PARTE 2

21. It is a matter of record that foreign communications to and from, or passing through the United Kingdom and the United States have been intercepted for more than 80 years. Then and since, most international communications links have been operated by international carriers, who are usually individual national PTTs or private companies. In either case, capacity on the communication system is leased to individual national or international telecommunications undertakings. For this reason, Comint organisations use the term ILC (International Leased Carrier) to describe such collection.

22. Save for direct landline connections between geographically contiguous nations, high frequency (HF) radio system were the most common means of international telecommunications prior to 1960, and were in use for ILC, diplomatic and military purposes. An important characteristic of HF radio signals is that they are reflected from the ionosphere and from the earth's surface, providing ranges of thousands of miles. This enables both reception and interception.

23. Microwave radio was introduced in the 1950s to provide high capacity inter-city communications for telephony, telegraphy and, later, television. Microwave radio relay communications utilise low power transmitters and parabolic dish antennae placed on towers in high positions such as on hilltops or tall buildings. The antennae are usually 1-3m in diameter. Because of the curvature of the earth, relay stations are generally required every 30-50km.

24. Submarine telephone cables provided the first major reliable high capacity international communications systems. Early systems were limited to a few hundred simultaneous telephone channels. The most modern optical fibre systems carry up to 5 Gbps (Gigabits per second) of digital information. This is broadly equivalent to about 60,000 simultaneous telephone channels.

25. Microwave radio signals are not reflected from the ionosphere and pass directly into space. This property has been exploited both to provide global communications and, conversely, to intercept such communications in space and on land. The largest constellation of communications satellites (COMSATs) is operated by the International Telecommunications Satellite organisation (Intelsat), an international treaty organisation. To provide permanent communications from point to point or for broadcasting purposes, communications satellites are placed into so-called "geostationary" orbits such that, to the earth-based observer, they appear to maintain the same position in the sky.

26. The first geostationary Intelsat satellites were orbited in 1967. Satellite technology developed rapidly. The fourth generation of Intelsat satellites, introduced in 1971, provided capacity for 4,000 simulataneous telephone channels and were capable of handling all forms of communications simultaneously -telephone, telex, telegraph, television, data and facsimile. In 1999, Intelsat operated 19 satellites of its 5th to 8th generations. The latest generation can handle the equivalent to 90,000 simultaneous calls.

27. Prior to 1970, most communications systems (however carried) utilised analogue or continuous wave techniques. Since 1990, almost all communications have been digital, and are providing ever higher capacity. The highest capacity systems in general use for the Internet, called STM-1 or OC-3, operates at a data rate of 155Mbs. (Million bits per second; a rate of 155 Mbps is equivalent to sending 3 million words every second, roughly the text of one thousand books a minute.) For example, links at this capacity are used to provide backbone Internet connections between Europe and the United States. Further details of communications techniques are given in the technical annexe.

28. Comint collection cannot take place unless the collecting agency obtains access to the communications channels they wish to examine. Information about the means used to gain access are, like data about code-breaking methods, the most highly protected information within any Comint organisation. Access is gained both with and without the complicity or co-operation of network operators.

29. From 1945 onwards in the United States the NSA and predecessor agencies systematically obtained cable traffic from the offices of the major cable companies. This activity was codenamed SHAMROCK. These activities remained unknown for 30 years, until enquiries were prompted by the Watergate affair. On 8 August 1975, NSA Director Lt General Lew Allen admitted to the Pike Committee of the US House of Representatives that :

30. He also admitted that "messages to and from American citizens have been picked up in the course of gathering foreign intelligence". US legislators considered that such operations might have been unconstitutional. During 1976, a Department of Justice team investigated possible criminal offences by NSA. Part of their report was released in 1980. It described how intelligence on US citizens:

31. High frequency radio signals are relatively easy to intercept, requiring only a suitable area of land in, ideally, a "quiet" radio environment. From 1945 until the early 1980s, both NSA and GCHQ operated HF radio interception systems tasked to collect European ILC communications in Scotland.

32. The most advanced type of HF monitoring system deployed during this period for Comint purposes was a large circular antenna array known as AN/FLR-9. AN/FLR-9 antennae are more than 400 metres in diameter. They can simultaneously intercept and determine the bearing of signals from as many directions and on as many frequencies as may be desired. In 1964, AN/FLR-9 receiving systems were installed at San Vito dei Normanni, Italy; Chicksands, England, and Karamursel, Turkey.

