W VVWW 11 GBPJl3 l l VV lHl3W WWU WW W fW W lBrn 'ilmlbm J u Jm 3m 1J0 0 EO 1 4 c I SNOWBALLS ON THE ROOF 01 o oo o Vera R Filby ooooooo oooo o o I I d ANOTHER SOURCE U oooooooo ooooooooooo NSA-CROSTIC NO 29 U DHW THE ROADS AROUND US U oooooooooooooooo THE 2000-YEAR-OLD TRANSCRIBER U oooooo LETTER TO THE -EDITOR U oooooooooooooooooo o o oo ooooooooooooooooooo CLUB NEWS U oooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo II I 1 V 1 8 9 12 14 16 19 20 1 II '1'1118 99GYMRN'I' G9N'I'MN8 G99RW9R9 MA'I'RRIAL 8LAIIIFIEB BJPY NIA 81IM 133 3 REVIEW eN 1 BeT ilBBq Declassified and Approved for Release by NSA on '10-'1 2- 20'1 2 pursuant to E O '135 26 vl DR Case # 54778 DOCID 4009831 Published Monthlv by PI Techniques and Standards for the Personnel of Operations OCTOBER 1979 VOL VI No 10 WILLIAM LUTWINIAK PUBLISHER BOARD OF EDITORS -Editor-in-Chief David H Williams 1103s Collection o o o 1 Cryptanalysis 1 ---JI S55s IH902S 5 81s Cryptolinguistics oo 1 1 Information Science H30345 Language o 1 If816is Machine Support oo L - ---J 84S -Mathematics oo 1 IC8Sl8s Special Research o o Vera R Filby 71195 Traffic Analysis Don Taurone 3573s Illustrations IL - ___ For individual subscriptions send name and organizational designator to CRYPTOLOG PI P L 86-36 DOCID 4009831 88CRE'f Snowballs on the Roof Vera Fi Iby E41 very day thousands of NSA people see the snowballs dishes masts and other odds and ends on and near our various buildLlgS and many of us have wondered what they are and what they do CRYPTOLOG cannot provide all the answers because some of these installations are experimental and sensitive but we herewith offer you dear Reader our contribution toward an NSA Roofwatchers Guide E U Roofwatching for most of us is more frustrating than rewarding because it's so hard to identify the objects that appear and sometimes later disappear Birdwatchers have fieldbooks even beginners can learn to tell starlings from grackles and study of field marks will teach them that the little gray bird with the crest must be a titmouse Wild plant fanciers have their fieldbooks too and can go on rambles with naturalists who know what they are looking at Soon they can distinguish white oak from black and they can tell the difference between tickseed and sneezeweed in September fields And for other watchers there are manuals and even silhouette books for ships boats airplanes even pictures of radars are not hard to corne by ut fieldguides for antennas There's no such thing U Try the library You can find lots of books on antennas and some of them are supposed to be elementary In them you will find copious data on radio wave propagation and an abundance of radiation diagrams and mathematical formulas But pictures that identify and explain the mast with the flock of flying Vs on top or the thing that looks like an upside-down open-ended pyramid Not so easy U But then nothing about antennas is easy and the multiplicity of their design and the changing state of antenna art add to the complexity Of types there are monopoles and dipoles linear arrays spiral and helical an- tennas horn antennas loop antennas Slot antennas etc etc -- with variations and combinations and modification Besides that terminology varies and if in your guidebook hunt you should get hold of a British text you would find yet another collection of terms eCO Nevertheless anyone who understands antennas can tell a lot about an antenna just by looking at it and a radio engineer doesn't need a security clearance to guess at the frequency range an antenna is designed for or even to deduce the target of an intercept site Elliot Glunt of the Telecommunications and Computer Services Organization staff has a story to illustrate that In World War II he was ordered to Guam to take charge of the Jo i 1t Communications Activity JCA It soon became apparent to him that there was considerably more communications activity on the JCA base than he had cognizance over Since this was known as a spook outfit officially titled U S Naval Communications Supplementary Radio Station direct questions as to the activity went unanswered Needto-know fences -- that sort of thing By using some overgrown jungle trails he made his way to their antenna field where he saw among other antennas 27 rhombic arrays all aligned for reception to the north and northwest and an HF DF array It became crystal clear to that unindoctrinated viewer that the transmitting areas must be in Siberia China and Japan For the would-be roofwatcher and frustrated bookhunter then the best thing to do is ask people who know and you couldn't do better than get acquainted wi thl I of the Antenna Services activit ' part of the Telecommunications and Computer Services Organization The work center he directs is very small but the job they do is very big They are responsible for installing and maintaining the nearly 100 ant nnas on the roofs of October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 1 88CRET P L 86-36 IIMlBeE hit 8SMIH'f' 8Ih HHEbS SHbY DOCID 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED Ii scone ntenn l One of the TRIO Antennas Under Construction October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 2 UNCLASSIFIED DOCID 4009831 CONFIDENTIAL NSA's Fort Meade and Friendship Annex buildmaintenance and repair Obviously they can ings and more of them elsewhere We may also be used for concealment of their contents get to elsewhere in future installments The highest platform on the roof is the especially i f Bob f1 ies us there in his penthouse top It holds a parabolic dish glider or light aircraft This job entails which is sighted on another 4-foot dish on among many other things support from conthe FANX-III penthouse top The two formertractors since most of the equipment is ly served as backup for the gray phone syscommercially produced and it can be rather tem but are now being used for experimental more adventurous than most of us sedentary work Also mounted on the penthouse are NSA types are accustomed to as for example discone 199 periodic whip and UHF VHF anthe installation of the big dishes on the tennas and an anemometer If you look down south side of the old Operations Building from your 9-story elevation to the north roof on an icy pad by heavy helicopter on a winter of the old 3-story building you will see a day with snow threatening Adding to the cluster of antennas belonging to a staff elecomplexity of the job is the fact that the ment of the Operations Organization A longantennas on the roofs belong to a variety of wire antenna cut to 32 MHz running along the owners - not only the Telecommunications north roof belongs to Telecommunications On and Computer Services and the Research and the east roof near the south end is another Engineering Organizations as you would exparabolic reflector Then coming around to pect but also many elements of Operations the south roof you have a spectacular view of as well as Management Services Installations a great white dish and two smaller ones often and Logistics Communications Security and sitting serenely in the birdbath position