The Secret Sentry (50 page)

40. RUM-10828, Vozdvizhenka 9th Air Army to Moscow VVS VS, intercepted May 4, 1947, solved August 6, 1948, RG-38, Translations
of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2744, NA, CP; RUM-12083, Moscow: VVS VS to Vienna: 2nd Air Army, RUARA-1,
intercepted October 6, 1947, solved October 20, 1948; RUM-12375, Dairen 7 Air Corps to Vozdvizhenka 9th Air Army, RUMUC-2,
intercepted December 1, 1947, solved UNK, both in RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2742,
NA, CP; RUMI-0505, Tbilisi 11 Air Army to VVS VS, intercepted April 30, 1948, solved August 31, 1948, RG-38, Translations
of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2745, NA, CP. All of these documents have been reclassified by the U.S.
Navy.

41. RUAMT-3 was the designation given to the cipher system used by the 9th Air Army at Voz-dvizhenka that was being read by
the U.S. Army, which usually consisted of messages from air base duty officers reporting on the arrival and departure of aircraft
at their base. John Milmore,
#1 Code Break Boy
(Haverford, PA: Infinity Publishing, 2002), pp. 12–13.

42. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, p. 161; Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner,
Venona:
Soviet Espionage and the American Response, 1939–1957
(Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1996), pp. xxi, 93–104; Desmond Ball and David Horner,
Breaking the Codes:
Australia’s KGB Network
(Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1998), p. 203.????

43. David A. Hatch and Robert Louis Benson,
The Korean War: The SIGINT Background
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 2000), p. 4.

44. Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev,
The Haunted Wood
(New York: Random House, 1999), pp. 291–92.

45. Confidential interviews. For the intelligence background to the 1948 Berlin Crisis, see message, SX 2967, HQ EUCOM to
CSUSA Washington, DC, April 8, 1948, RG-319, entry 58 Army G-2 Top Secret Messages 1942–1952, box 115, file 1. FR “S” Germany
1-1-48–6-9-48, NA, CP; CIA, information report,
The Current Situation in Berlin and Related Information
, April 30, 1948, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP83-00415R000800090015-7, NA, CP.

46. Confidential interviews.

47. See, for example, SD-11388, Intelligence Division, U.S. Europe an Command, Air Evaluation Report J-32,
Evaluation of Radio Intercept Reports from Signal Section
, August 17, 1948, RG-319, entry 1041, box 239, file ID No. 960884, NA, CP; SC-8483, U.S. Air Force in Europe, Deputy Chief
of Staff, Intelligence,
Estimate of the Situation
, December 1, 1948, p. 12, RG-313, entry 1335 (UD) CINCNELM Top Secret Intelligence Files 1946–1950, box 14, file #29, NA,
CP. For the overall importance of the Gehlen Org’s SIGINT product, see Kevin C. Ruffner, ed.,
Forging an
Intelligence Partnership: CIA and the Origins of the BND, 1945–49: A Documentary History
(Washington, DC: CIA History Staff, 1999), vol. II, pp. 105–06, RG-263, CIA Subject Files, box 2, NA, CP; James H. Critchfield,
“The Early History of the Gehlen Organization and Its Influence on the Development of a National Security System in the Federal
Republic of Germany,” in Heike Bungert, Jan G. Heitmann, and Michael Wala, eds.,
Secret Intelligence in the Twentieth
Century
(London: Frank Cass and Co., 2003), p. 160.

48. TI Item #137, NT-1 Traffic Intelligence,
Unprecedented Coordinated Russian Communications
Changes
, November 4, 1948, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940– 1946, box 2742, NA, CP (reclassified by
the U.S. Navy); National Cryptologic School,
On Watch
, pp. 19–20; Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 4; Jeannette Williams and Yolande Dickerson,
The Invisible Cryptologists: African-Americans, WWII to 1956
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Crypto-logic History, 2001), p. 19.

49. National Cryptologic School,
On Watch
, p. 19. See also Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 5; Donald P. Steury, “The End of the Dark Era: The Transformation of American Intelligence, 1956,” p. 2, paper presented
at a conference organized by the Allied Museum, Berlin, April 24, 2006.

50. S/ARU/C735,
Developments in Soviet Cypher [sic] and Signals Security, 1946–1948
, December 1948, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2739, NA, CP (reclassified by the
U.S. Navy); Department of the Army, Pamphlet No. 30-2,
The Soviet Army
, July 1949, p. 41, RG-6, box 107, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA; SRH-277, “A Lecture on Communications Intelligence
by Rear Admiral E.E. Stone, DIRAFSA,” June 5, 1951, p. 34, RG-457, entry 9002 Special Research Histories, NA, CP;
Brownell Committee Report
, June 13, 1952, pp. 29, 83, NSA FOIA; CIA, CS Historical Paper No. 150,
Clandestine Service History:
The Berlin Tunnel Operation: 1952–1956
, August 25, 1967, p. 1, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0001407685, http://www.foia.cia.gov; Defense Intelligence
Agency, DDB-1170-3-80,
Warsaw Pact Forces Command, Control, and Communications
, August 1980, pp. 1–2, DIA FOIA; National Cryptologic School,
On Watch
, p. 19; David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kon-drashev, and George Bailey,
Battleground Berlin
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997), p. 208; interview, Frank B. Rowlett.