33. In August 1966, NSA transferred ILC collection activities from its Scottish site at Kirknewton, to Menwith Hill in England. Ten years later, this activity was again transferred, to Chicksands. Although the primary function of the Chicksands site was to intercept Soviet and Warsaw Pact air force communications, it was also tasked to collect ILC and "NDC" (Non-US Diplomatic Communications). Prominent among such tasks was the collection of FRD traffic (i.e., French diplomatic communications). Although most personnel at Chicksands were members of the US Air Force, diplomatic and ILC interception was handled by civilian NSA employees in a unit called DODJOCC.

34. During the 1970s, British Comint units on Cyprus were tasked to collect HF communications of allied NATO nations, including Greece and Turkey. The interception took place at a British army unit at Ayios Nikolaos, eastern Cyprus. In the United States in 1975, investigations by a US Congressional Committee revealed that NSA was collecting diplomatic messages sent to and from Washington from an army Comint site at Vint Hill Farms, Virginia. The targets of this station included the United Kingdom.

35. Long distance microwave radio relay links may require dozens of intermediate stations to receive and re-transmit communications. Each subsequent receiving station picks up only a tiny fraction of the original transmitted signal; the remainder passes over the horizon and on into space, where satellites can collect it. These principles were exploited during the 1960s to provide Comint collection from space. The nature of microwave "spillage" means that the best position for such satellites is not above the chosen target, but up to 80 degrees of longitude away.

36. The first US Comint satellite, CANYON, was launched In August 1968, followed soon by a second. The satellites were controlled from a ground station at Bad Aibling, Germany. In order to provide permanent coverage of selected targets, CANYON satellites were placed close to geostationary orbits. However, the orbits were not exact, causing the satellites to change position and obtain more data on ground targets. Seven CANYON satellites were launched between 1968 and 1977.

37. CANYON's target was the Soviet Union. Major Soviet communications links extended for thousands of miles, much of it over Siberia, where permafrost restricted the reliable use of underground cables. Geographical circumstances thus favoured NSA by making Soviet internal communications links highly accessible. The satellites performed better than expected, so the project was extended.

38. The success of CANYON led to the design and deployment of a new class of Comint satellites, CHALET. The ground station chosen for the CHALET series was Menwith Hill, England. Under NSA project P-285, US companies were contracted to install and assist in operating the satellite control system and downlinks (RUNWAY) and ground processing system (SILKWORTH). The first two CHALET satellites were launched in June 1978 and October 1979. After the name of the first satellite appeared in the US press, they were renamed VORTEX. In 1982, NSA obtained approval for expanded "new mission requirements" and were given funds and facilities to operate four VORTEX satellites simultaneously. A new 5,000m2 operations centre (STEEPLEBUSH) was constructed to house processing equipment. When the name VORTEX was published in 1987, the satellites were renamed MERCURY.

39. The expanded mission given to Menwith Hill after 1985 included MERCURY collection from the Middle East. The station received an award for support to US naval operations in the Persian Gulf from 1987 to 1988. In 1991, a further award was given for support of the Iraqi war operations, Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Menwith Hill is now the major US site for Comint collection against its major ally, Israel. Its staff includes linguists trained in Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi as well as European languages. Menwith Hill has recently been expanded to include ground links for a new network of Sigint satellites launched in 1994 and 1995 (RUTLEY). The name of the new class of satellites remains unknown.

40. The CIA developed a second class of Sigint satellite with complementary capabilities over the period from 1967 to 1985. Initially known as RHYOLITE and later AQUACADE, these satellites were operated from a remote ground station in central Australia, Pine Gap. Using a large parabolic antenna which unfolded in space, RHYOLITE intercepted lower frequency signals in the VHF and UHF bands. Larger, most recent satellites of this type have been named MAGNUM and then ORION. Their targets include telemetry, VHF radio, cellular mobile phones, paging signals, and mobile data links.

41. A third class of satellite, known first as JUMPSEAT and latterly as TRUMPET, operates in highly elliptical near-polar orbits enabling them to "hover" for long period over high northern latitudes. They enable the United States to collect signals from transmitters in high northern latitudes poorly covered by MERCURY or ORION, and also to intercept signals sent to Russian communications satellites in the same orbits.

Comint satellites in geostationary orbits, such as VORTEX, intercept terrestial microwave spillage Inter-city microwave radio relay tower pills" signals into space