the National Cryptologic School They are the TRIO group and they belong to Bob can take you for a tour of the Headan element of Operations quarters Building roof an exhilarating ex A cozier way to look at the TRIO system perience on a bright winter day with a sharp is on the monitor screens inside the antenna wind blowing and swirling white and gold room where the staff keeps watch on it Recclouds of vapor billowing out of the coolords stored in the antenna room include a TV ing towers and nobody there to enjoy it film of the installation of the heavy TRIO but the pigeons who unquestionably have the components - a real cliffhanger On event best view for miles around Were they so inthe film doesn't show was the episode of the clined they could observe a most interesting bus carrying members of the NSA Travel Club sight by peering down into the wooden towers through the warm roiling mists at the slanted which got mixed up in the moving operations and couldn't get out We can't show you rim of icicles inside and the water churning the film in CRYPTOLOG so here instead is in the dark below Outside great long ici The TRIO Story bY cles hang in the shadow of the tower walls Technical Manager T 43 The towers are made of wood by the way P L 86-36 because cedar and redwood withstand the changes of temperature and the effects of moisture more satisfactorily than anything TRIO consists of three separate anelse Other objects on the roof include tenna systems stairway penthouses air-conditioning outlets weather instruments grounding rods and TV cameras for monitoring the parking lots I U But the most conspicuous roof decorations atop Headquarters Building are the big balls variously referred to as snowballs golfballs or bubbles among other names Most of you will remember that there were once four of them Now there are two one at either end of the front or west side of the central building One is a geodesic dome and the other an orange-peel Of the other two one was moved to the roof of FANX-III and the other was dismantled for refurbishing and future relocation Domes like these made of nylon or fiberglass skin on wood or aluminum frames all transparent to radio waves are designed for environmental protection and the structure provides climatecontrolled working space at the base for fG7- Installation required the cooperation of Scientific Atlanta maker of the rotato rs and dishes elements of the Operations Telecommunications and R E Organizations GSA Fort Meade Military Police safety office s the fire department the post rigger and ' October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 3 eONPIBHNTIAL EO 1 4 c P L 86-36 DOCID 4009831 CONPIBHNI'IAb contractors The contractors involved included Washington Technological Associates Inc Carter Helicopter and United Rigging Company The expertly trained Army INSCOM antenna team bore the brunt of climbing tasks and worked beneath the helicopter during the main component assembly U The pad area was cleared off by Antenna Services and WTA United Rigging hoisted the rotators dishes and tower atop the roof and positioned these parts on the pad WTA lOOunted the horn and rotator on the roof pad They also mounted the 8-foot tower The rotator was attached atop the tower The 3-foot and the 8-foot dishes were mounted on this rotator with the use of scaffolding and chain hoists U On the day of the helicopter lift a Saturday the building wing was evacuated Television crews guards fire engine crews protographers installers safety officers and others went to work on a murky morning The pedestal which weighed 4 500 pounds was helicopter-lifted into place and bolted down The rotator weighing 7 500 pounds made the helicopter strain its maximum capacity is 8 500 pounds It was hoisted into place on top of the pedestal without a hitch The two counterweights weighing a ton each were then lifted into place 16 feet above the elevator housing The total time to lift and bolt into place was 50 minutes -- preceded by weeks of planning and coordination U The 24-foot dish arrived three weeks later It was raised to the roof by a Fort Meade crane We were assisted by the INSCOM installation team and NSA volunteers During this phase March winds and freezing rains caused delays U All cabling and testing ere completed by NSA personnel and specialists from the various equipment suppliers U The total preparation and installation time required excluding pad fabrication was 752 hours 240 on the part of INSCOM 222 by contractors and 290 by NSA personnel As you look out from your airy platform three towers punctuate the view On yo4J right to the southeast in the directiorf f1 4 c S BUilding near the motor pool is a taR' L 86- 3 6 tower with a reflector on top for line-ofsight microwave signals The transmitting equipment is at the bottom of the tower The signal could be transmitted through a cable but since this would cause some signal loss it is transmitted through space to the reflector which aims it towards NSS over on Nebraska Avenue This is part of the old gray phone system and is a standard type of Western Union relay operated by the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company Scanning counterclockwise you will next sight a tower which is on Cooper Avenue It is part of the Military Affiliate Radio System MARS an organization for amateur radio operators in the services and thus not part of our story The next tower you see however is very much part of the story Located on Rockenbach Road it was built under contract with Western Union and is part of the Washington Area Wideband System WAWS What you see is a 360-foot tower painted the conventional vermilion and white with parabolic dishes mounted at various intervals along the top half and aimed in various directions The flat covers over the faces of the dishes are for weather protection and the cylinder between the reflector and the cover helps to reduce side lobes The tower is connected by fiberoptics to the communications center in the main building WAWS will interconnect NSA NSS the Pentagon Andrews AFB Fort Detrick and several other stations Its capabilities are beyond anything we hav ' ' -tEUR7- To the west of the TRIO array near the end of the south roof stretch two series of loop antennas These are Hermes aperiodic WAWS and Its capabllltIes are so loop antenna systems designed as broadband P 'I m p o r t a 'n t t o us that we plan to provide you receiving sensors for signals in the 2 - 30 with an article about it in a future issue MHz range Since these are active anten a of CRYPTOLOG systems they have the advantage of equiring U WAWS is also connected with another less real estate than rhombics or log periarray you can see from your rooftop viewodics without sacrificing signal gain Dipoint Down below to the east-southeast rectivity and beamwidth pattern is a combiloom the twin white dishes of DARING DUO nation of their orientation and of t eir dwhich also deserves a story of its own and fired termination we hope to provide that for you too P L 86-36 EO 1 4 c OCtober 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 