51.
Study of Joint Organizations for the Production of Communications Intelligence and for Security of
U.S. Military Communications (Stone Board Report)
, December 27, 1948, part A: Communications Intelligence, p. 5, DOCID: 3187441, NSA FOIA;
Brownell Committee Report
, June 13, 1952, p. 108, NSA FOIA.

52. HQ USAF, AFOIR-SR 322,
Functions of the USAF Security Ser vice
, October 20, 1948, p. 1, AIA FOIA; “35 Years of Excellence,”
Spokesman
, October 1983: p. 9, AIA FOIA.

53. USAFSS,
Organizational Development of the USAFSS, 1948–1962
, February 15, 1963, p. 122, AIA FOIA; memorandum, Cabell to Director of Operations et al.,
Changes in Personnel and Equipment
Priorities for U.S. Air Force Security Service
, December 14, 1949, RG-341, entry 214 Top Secret Cable and Controls Division, box 47, file 2-10500-2-10599, NA, CP.

54. Memorandum, Secretary of Defense to Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force,
Organiza-
tion of Cryptologic Activities Within the National Military Establishment
, May 20, 1945, with attachment, RG-330, entry 199 OSD Decimal File 1947–1950, box 97, CD 22-1-23, NA, CP; JCS 2010,
Orga nization of Cryptologic Activities Within the National Military Establishment
, May 20, 1949, p. 1, RG-341, entry 214, file 2-8100-2-8199, NA, CP.

55. AFSA’s fiscal year 1951 budget (all of which came from financial contributions made by the three military services) came
to about $23 million, $13.9 million of which was “donated” to AFSA from ASA’s fiscal year 1951 command budget. See
Tentative Plans for FY 1952 Budget of
Armed Forces Security Agency—Part I Operating Plans . . . Part II Budget Summary
, April 6, 1950, RG-319, entry 1 (UD) Index to Army Chief of Staff Top Secret Decimal File 1950, box 5, file 040 Armed Forces
Security Agency, NA, CP; memorandum, Pace to Director, Armed Forces Security Agency,
Fiscal Year 1951 Financing for AFSA
, June 14, 1950, RG-319, entry 2 (UD) Army Chief of Staff Decimal File 1950, box 552, file 040 AFSA, NA, CP.

56. JCS 2010/10, Report by the Armed Forces Communication Intelligence Advisory Council to the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Orga nization of the Armed Forces Security Agency
, September 30, 1949, Enclosure B, p. 47, RG-218, CCS 334 (NSA), sec. 2, NARA FOIA.

57. TS Cont. No. SD-39819, memorandum, Stone to Director of Intelligence, U.S. Army,
Command
Responsibility for ASA Fixed Intercept Installations
, March 3, 1950; memorandum for the record,
AFSA Conference with ASA Concerning Policy Questions
, March 1, 1950, both in RG-319, entry 47A G-2 Top Secret Decimal File 1942–1952, box 13, file 676.3 thru 800.2 ’50, NARA
FOIA.

58. NSA OH-1981-01, oral history,
Interview with Herbert L. Conley
, March 5, 1984, p. 59, partially declassified and on file at the library of the National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade,
MD.

59. NSA OH-11-82, oral history,
Interview with Captain Wesley A. Wright, USN
, May 24, 1982, p. 75, NSA FOIA.

60. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, p. 184.

61. Williams and Dickerson,
The Invisible Cryptologists
, p. 19.

62. As of 1950, the other members of Jack Gurin’s plaintext unit were Olin Adams, Susan Armstrong, James Hones, James Honea,
First Lieutenant Justin McCarty, Juliana Mickwitz, Nicholas Murphy, and Constantin Oustinoff. ASA,
ASA Summary Annual Report FY 1948
, p. 33n, IN-SCOM FOIA; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, p. 169. Gurin background from
NSA Newsletter
, October 1965, p. 13, NSA FOIA; Williams and Dickerson,
The Invisible Cryptologists
, p. 17.

63.
Study of Joint Organizations for the Production of Communications Intelligence and for Security of
U.S. Military Communications (Stone Board Report)
, December 27, 1948, part A: Communications Intelligence, p. 16, DOCID: 3187441, NSA FOIA.

