI) MHS-supplied targeting package leads to successful operation: MHS passed all of
this information, via a Cryptologic Services Group, to US forces in Iraq. MHS then provided a
targeting package to support a military operation against "Chicken Man" and his associates, and
continued to monitor communications on all the handsets associated with this activity. MHS also
worked with NSA/CSS Georgia to ensure ongoing around-the-clock support on these targets for
the duration of the planning and operational period. All of this work paid off: operations on 23
and 25 May resulted in the capture and killing of nine, mostly foreign, insurgents, including the
"Chicken Man."
(S//SI) Another lead being pursued: In the course of this target development, MHS identified
another number associated with this group of insurgents. MHS tipped that information to GCHQ
who had been monitoring the targets' Short Message Service activity but not their voice traffic.
MHS successfully transitioned that target to GCHQ for additional monitoring in support of one of
their ongoing operations.
POC:
(
@nsa)
(U) A man stands outside his shop, which was destroyed in a June car bomb attack in Baghdad.
(Reuters)
(U) Notes:
*GSM = Global System for Mobile Communications cellular technology
(U//FOUO) This article is reprinted from Menwith Hill Station's Horizon newsletter, July 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