4 e6NPIBBN'fIAL l DOCID 4009831 DARING DUO U October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 5 SECRRf EO 1 4 c P L 86-36 DOCID 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED Hermes Antenna I ' WAWS TO ver October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 6 UNCLASSIFIED DOCID 4009831 SHURJi EO 1 4 c F o L 86-36 e From any point of view the panorama of discone mounted point down with its ground NSA's towers and masts and globes is quite plane rods radiating beyond the edge of the fascinating a poor man's Taj Mahal said penthouse roof The rays have a coppery gleam Brigadier Til tman when we told him about our but they are made ot anodi'zed aluminum At project and those who do most of their the north end of the east side of the FANX-III roofwatching at FANX can observe changing roof there is a short dipole antenna then a skylines there too We can enthusiastically long dipole strung along the rest of the east recommend an excursion to the FANX-lII roof side then a long wire rll1 l11ing diagonallyfrolil' L 86-36 with antenna experts like of h southeastucorrterUpast the penthouse to the Research and Engineering and i i or northwest On the edge of t he front side the School especially on a sunny breezy the south are two 3-element yagis one a April afternoon with unlimited visibility little larger than the other If you look west across the airport road you will see the low elevation that might have If you look down past the yagis to the been the Cupola Hill of an earlier day Now left you will find yourself gazing at the it supports navigational radars for BWl Airroof of FANX-II and the long black object on port Off in the distance to the left is the it The building consists of two parts joined MARS tower then the WAWS tower then a water to make a Z-shape and the black thing slants tower and the to the south and southeast across the Z-bar to gain a length of about 600 is the expanse'of the airport Round about feet There was a good deal of speculation you on the roof are such bits and pieces as as to what might be going on whenit and the the exhaust outlets for the boilers and the little houses at its ends were under conmedical center roof drains metal grid walkstruction executive escape hatches special ways and the aircraft warning beacons rehorizontal burnbag disposal quired by the FAA But these are not the f o r e l v e s I __ __ __ j objects of our interest The biggest such and it belongs to Research and Engineering object is the lone white ball It is part of and that's all we can tell you about it Anythe Research and Engineering antenna facility way it may have had one effect we heard sugalthough permission was given to Security to gested it may have given the Russian photo install two-way radio in this structure Beanalysts something to think about side the ball on the same platform and part Besides the tunnel the most notable of the same Security communications system things on the FANX-li roof are the six conis a very long fiberglass whip antenna with densing units for the air conditioning cores an aircraft warning marker on to Near the in the building but there are antennas there big ball is a 3-element yagi antenna and if too In between the second and third units you stand behind it and look where it seems to are three vertical gray fiberglass-domed be looking you will find yourself staring at cylinders standin aDd-alJ- __-- the WAWS tower Nearby is a round loop antenna ed on a latform with a center bar probably designed for the ey HF or VHF range and there is also a VHF UHF antennas TV array Nearer the penthouse which stands on the roof some of them also used for trainin the middle of the roof is a very large ing include long-wire antennas small disparabolic dish with a protective cover on it cones point up and a large one point down and shrouded sides to suppress side lobes Small discones are designed for VHF UHF and The cover has the red flash marking of the the big ones for HF Discone antennas are Andrews Corporation painted on it This dish omnidirectional and can cover a broad band is part of the WAWS A much smaller dish near up to several MHz With backscatter they the south edge of the roof also has the red can receive signals from well over the horiflash mark Nearby is a OF-type loop with zon VHF UHF discones are much used for coma rotator municating with aircraft U Up on top of the penthouse at the high U When next you glance_up at the NSA skyest elevation is another flash-marked paraline no doubt you will see that things are bolic dish This is the one that looks at its not quite as we have described them But mate on the Headquarters Building penthouse changes are always under way New equipment The penthouse roof also holds a small whip was being installed and old equipment removed antenna a shelter for temperature and humideven as this article was in preparation We ity instruments and an anemometer A most hope nevertheless that it contributes to conspicuous feature up there is the big your interest in roofwatching October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 7 SHURR DOCID 4009831 on 1 4 86 36 DOClD 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED ANOTHER SOURCE L - _ bh ndoubtedly the most common method of acquirinr new equipment here at NSA is through conventional procurement channels ut there is another source of supply for equi11ment sorely needed by our operational elements one which avoids the anxieties and tensions which so often attend programming actions such as the justifying of requirements the competing for budget dollars and the long waiting periods usually associated with pro urement nrocedures Ll the Office of Materiel Man _i elllent has the equipment for the asking Of course there is a catch The equipment is in most cases not brand new But it is available without cost and it can be delivered quickly usually within a week of the request It is equipment which Ll2 the Plant Property Division advertises on the excess bulletins which are pUblished periodically and distributed widely Even though nearly two hundred copies of these bulletins are distributed there are still people who need equipment but do not know about them U Throughout the federal government there are thousands of organizations that come up with excess equipment for any of several reasons the job for which the equipment was procured may cease to exist newer equipment may supplant- the original inventory jobs positions or entire organizations may be disestablished or any of a hundred other reasons may arise to eliminate equipment requirements When equipbecomes excess in the Department of Defense it is reported to the Defense Property Disposal Service DPDS for appropriate reutilization screening throughout the government -Before equipment is transferred to the DPDS by way of a local area Property Disposal Office it is advertised to the Cryptologic Community through Ll2's excess bulletins There are two series of these -the inhouse bulletins numbered in the 400s P L contain information on equipment turned in by the NSA elements including