64. Memorandum, USCIB to Secretary of Defense,
Atomic Energy Program of the USSR
, May 12, 1949; memorandum for the Secretary of Defense from Admiral Louis Denfield, USN,
Atomic Energy
Program of the USSR
, June 30, 1949; memorandum for the Secretary of Defense,
Atomic Energy
Program of the USSR
, June 23, 1949, all in RG-330, entry 199 OSD Decimal File 1947–1950, box 61, file CD 11-1-2, NA, CP. For the precipitous
decline of AFSA Far Eastern, Chinese, and North Korean missions, see Guy R. Vanderpool, “COMINT and the PRC Intervention in
the Korean War,”
Cryptologic Quarterly
, vol. 15, no. 2 (Summer 1996): p. 8, NSA FOIA.

65.
Brownell Committee Report
, June 13, 1952, pp. 83–84, NSA FOIA.

66. In lieu of decrypts, the best that the American and British intelligence analysts could do was try to map the Soviet diplomatic
radio nets in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and monitor the flow of communications traffic along them. See, for example,
ASA, ID, RU-TAF-GEN-I #24,
Opening of Soviet Legation in Tel Aviv
, August 13, 1948, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2744, NA, CP; ASA, ID, RU-TAF-GEN-1
#28,
Soviet Operated
Diplomatic Radio Links
, December 2, 1948, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2742, NA, CP; S/ARU/C728,
Soviet Diplomatic W/T Network
, December 9, 1948, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2739, NA, CP; S/AQP/C61,
Cipher Traffic Between Moscow and Soviet Embassy, New Delhi
, January 3, 1949, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2742, NA, CP; ASA, ID, RU-TAF-GEN-P
#1,
Traffic Analysis Fusion General Periodic #1
, January 12, 1949, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2742, NA, CP; S/ARU/C880,
Soviet Diplomatic Wireless Link: Moscow-Oslo
, March 14, 1949, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2739, NA, CP. All reclassified by
the U.S. Navy.

67. T/S/002/103,
Periodic Note— the RUR Networks
, February 12, 1949, RG-38, Translations of Intercepted Enemy Radio Traffic, 1940–1946, box 2739, NA, CP. Reclassified by
the U.S. Navy.

68. Benson and Warner,
Venona
, pp. xxiv–xxvi.

69. Of the 206 Russian spies identified by the FBI, 101 had left the United States by 1955 and could not be prosecuted, including
61 Russian officials; 11 had died; 14 were cooperating with the FBI; and 15 were prosecuted. These individuals were Abraham
Brothman, Judith Coplon, Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Valentine A. Gubitchev (Judith Coplon’s KGB handler),
Miriam Moskowitz, Julius Rosenberg, Ethel Rosenberg, Alfred Slack, Morton Sobell, Jack Soble, Myra Soble, William Perl, and
Alger Hiss. This left 77 individuals whom the FBI had investigated but the U.S. Justice Department could not or would not
prosecute. Memorandum, Belmont to Boardman, November 27, 1957, pp. 2–3, FBI Venona Files, FBI FOIA Reading Room, Washington,
DC.

70. Currie moved to Colombia in 1950 to help that nation liberalize its economy. He remained there for the rest of his life,
dying in Bogotá on December 23, 1993, at the age of ninety-one. Memorandum, Belmont to Boardman, February 1, 1956, p. 9, FBI
Venona Files, FBI FOIA Reading Room, Washington, DC.

71. Weisband FBI File, Documents No. 65-59095-15, 65-59095-606, and 65-59095-628, FBI FOIA; Howard Benedict, “Book Says U.S.
Broke Soviet Code, Implicating Rosenbergs,”
Associated
Press
, March 3, 1980.

72.
Brownell Committee Report
, pp. 113–14, NSA FOIA; Dr. Thomas R. Johnson, “American Cryptology During the Korean War— A Preliminary Verdict,” June 2000,
p. 3, paper presented at the 26th Annual Conference of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, June 23,
2000, Toronto, Canada.

73. Woodrow J. Kuhns, ed.,
Assessing the Soviet Threat: The Early Cold War Years
(Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1997), p. 11, n. 39.

74. Memorandum, Hillenkoetter to Executive Secretary, NSC,
Atomic Energy Program of the
USSR
, April 20, 1949, p. 46, enclosure to memorandum, Allen to Secretary of the Army et al.,
Atomic Energy Program of the USSR
, April 28, 1949, RG-319, 1949–1950 TS, Hot File 091.412, box 165, file 091 Soviet Union, NA, CP; memorandum, Bauman to Assistant
Chief of Staff, G-2,
Military Personnel Requirements of AFSA
, June 6, 1950, RG-319, entry 47E Army G-2 Decimal File 1949–1950; memorandum, Brown to Wenger,
Military Personnel Requirements
of the Armed Forces Security Agency
, June 7, 1950, RG-319, entry 47E Army G-2 Decimal File 1949–1950, both in box 87, file 320.2 1949–1950 (2 Aug 46), NA, CP;
memorandum, Chief, Staff C and D to Assistant Director, Special Operations,
Steps Necessary to Place CIA,
Particularly OSO, in a Position to Adequately Fulfill Basic Responsibilities During the Present and
Inevitable Future Emergencies
, July 10, 1950, p. 3, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP84-00499R000700090019-1, NA, CP.