THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA)
by B.Raman
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The US National Security Agency (NSA) was set up on November
1, 1952, to unify all foreign communications intelligence (COMINT) activities of the US
Govt. in order to improve collection, production and dissemination and make it
cost-effective. However, other intelligence agencies were allowed to continue their
separate COMINT activities with the approval of the National Security Council (NSC).
On December 23,1971, it was decided to expand the charter of
the NSA to cover Electronic (ELINT) and Telemetric intelligence (TELINT) also under the
head SIGINT. It was also entrusted with the responsibility for preventing foreign
penetration of US SIGINT assets (SIGCOUNTERINT) and for the development and protection of
the US Cryptologic systems. For this purpose, a Central Security Service was created as a
wing of the NSA.
At the same time, it was decided that the NSA should thereafter
focus on the collection of only foreign SIGINT protected through the use of cipher and
electronic countermeasures and that the other agencies of the US Intelligence Community
should have their own SIGINT capability for the collection of unprotected intelligence
such as enclair messages, telephone conversations without any protective measures and
transmissions without any evasive techniques.
The post-Watergate enquiries by the Congress discovered the
misuse of the NSA for the collection of domestic intelligence during the Vietnam war for
the electronic surveillance of the opponents of the US involvement in the war. The Carter
Administration, therefore, stipulated that the NSA was an agency for the collection of
external intelligence and not law enforcement intelligence. At the same time, law
enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Narcotics Control
agency etc were allowed to seek the NSA's assistance under specific circumstances by
following a prescribed procedure, which would rule out misuse.
In 1996, the NSA was also made responsible for CYBERINT and
CYBERCOUNTERINT--that is, collection of intelligence from foreign computer networks and
protection of the US Govt. networks from foreign penetration.
The orders of 1952 placed the NSA under the administrative
control of the Secretary of Defence.The Defence Department was designated as the executive
agent for the COMINT activities of the US Govt. It has since been designated as the
executive agent for all SIGINT activities. The NSA was also designated as a member of the
US Intelligence Community, thereby making the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI)
responsible for assisting the Secretary of Defence and the National Security Council (NSC)
in monitoring the performance of the NSA.
By an Executive Order, President Ronald Reagan ordered that the
Secretary of Defence would forward his recommendation on the appointment of the Director
of the NSA, in consultation with the DCI. This was incorporated in the amended National
Security Act passed by the Congress in 1992. The Les Aspen/Brown Commission recommended in
1996 that the Secretary of Defence should make his proposal with the concurrence of the
DCI.
It has also been laid down since the beginning that while the
Director of the NSA would be a three-star General from the US armed forces, his No.2 would
be a civilian. However, his No. 2 in the Central Security Service would be a two-star
General from the armed forces, not belonging to the same service as the Director.
Since 1952, the NSC has been given the responsibility for vetting
all proposals from the NSA and other agencies regarding SIGINT policies and budgets and
submitting its recommendations to the President. All proposals go to the full NSC for
final examination through the US Communications Intelligence Board (USCIB), which is
chaired by the DCI and consists of the representatives of the State and Defence
Departments and all the members of the Intelligence Community, and a special committee
consisting of the Secretaries of Defence and State. (See
Full Text)
(18-7-00)
(Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and,
presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com)
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