field facilities and the out-house series a term we have been asked not to use numbered in th 100s cover equipment reported by the S As as well as NSA NSA SIGINT equipment is advertised in both series Since the bulletins are issued alternately much equipment is available to NSA elements 30 days before it is advertised to the community at large You may of course request equipment from either series During FY-79 NSA's participation in the reutilization program resulted in a saving of nearly five and a half million dollars Specifically 336 items were reused reflecting a saving of $5 458 102 Throughout the community the total was closer to six million dollars 436 items $5 870 634 These figures do not reflect the value of the equipment involved but rather the amount that would have had to have been spent to replace it This in itself may be misleading the dollar value shown in the reutilization of an AN TNH-ll recorder reproducer is approximately $1 100 but you can no longer buy a new TNH-ll If a replacement machine must be purchased it will have to be an AN TNH-21 at $5 000 more or less Thus when a TNH-Il is recycled our figures will reflect a saving of $1 100 where the actual saving might have been closer to $5 000 We are not limited to the Cryptologic Community for our equipment You may request equipment from other government agencies - For example during CY-79 one element obtained 46 items through DLA Excess Personal Property Listings reflecting a saving of $164 674 This external program may be the subject of a future article How do you determine the condition of a piece of equipment on the excess list That's a reasonable question that deserves a better answer than is currently avail- October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 9 UNCLASSInED 86-36 DOCID UNCLASSIFIED 4009831 able The honest answer is that you just don't know -- for sure Each excess list contains a column listing the condition code for each item Our in-house bulletins use the GSA condition codes which provide a reasonably well defined statement of the actual condition of the equipment -- or a potential for a well defined statement Unfortunately many managers declare their excess property as 0-3 fair and usable without repair regardless of its actual condition We suspect that this usage is frequently the result of the rater not knowing the breakdown of the codes In an effort to dispel some of the mystery Ll22 included a list and explanation of these codes with the Cryptologic Community SIGINT ADPE Excess Bulletin No 139 In the Cryptologic Community bulletins the condition codes are simply A or F These letters do not stand for awful and foul as some people have suggested but relate to the GSA condition codes as shown it the chart Essentially a rating of A indicates equipment whether new or used which is in excellent or good condition while F denotes excellent or good equipment requiring repair or or equipment which is fair to poor To quote from a recent DLA newsletter In today's climate of belt-tightening and limited budgets it is essential that all of us explore every possible means of saving or stretching dollars and other resources One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the reutilization of Department of Defense excess property Activities which are not now participating in the DoD Reutilization Program are strongly encouraged to begin doing so and activities which are al'ready reutilizing excess property are urged to seek ways to obtain and use even more of it In either case the informed and systematic use of excess materiel from the Defense Property Disposal Service can significantly reduce expenditures for new procurement as well as the delivery time needed to actually get items in hand If you have any questions about excess property or the Reutilization Program please call L122 7264s 7906b CONDITION CODES AND EXPANDED DEFINITIONS CRVPTO CO -l l A Condition Code- Expanded Dl 'finitjon N ' New or unused property in excellent condition Re dy for use and idl 'nlical or interchangeable Mth new items delivered by o manut -cturer or nOlD'laJ source of supply A N 2 N iu l tfyro 'heo1w g gi i ju tncO n3itt f ol n r N-3 Nr et tr tC nfl il ' ' t UtilIty F F A nwtcd deterionated New or unwed j fopert badly broken soiled msted m ldewed def criorated damBled or broken Ulat its condition is poor I1ld its utility serioiJsly impaired N-4 E 1 Used property but repaired or renow ted IJ1d in ex-ceDent condition E-2 U iti ' 1ro l th e d Qtt Jn Or E 3 'U' C n s ni O i a a1 ro F GBP 4 'U'1 w3 ri ti n ai d n e o w t reZi r gg n A 0-1 A 0-2 F 0 3 F Q 4 oooooooooUI e le o i o t f yfS t n n le n and F R 1 Us t P J'lJ inn t1 dJ O W ' 1I F R 2 Us ll li srtZ l5 f d ti t UiE n id i i OS Uired Estimated cost F R-3 Us r o fa nf c2j o 6 f ui tfo reqUired Esuma d repair F R-4 oo Uted p ropertY in poor condition IIl1d requiring m or repairs Badly worn - nd A excellent condition F required 01 expected to be needed in near futurt ezposure to weather or mildew Pro 11' I ' ' Mi J liebtly 0' moderately used no pain quired and tiIl UI e rbe'orem r i to r arr i u m e ition with considerable U e Y r t r ll j d 'gr u o th reGBP ' g Jvt c NplllCed requited Estimated tr tt b ' i t tcf dif5 fu o u e X ooo o o Balvqe Penona PJo rty that hu lome value in e r Ce lI ot its basic material eontent but whiCh 11 in such condition that it has no reuonable-'p1ospeet 01 use for any pulP-ole u unit either by the holding or any other Federal gency and iti repair or reh billt ttion for use Il l a unii either by u'e holdine or IlJ ern x n 1 s5 e p' c fJ 'c f uY r ft s' lv impractic l ' for pUrpoall of this definition SenD Material that hu no v s lIP t'xcf 'nt fot its basic mattrlal content October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 10 UNCLASSIFIED DOCID 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED ' I J COMMUNICATIONS ANAL YSIS ASSOCIATION PRESENTS ITS FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON COMMUNICATIONS ANALYSIS 'J THEME CONFEREICE WILL BE HELD ON THE 151 18TH OF OCTOBER 1980 AT 0900 TO 1200 HOURS II THE FRIEDIAN AUDITORIUI THE THEIE REFLECTS CONCERN OVER THE IIPACT THAT IANPOWER COISTRAINTS CHANGES II THE WORKFORCE 10 THE EVOLUTION OF THE COIMUNICATIONS AND TECHIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTS WILL HAVE ON ANALYSTS IN THE FIELDS SERVU BY CAl CAl INVITES AGENCY PERSONNH TO SUBMIT PAPERS OR ABSTRACTS FOR PRESENTATION AT THE CONFERENCE SUGGESTED TOPICS INCLUDE 1 ri o o o o o o o o o THE ANALYTIC RESPONSE TO A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT SIGINT OPERATIOIS 1980 1990 THE ANALYST AND AUTOMATION THE FUTURE OF TRAFFIC ANALYSIS COMSEC CHALLENGES AND RESPONSE SIGINT REPORTING THE CHANGES AHEAD INTEGRATING CRYPTOLOGIC DISCIPLINES THE DOCUMENTATION OF TARGETS I SOLUTIONS THE IMPACT OF PUBLIC CRYPTOGRAPHY PAPERS OR ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS ON THESE OR OTHER TOPICS SHOULD BE SUBMlnED BY 31 MARCH FOR INFORIATION CONTACT BILL NOLTE G77 SA122 52021 October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 11 UNCLASSIfiED DOCI-O 