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(S//SI) NSA and German SIGINTers Work Together against Narcotics
in Afghanistan
FROM:
SUSLAG, and
, International Narcotics (S2F1)
Run Date: 09/07/2006
(S//SI) The BND provides NS with transcripts on the Afghan narcotics target.
(S//SI) As reported widely in the press in September, opium production in Afghanistan is
soaring, putting the country's fledgling democracy at risk. How is the SIGINT system responding
to support our policymakers and warfighters with intelligence related to this growing threat? A
critical part of our intelligence is derived from our 40+-year cooperation with the German
Federal Intelligence Service, the BND.
(U) Poppy growers in northeastern Afghanistan (Jane's).
(TS//SI) The German Government, a major player in the International Security Assistance Force
for Afghanistan (ISAF), has committed significant resources and personnel to stabilization and
reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. In support of these efforts, and to support its domestic law
enforcement efforts against the flow of narcotics into Europe, Germany's intelligence service,
the BND, devotes significant SIGINT resources against the Afghan narcotics target. The BND is a
capable partner and is collecting Afghan local PSTN (public switched telephone network) and
international Thuraya satellite telephone traffic, from areas of northern Afghanistan and
southern Tajikistan where well-developed and entrenched drug production networks are active.
(TS//SI) For the past two years the BND has been sharing its Afghan narcotics
collection with NSA. The BND provides German-language transcripts of its Dari, Farsi and
Pashtu collection to Senior U.S. Liaison Activity, Germany (SUSLAG), in Bad Aibling. SUSLAG's
translations are forwarded to International Crime and Narcotics (S2F), NSA Georgia and GCHQ,
where the SIGINT is incorporated into the larger US/UK SIGINT counternarcotics effort. The
German intercept, which provides a unique look into areas of Afghanistan not covered by US
collectors, is turned around as serialized products and SIGINT-on-Demand items.
(U) Opium dealers test the quality of their product in the opium market in Kandahar, southern
Afghanistan (Jane's).
(TS//SI) This effort has yielded great value to NSA and our customers. These reports
have been utilized as a basis for targeting by US and allied military and law enforcement
elements conducting counter-narcotics operations in the Afghan region. They have also been
included in the strategic knowledge base on the Afghan narcotics industry, which is continually
being updated and refined by the US and allied intelligence and law enforcement analytic
communities. This year alone, the German transcripts have been the basis of more than
100 product reports.
(S//SI) The United States and its partners in the ISAF continue their focus on helping the
government in Kabul to rebuild and develop their country, torn by twenty years of warfare and
misrule. The extensive, well-developed narcotics production trade, including poppy cultivation,
opium and heroin processing, and worldwide trafficking, is one of the greatest obstacles to the
development of a secure, civil society there. The BND-NSA partnership is helping provide critical
intelligence on narcotics traffic in Afghanistan to military and law-enforcement customers to
combat this trade.
(U) A sign in eastern Afghanistan reminds that opium is forbidden in Islam. Farther down the
road, poppies continue to bloom and heroin refineries operate in the villages. (Jane's).
"(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