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(U) Hollywood Special Effects? No, It's Modern-Day SIGINT
FROM: NSA Deployer (name withheld for operational reasons)
Run Date: 07/08/2009
globe
(C//REL) Editor's introduction: An NSA deployer describes a day in Baghdad,
with details of how SIGINT is now doing things previously unimaginable... (Click
on photos for larger view.)
(U) "That's funny," I said to myself. "Why am I over the desert?"
(U) It was almost three o'clock in the morning, and the force of air coming
through the open helo [helicopter] bay felt good moving across my armor, offsetting the heat
from the helicopter engines. But not knowing why I was over the desert made me really stop
and look around, as there was no desert between the Green Zone I had just left and my home
base where I was headed...
(S//REL) I had started my day out at the Perfume Palace (pictured
right) in the Victory Base Complex in western Baghdad, where I
worked at CSG Baghdad. The NSA/CSS Representative [NCR] Iraq
office at the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone -- in central Baghdad -had asked if I would give a brief demonstration and overview of the
capabilities of RT10 and describe generally what support CSG
Baghdad and other NSA elements in theater could provide to the
various intel offices located at the Embassy. I agreed.
Perfume Palace
(C//REL) However, in a last-minute change of plans, rather than taking the normal helo night
flight to the Embassy, I was told I would be diverted to the Baghdad International Airport, where
I would join the NCR Iraq and the CSG Baghdad Officer-in-Charge to greet NCR CENTCOM. Then
the NCRs and I would all ride back together to the Green Zone in a protective-services detail
[PSD] convoy on the fabled Route Irish. While I had been to the Green Zone several times
before, this would be my first chance to experience the "dance of the SUVs." If it were a dance,
it would be Swan Lake, as performed by Metallica.
(C//REL) Our rendezvous at the airport came off without incident, and we kitted up on the edge
of the airstrip and climbed into the SUVs. While most describe the procession as a "dance," I
looked at the process more like football with armor at 60 miles an hour. The "dance" is actually
a series of high-speed tactical blocking maneuvers, with three vehicles moving at 40-60 miles
an hour. The front vehicle and back vehicle "block" other vehicles by getting between the
"package" vehicle and anyone else on the road, or any access ramps to the road. While a
football game can move fast on the blitz, doing 60-mph in a heavily armored vehicle will
definitely wake you up if you're used to sitting behind a desk all day long. The ride was quick
and professional, but "I'm glad I'll be flying home," I thought to myself as we made our way
through the checkpoints.
(U) Working my way through the Embassy, I laughed, as I always did,
to see Saddam's ornate furniture ( left ), perhaps remnants from
Liberace's yard sale
... Once used to seat some of the
most powerful men in the Middle East, the furniture was now used in
mirrored waiting rooms along the vast corridors of the palace, a place
for visitors and the press to wait for their meetings with attaches.
Funny, as these few pieces of furniture are some of the only objects of
Saddam's that remain visible to the public since the invasion.
(TS//SI//REL) Entering the NCR's office, I was greeted by a packed audience of State INR,
hostage/personnel-recovery analysts, FBI, OGA [other government agencies], and reps from
several other INTs. I walked the analysts through the CSG's RT10 tool suite (now known as
"RT/RG"), first explaining how the new tools would let CSG analysts call-chain their targets to
identify their contacts, then enrich the data from all the databases in SHARKFINN , and finally
display the data as a crisp, clean network in Analyst's Notebook . What once took weeks now
took a single analyst minutes to produce.
(TS//SI//REL) Showing them IED -network insurgents moving across the big-screen GeoT map
in near real-time, Arabic text messages scrolling across the bottom of the screen as the
insurgents sent messages from one target to another, I could see it was starting to sink in with
many of the "ops" guys. "Yes," I said, "it's Enemy of the State , but now it's the insurgents who
target the Coalition who now have nowhere to run." An analyst from the FBI raised his hand
and, pointing at the screen, asked, "Is this why the rockets stopped falling on the Green Zone?"
-- shaking his head in awe, he watched one of his own targets moved across the screen, tracked
in near real-time -- to which I nodded and smiled. (The CST s supporting the boots on the
ground had quickly rounded up the rocket-and-mortar networks that had rained relentless havoc
on the Green Zone for the past 3 months.) We ended the meeting there with a light applause
and smiles from people who were obviously worn out and tired of sitting in hallways and racing
to bunkers every 8-10 hrs.
start.
(C//REL) It was then that the NCR's
staff informed me that my flight back to
the Victory Base Complex wouldn't be
leaving till late, and so my reward for a
briefing well done was to sit pool-side at
the U.S. Embassy ( left ) and soak up
the sights for a few hours. While this
might not sound like heaven, after 5
months in Baghdad, it was a pretty good
(U) I managed to get three hours' sleep in before kitting up and heading to the landing pad to
catch my flight back. I helped a tired soul get his gear and weapons
on board. My six-month deployment felt pretty good when I realized
the sergeant across from me was heading home after 15 months in
Tikrit. I shifted my M-4 , closed my eyes and lowered my head to
savor the cool night air as we took off, a sultry guitar ballad running
through my head, I opened my eyes to look for the "mother of all
Mosques" that should have been looming in the darkness in front of
me, and was greeted instead by rolling dunes of sand.
(U) "Why am I over the desert?" I thought. The flight from the Green Zone to Victory should go
straight across the metropolis that is Baghdad, the blackness spotted with burn-barrels and
pools of light cast by yard lights installed by the Coalition to restrict insurgents' freedom of
movement at night. Nowhere in between was there a stretch of open sand dunes like what lay
before me. Blue lights ahead in the darkness, the sergeant turning to look my way, just realizing
we weren't at our destination.
(U) We had barely landed when, from the cover of a shed, a field aide ran to the helo an Iraqi
general, Iraqi colonel, two British officers, and what looked like an Iraqi intelligence officer trying
to pass himself off as the general's aide. I shifted to help buckle in the officers, while discreetly
covering my identifying badges in the same movement. A nod and a thumbs-up from the
starboard gunner confirmed we were now headed to our proper destination, now that our
"special cargo" had been secured. Lifting off and turning back over the dunes, Baghdad now
approaching at high speed as we raced the sunrise back to the base, a few hours sleep and
another day ahead.
(U//FOUO) If you'd like to learn more about deployments, here's the MOC Deployment Page .
"(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