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED The trigraphs used in this puzzle are the standard codes for various North American airports There are used here to represent either the airports themselves or the cities which they serve Happy landings NSA- Crostic No 29 by D H W A BNA Robert Altman film B When the 7 52 plane is supposed to leave 3 wds 208 ---r6 9T 56 54 44 137 -6- 24 135 C INT City named after two cigarettes comp _ 81 1 166 193 183 204 5 232 87 240 178 259 D Pertaining to an ancient people of Asia Minor E MCG Tony's last name F Snobbishly arrogant sl G SAT flower 3 wds 2'7-4H That which gives forth I YYZ Largest city in the nation 2 wds J Disability frailty moral weakness K MSP Northern twin L Furnishes 1 Incorrect irregular N 6 f 34 DTW Character from Guys and Dolls 2 wd 5 O Farewell to CMlI 2 wds P Permission to pass 3 wds -7- 8S 145 139 TOT 14 114 i l l 199 4T Q ABE Cities served by this acronymous airport 3 wds R Make smaller S Arab prince October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 12 UNCLASSMED CID 400983 1 ----------------- ----UNCLASSIFIED T Champions from SEA 2 wds U OYS Major western U S tourist attraction V Person who might depart from LGA JFK or EWR 2 wds W Unpleasant task 2 wds X YRB Northernmost airport of America Y One who habitually expects the best possible outcome Z Square peg in a round hole a EEK Small Alaskan town served by this airport elz 1 Ii o 13 U 14 lii C 0 B7 P 8 Q 9 K B 25 T 26 27 G o 43 X 44 8 45 19 R 20 Q 21 o 2 II' 23 Z 24 36 R 37 I 38 D 39 o 40 A 41 P 54 II 55 V 56 II 57 69 V 70 A 71 0 o o 87 C 88 J o o 138 J 139 P 140 U o o o o 0 o 58 Q 59 N 60 A 61 X J 78 N 73 M 74 T 75 Y 76 R77 89 o J 91 8 92 K 93 94 90 lJ o N12 o 28 Z 29 T 30 A 31 Q D 46 II' 47 J 4 A 49 Q 50 G 64 a 65 Q 162 S 63 Q 79 104 Z 105 N 106 U 107 X 108 R 109 Q 11011' 111 Y 112 A 113H 154 M 155 U o 171 E 172 K 173 U 174 II' 187 I 188 Q 189 V o o o o 0 N 'I I o o o o 221 K 222Y 223101 224 Q 225 I U6 o I f o 227 V U8 S 256 K 257 V 258 X1259 C1260 U1261 T 262 Y Ii o o Y 16 B 17 I 18 Q 32 L 33 Q 34 B 35 J 51 II' 52 F 53 K 66 N 7 B 8 X R 83 N 84 Q 85 P 86 N I 100 E o o K 101 P 102 R 103 Q o 117F 118E 119Q 120 U o 149 G 150 R 151 E 180 I 181 D 182 E 183 C o ll T o Z4b L 247 o 199 P 200 H 201 T 212 M 213 0 Zl4 T 215 D o 21 II' 217 V 23U M1231 H1232 L 233 L 234 I I q Q125U I l t 263 M 264 I C R October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 13 l o C 82 81 J 199 o 190 F 191 Q 192 M 193 C 194 E 195 I 196 G 197 a 198 T 210 K 211 Z o P 15 136 H 137 B o o 152 H 153 G 161 1 162 a 163 Q 164 M 165 G 166 C 167 T 168 D 169 0 l70L 177 L 178 C 179 Q o K 14 130Q 131 T 132 0 133 I 134 N 135 B 175 H 176 G 156 F 157 A 158 U 159 T 160 G o 13 114 P 115 K 116 V o 238 0 239 S 1240 C 241 R 242 D1243 J o 126 H 127 0 128 X 129 Q o K 80 141 0 142 N 143 Q 144 A 145 P 146 L 147 S 148G 204 C 205 Q 206 E 207 T 208 8 209 II' 255 X 42 72 121 II' 122 N 123 Z 124 V 125 T nOT o o o - 10 T 11 UNCLASSIFIED Y P T 0 lJ 184 P 185 G 186 T o o 202 Y 203 I o 253 23 L 218 Y 219 N li 23b 0 T '231 f 254 N G DOCID 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED IDIrr innb i 1 rnuub 1111 I D L ' pu1mu by 1 ---- No t man f 06 lUI can a c CUlLa te1 f name the 60Wt Wa cU WMc h WtJr ound the HQ and OpeJLtLtW buU cUn gh at FoJr t Meade and fet t hr 60 lJTlGBPLtWn J A hr the pub ue domtU n Leg i ble h i gnpo u eJUh t 6M aU to 6ee fet M Ho em ILemtVlk ed to Wathon You ee but fOU do no t obheJLve Qmck now try naming these Wad fO uJr 6 e1 6 Feeling that the exploit 06 the men whom th e Wa cU WeJLe name d hhoufd no t be wholly fOI'fJotten 1 have plte paJte d the oollowUtg no te on what could be leaJtned aO teJL the pMha ge 00 60 man f feaM FWttheJL hr 6oJr rl1a tion 0 W m lLeadeJLh we uld be we1 c ome d ILC 6M HENRY J HERCZOG After serving an an officer in the us Army Signal Corps from February 1943 to June 1946 Mr Herczog joined a precursor of NSA as a civilian in July 1946 He served NSA with distinction until his premature death at the age of 40 on 4 September 1960 During his career with the Agency he received a number of letters of commendation for high performance in important missions and for his professional competence and technical abilities He played an important role in developing and furthering a 'number of Agency programs and was described by RADM Kurtz as extremely competent and sincerely motivated a natural leader Mr Herczog also found time to serve as President and later Chairman of the Board of the Government Employees Benefit Association GEBA He wit and friendliness made him popular and as a speaker he was among the best The road that runs from east to west past Gatehouse 4 is named in his honor and memory HOWARD T ENGSTROM After attaining the rank of Captain in the Navy during World War II Mr Engstrom along with LCDR William Norris and others returning to civilian life after serving in the Navy's CSAW Communications Supplementary Activity Washington were successful in forming a private company -- Engineering Research Associates ERA set up shop in St Paul Minnesota and was kept going by US Navy contracts covering such specific tasks as building special purpose electronic data processing devices and research on data hand ing and storage techniques From NSA's point of view the significance of all this was ERA's successful design and construction of the ATLAS computers an affair which kept Mr Engstrom in contact with the higher officials of NSA He joined Remington Rand when that company bought out ERA in 1952 and became a member of the NSA Scientific Advisory Board After Remington Rand in turn merged with Sperry Gyroscope to become Sperry Rand Mr Engstrom took leave from his company to serve NSA first as Deputy Director of Research and Development 1956 - 1957 and then as Deputy Director of NSA 1957 - 1958 After returning from NSA to become a vice president at Sperry Rand in 1958 he was awarded the first NSA Exceptional Civilian Service Medal on 17 February 1960 Historian Samuel Snyder tells of the meeting held on 10 March 1958 to discuss the HARVEST concept After Snyder and others argued in favor of HARVEST Mr Engstrom spoke strongly against it He was overruled by then-Director LGEN Samford There are those who still think his advice was the best in the HARVEST case From the eulogy printed in the NSA Newsletter following his death in March 1962 we take the following October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 14 UNCLASSIFIED ----------- _ o _-- _ 86-36 DOCID 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED He will be remembered by his many friends in NSA as a big man in every respect never failing to greet and show a warm and cordial interest in the affairs of others though he was always preoccupied with solutions to any difficult problems The road that runs from north to south past Gatehouse 1 is named in his honor WILLIAM D WRAY In early 1942 Dr Wray carne to the Navy Department as a Mathematician Grade PI the grade given in those days to college graduates with bachelor's degrees His PhD in applied statistics was ignored He and Dr Robert E Greenwood were almost the only civilians in their working area and the atmosphere on the job was not pleasant But Dr Wray had contended with handicaps since a childhood illness had left him with permanent medical problems Patriotic conviction kept him with the Navy His refusal to be discouraged proved itself on many occasions and commended him to everyone He came to be a confidant and advisor to many Dr Wray's steady good judgment his objective steadfastness and his ability to get along with people and encourage them made him a good administrator He was steadily advanced and his early death at 52 in 1962 was a serious loss to NSA as well as to his family and friends COL HARRY E TOWLER USAF A member of the US Air Force Security Service COL Towler served as Vice Chief of Staff 1950 - 1953 He was then assigned as Commander 6950th Security Group Chicksands Priory England where he served until 1956 He was then named Chief AFSSFM GENS-3 under an arrangement in which the Director NSA exercised management in partnership with the Chiers of the SCAs In both roles COL Towler interacted daily with members of many Agency elements at all levels while remaining responsible to Commander USAFSS Kelly AFB San Antonio A memoir received from then-SSGT Billy J Baker includes the following comment I remember COL Towler as bein the finest commander it was my privilege to serve under in my 21 year military career He was a large man who tempered his military bearing with a fatherly concern for the welfare of all his men At a masquerade ball at the Chicksands NCO Club in 1954 COL Towler created a memorable impression by appearing as Henry VIII his rotund figure covered with jewel-encrusted velvet his eyes winking merrily atop a flaming red beard as he gave the wives the opportunity to dance with a king The road running from north to south past Gatehouse 3 is named in his memory and honor The road that runs from west to east past Gatehouse 2 is named in memory of Dr Wray My thanks to Howard Campaigne Sam Snyder I I lujbl'mherpuwithmthe8euvignette 8 o f t h e - p a '$t -- ---- r a--------- NCS SUMMER LANGUAGE PROGRAM Applications are currently being accepted for the Agency's Self-Help in Language Growth Program for the summer of 1980 This program is designed to upgrade the skill of linguists through full-time summer language programs at accredited academic institutions such as Middlebury Vt College the University of Illinois etc Students receive full pay but all other expenses are their own responsibility Individuals approved are issued permissive TDY orders which authorize time off only They must make their own travel and housing arrangements To qualify an applicant must be an NSA civilian career employee with at least two years of SIGINT experience of equivalent military experience o request training in the language in which he is currently working or in a language designated by management as necessary to the Agency's mission possess certain minumum language proficiency qualifications be accepted by the school of his choice Applicants should submit an External Training Request Form ES824 through channels to the Registra NCS B8l by 3D_April October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 15 UNCLASSIFIED P L 86-36 DocrD 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED The 2000 Year Old Transcriber A04 '----------- ome veteran professional athletes have been trying to hang on with their teams into the 1980 season in order to say tilat they played in four decades - the fifties sixties seventies and eighties It made me realize that there are some people around who have been associated with voice transcription at the Agency and in the field durin those same four decades Thinking that it might be useful to document the changes that have taken place in transcription over the years I set out to interview the 2 000year-old transcriber I found him sunning himself outside his cave in the woods beyond the Ft Meade rifle ranges He readily agreed to the interview and we spent a pleasant afternoon r tracing years of transcription history our conversation broken occasionally by the fire of weapons on the ranges or the passing of a Metroliner on the nearby railroad tracks A transcript of that interview follows Q Sir could you tell me about the transcription organizations of old A Yes they were a lot smaller and simpler than those you hav over at the puzzle palace nowadays The Phrendian problem was always the largest of course but I can remember when there were only SO or so of us in the whole Phrendian transcription shop The organization was split into two sections that made it easy to form sides for the softball game at the annual Phrendian Transcription Branch picnic Actually come to think of t there was another part of our ou fit called the Vault S Q Why was it called the Vault A Because it was in an actual vault it may still be there at the south end of the second floor center corridor It was one of the first exclusion areas The vault kept the secrets in unfortunately it also kept the fresh air out A lot of people who worked in there developed TB Q J Tuberculosis A No Tiny bladder To get out and get some fresh air you went to the bathroom a lot Q Not to change the subject but what were the early voice recordings like A You have to remember that -I only go back 2 000 years Some of the oldtimers used to talk about transcribing from wax discs or recordings on piano wire but they had progressed to magnetic tape by the time I came on board Of course the quality of the tape at first was not so good the oxide surfaces weren't as developed as they are now so the fidelity wasn't as true and you had to play the tapes at higher speeds also the tape was thicker and combined with the high speeds you couldn't record as much as today on a given sized reel Q And the recorders What were they like A Oh boy If today's beginning transcribers could see them they would laugh if they had to use them they would cry Q They were that bad A Well they weren't designed for the wear and tear of transcription They were just commercial recorders If you put a tape on one of them played it for half an hour or so at a time and then turned it off it was fine After all that's what these recorders were designed to do But when you tried to go back and forth back and forth over garbled passages or to run them a lot on fast forward or reverse they soon went kaput Q What brands were they A One of the most common was the Revere It was used almost exclusively in our shop The recorder came in a pebble-grained brown case complete with carrying handle and it rested face up on your desk It had plastic piano key controls for the recorder functions I think most of the insides must have been plastic too as fragile as they were October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 16 UNCLASSIFIED P L 86-36 I DOCID 4009831 I I UNCLASSIFIED Q And the other models A The other type that predominated was the Magnecorder PT-6 It had a grey case and was an upright model It was barely taller than the 7-inch reels that you played on it It had one knob that you turned to different positions for all the functions With all the turning of that switch in transcription the insides of that recorder took a real beating A little later we also got some Magnecordettes which had a 2-track capability And finally we started developing special transcription recorders like the AN TNH-ll and later the AN TNH-21 Q Did those early recorders have any special features to help the transcriber A Are you kidding They had zilch to help the transcriber Things you would take for granted today we didn't have Take the variable speed control that lets you slow down a difficult passage our variable speed controls were the fingers on our left hands We would press them up against the edge of the supply reel and vary the pressure to slow down the tape It distorted the recording of course but it did slow it down to where we at least thought we had a better chance to recover a tough Qrd o phrase Q Tll fSout1ds like it might have been hard on the recorder A Sure it was Frequently the rewind function would give out We would stick a pencil in the reel and rewind it manually until we got tired of doing that and calleq for repairs You had to improvise in those days Another example your recorders today have counters so that you can note-the exact positions on a tape you might want to hear again On the Magnecorders there were no counters We used to tear off little scraps of paper and stick them in the tape to mark those places By the time you got to the end of a particularly bad part it was two-toned - brown and white from all the paper stuck in it Then when you rewound the tape you had to be careful to stop it in time or-else you went by the marked spots and the little pieces of white paper would go flying off across the room phfft phfft phfft Oh and those early recorders would not cut off automatically when the end of the tape r n out -If you weren't there to stop it immediately the reel kept turning and the tape either spilled out onto the floor or got wrapped around the capstan Q I guess that earphones have changed a lot over the years A You bet The early ones were functional but uncomfortable as hell They were what radio operators for years have called cans The part that went over your ears was hard October 79 plastic the bare metal bands that went over the top of your head were adjustable and the moving parts would scrape and pinch your skin At the end of the day you went home with rose red ears and your hair parted sideways Q Did you go right from those to the individually molded earphones that are used today A Oh no First the electronics companies came out with muffs the kind that most people use with their home stereos today They were much more comfortable around the ears but kind of bulky and heavy to wear all day Before long we switched to the Telex type with extremely light plastic headbands and the little tips that went into the ear Then somebody hit on the idea of individually molded earpieces Q Do the earmolds help you hear better than other types of headsets A I don't know People have debated that for years Some say they really make a difference others think it's all in the mind I'll tell you what's the best thing about the moldies though it's the expandable cords that go with them Q How does that help A Well if a good-looking girl walks by you can wheel around for a quick double take without suffering whiplash Q I guess with the earmolds and e cpandable cords the state of the art for earphones has gone just about as far as it can go A I used to think so but the other day on my portable radio I heard that some rock groups are now operating with cordless electric guitars A tiny transmitter in the guitar beams the music to the amplifiers and the guitarists are free to romp all around the stage without getting tangled up in their own or each other's cords So maybe there will be cordless earphones in the future I wouldn't expect to see transcribers dancing around the transcription shop though because they are 'still tied down to the keyboard Q Speaking of keyboards what were the early ones like A We didn't have any keyboards We had mills old-fashioned manual typewriters And of course they weren't connected to cathode ray tubes we had to bang out transcripts on 5- or 6-ply paper The paper had holes down the sides and on both sides of the -typewriter carriage were metal sprockets the sprockets were supposed to mate with the holes and insure that all the multi-ply remained aligned as the carri ge moved When you finished the transcript you had to separate the copies and pullout the carbon paper We eventually went to CRYPTOLOG Page 17 UNCLASSIFIED B-GGID - 400983 1 __ _--_ _----------- --- - UNCLASSIFIED Selectric typewriters and carbonless paper both of which made transcript preparation easier And then of course came keyboards and CRTs which allowed paperless transcription Q Have people always transcribed at desks A No there have been attempts to develop a special transcription position In fact a number of positions were produced and used for a dozen years or so at the Agency I guess they were officially called Transcription Consoles We just referred to them as consoles Q What were they like A They looked like somebody's idea of a Cape Canaveral space console They were silver metal cabinets with a shelf for a typewriter an upper rack tilted away from you for the recorder and usually more shelf rack and drawer space on one or both sides of the recorder depending on whether you had 1 3 2 3 or 3 3 of a position since they came in detachable modules Q Were they better than a plain desk A Overall they were worse Q How so A They were camels Q Camels A You know the old saying that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee I think that's what happened with the 'consoles They incorporated some good ideas for example the typewriter shelf was at a lower more natural level than a desktop In general though they were more a frustration than an aid Q A Well people have always been obsessed with reducing the noise in transcription areas The clicking of footpedals and recorder parts and the clattering of typewriters sometimes add up to a re l hubbub Q What did they try to do about it A At one time they decided to test a variety of sound-deadening measures in one transcription section First they came in and took decibel readings of the noise level in a typical transcription area with tile flooring concrete walls and metal consoles Then they installed carpeting on the floor and drapes on the walls and put pads under the typewriters Q What were the results A The area Zooked real nice with the carpeting and drapes One drawback was that your chair wheels would catch in the rug when you tried to move and you would go toppling over onto the floor To remedy that they put hard pads under the chairs Eventually they came back to_ take decibel readings again Q What were some of the problems A As I recall you couldn't reach the recorder from your seat the drawer space was insufficient for the working aids and supplies you needed and all the distracting noises that recorders footpedals and typewriters -make seemed to be magnified by the metel and the hollow spaces within the consoles Q What happened to them A They began to wear out and people turned them in for junk as soon as they could I certainly hope that by now they've been recycled into something useful like beer cans Q Have there been other attempts to improve the lot of transcribers A Oh yes Transcribers engineers and contractors have come up with various ideas intended to make transcritpion better or at least easier Q For example And A Supposedly there was no significant reduction the the noise level so nothing ever came of it We were a little let down bu our disappointment was cushioned by an article in the news at that time It seems that a new office building had recently been constructed in West Germany incorporating all the latest sound-deadening techniques at great expense The soundproofing was so effective that the office workers were disoriented by all the silence Turns out that they had to pipe in typical outside sounds traffic birds airplanes and the like -- to put the workers back at ease Q What else has been tried to help transcribers A One of the silliest ideas was to replace the typewriter with a Stenotype machine Supposedly we would have sat there clacking out shorthand symbols on a Stenotype keeping up with the recording and never having to stop and go over anything The Stenotype tape would have been fed into a device that would convert the symbols back into words on a transcript Q Would that have been the SPELLMAN project A Yes That was the name of it How did you hear about that Q There have been some articles about it in CRYPTOLOG l You didn't think too highly of it then A The only thing that might have been worse was the stereo delay experiment October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 18 UNCLASSIFIED -- _ _-------_ _-_ - _---- - ------ ---- --- - --40'e-9-B-S--l----- --7__-LI ------------UNCLASSIFIED Q The stereo delay experiment A I don't know if that's what it was officially called Some electronics engineer had the idea that transcribers could hear more clearly if the recorded voice was to be placed on each of two tracks One track would be fed into the left earphone and the other track -- with the same recording -would be fed into the right headphone The catch was that there was a delay of a small fraction of a second between what you heard in you left and right ears Supposedly this delay would increase your aural acuity Q And it didn't do anything for you A Oh yes It gave us headaches Here those engineers were getting paid twice as much as we were to corne up with cockamamie ideas like that I think they kept them down in the basement too long in those days Q Haven't there been any innovations that have really helped transcribers A I can't think of any A lot of the developments have made transcription more aanfortabZe but not really easier And new technology sometimes causes new problems For instance the old mills and 6-ply paper were a pain to use but with the new CRTs you have to guard against things like radiation or the eyestrain that's caused by CRT glare I understand they've been working on a way to convert speech into a digital form so it can be manipulated and enhanced to smooth out the garbled parts I'm skeptical but you never know After all who would have predicted cordless electric guitars Q Can you think of anything else in the way of past developments that have affected transcription A No but like I said I only go back 2 000 years Some of the oldtimers might be able to fill you in about the earliest days Q Just one last question How do I get back to the Agency from here A That's easy Just follow that path there And when you get back to the b ilding please say hello to General Canine for me it will take you to the rifle range road Notably 1 Remember SPELLMAN by Arthur Salemme Jul 78 Also More B S Before SPELLMAN by I IOct 78 A somewhat more opt m st c view of this concept can be found in Shootout at the SIGINT Corral byl I Jul 79 P L Solution to NSA-Crostic No 28 CRYPTOLOG August - September 1979 Mokusatsu J by I One Word I J ettef 10 the ditof TW Lessons One problem that keeps every word in one language from having a counterpart in every other language is that often something which is commonplace to speakers of one language will be unknown to speakers of another How for example do you translate anchor into a lsnguage spoken by nomad s in the midst of the Sahara Desert To the Editor CRYPTOLOG I enjoyed reading the humorous account ofl learly experiences with computers at the Agency On Coming of Age at NSA Confession of an Ex-Linguist CRYPTOLOG August-September 1979 I would like to point out however that ROB ROY was not the first system to have remote use terminals ever ROGUE was ROGUE Remote Operated General Use Equipment installed at Arlington Hall Station had four remote terminals Flexowriters each located in a different analytic area three were in A BuildJng for GENS ALLO and ACOM while the fourth was in B Building for ADVA As with ROB ROY the terminals were serviced serially Delmar L Taylor Chief T33l October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 19 UNCLASSIFIED 86-36 DOCID 4009831 UNCLASSIFIED For the Spring of 1980 the Crypto-Linguistic Association announces two contests THE SYDNEY JAFFE AWARD In 1972 the CLA established the Sydney Jaffe Award as the Agency's highest recognition of exceptional acheivement in the field of language It is given to persons either civilian or military who have made major contributions to the mission of the cryptologic community in the tradition of scholarship leadership and accomplishment exemplified by the late Dr Jaffe the first President of the CLA The award may be given for any aspect of language endeavor operational use research training development of new technology or management Candidates may be nominated by any three members of the cryptologic community by the Chairman of the Language Career Panel or py any supervisor at office level or above Nominations should include a statement detailing the candidate's accomplishments in the language field an4 ihQwtheyhave contributed to the Agency's mission Selection will be made by a committee composed of representatives of each of the major NSA organizations which employ linguists Nominations should be submitted to CLA presidentl-------- IG95 2A158 ext 5882s by 1 May P L CLA ESSAY CONTEST Submissions of the annual CLA essay contest are now being accepted The deadline for entries is 1 May Any paper in the fields of language or linguistics written by a member of the CLA is eligible papers by non-member Agency per sonnel are eligible if sponsored by a member While it is preferred that entries be original material written specifically for this contest previously published items will be considered First prize is $100 second prize is $50 and third pri eis $25 Entries should be sent to the CLA Secretary 1 IA624 ext 5157s TO SUBSCRIBE TO CRYPTOLOG CALL 1103s October 79 CRYPTOLOG Page 20 UNCLASSIFIED 86-36 This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu