GCHQ

by Richard Aldrich

  22 Jensen, Cautious Beginnings, pp.134-5.

  23 Andrew, ‘Australian Intelligence Community’, pp.223-5.

  24 Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.17; Aid, ‘The Russian Target’, p.11.

  25 BPC/F/1, ‘Comint Relations with Third Parties Affecting BRUSA Relationships’, Appendix P, 14.02.52, Top Secret Eider, NSA FOIA.

  26 Wenger (NSS) to Jones (GCHQ), 4.06.46, Box 101, CNSG records, RG 38, NARA.

  27 Director’s Order 94, ‘Eastcote’, 16.02.46, HW 14/164.

  28 Ball and Horner, Breaking the Code, p.184.

  29 Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.160.

  30 A-2 to Naval Communications Annex, ‘Request for British Comintsum Publications’, 19.03.48, 21450, Box 41, USAF D of I records, RG 341, NARA.

  31 Cabell to Air Police Division, 28.04.48, 21200, Box 40, ibid.

  32 JIC (48) 15th mtg Confidential Annex, ‘Circulation of JIC Reports to the Central Intelligence Agency’, 20.02.48, CAB 159/3.

  33 Aid, Secret Sentry, p.10

  34 USCIB 18th mtg, 08.01.47, FOIA.

  35 Brigadier General USAF, Acting Director of Intelligence, Walter R. Agee, to US Coordinator of Joint Operations, 07.06.48, ‘Proposed U.S.-Canadian Agreement’, USAF D of I records, File 2-1200/2-1299, Box 40, RG 341, NARA.

  36 Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.18

  37 Ibid., p.19.

  38 Ratcliff, Delusions of Intelligence, pp.167-8.

  39 Hayes (Chief) ASA, ‘US and British Collaboration on Combined Cipher Machine Development’, 01.04.47, File 381, Box 5, Army Int. TS-Decimal File, 1945-52, Entry 47A, RG 319, NARA.

  40 Matthew Aid, ‘US Humint and Comint in the Korean War: From the Approach of War to the Chinese Intervention’, pp.15-50.

  41 Riste, Norwegian Intelligence Service, pp.95-7; Tamnes, Cold War in the High North, pp.76-7.

  42 UKHC Ceylon to Defence Dept, 21.04.50, DO 35/2418.

  43 Aid, Secret Sentry, pp.25-7; Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.39.

  44 JCS 2010/19, ‘Expanded Requirement of the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) in View of Current World Situation’, 24.07.50, Box 105, Entry 335, RG 341, NARA.

  45 Young (USAF) to Coordinator USCIB, ‘Site Requirement’, 15.07.52, 224100-, Box 66, ibid.

  46 Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.74.

  47 NSA, On Watch: Profiles from the National Security Agency’s Past 40 Years, p.17, declassified by NSA under FOIA.

  48 Samford (D of I USAF) to Twining, 06.08.52, 224400, Box 66, USAF D of I records, RG 341, NARA.

  49 Memo for Sec. of Defense, ‘Formal Implementation of NSCID No.9 Revised’, 20.11.52, 311.5, Box 343, Entry 199, RG 330, NARA.

  50 Aid, ‘The Russian Target’, p.9.

  51 Bradley (JCS), ‘Proposed Cryptologic Establishment Outside the Washington Area’, 27.11.51, File 380.01, Box 7, Army Int. TS Decimal File, 1945-52, Entry 47A, RG 319, NARA.

  52 JCS 2010/60, ‘National Security Agency Construction Project’, 03.11.52, Box 105, Entry 335 RG 341, NARA.

  53 Freeman, How GCHQ Came to Cheltenham, pp.1-12.

  54 Jones, Reflections on Intelligence, pp.14-15.

  55 Lewin, Ultra Goes to War, pp.129-33; Jones, Reflections on Intelligence, p.15.

  56 ‘Protest Greets Howe at GCHQ’, Gloucestershire Echo, 15.07.84.

  57 Freeman, How GCHQ Came to Cheltenham, pp.11-33. For similar reasons of ‘fit’ into buildings, the Americans had carried out a de facto separation of their comsec element at the same time. Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.27.

  58 Freeman, How GCHQ Came to Cheltenham, pp.15-33. Private information.

  59 Sturdy and Grey, ‘A Chaos that Worked’, pp.47-68.

  THE 1950s: FIGHTING THE ELECTRONIC WAR

  Chapter 6: ‘Elint’ and the Soviet Nuclear Target

  1 JIC (47) 65 (0), ‘Summary of Principal External Factors Affecting Commonwealth Security’, 29.10.47, L/WS/1/986, IOLR.

  2 Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb, pp.215-19.

  3 The best account of this is offered in Goodman, Spying on the Nuclear Bear, pp.36-56.

  4 Ibid.

  5 JIC (48) (0) (second revised draft), ‘Sigint intelligence requirements’, 11.05.48, L/WS/1196, IOLR.

  6 Ibid.

  7 Stripp, Code-Breaker in the Far East, pp.50-60; Jones, Reflections, pp.14-16.

  8 Aid, ‘The Russian Target’, p.13

  9 Confidential Annex, ‘Sigint Intelligence Requirements – 1948’, 02.48, CAB 159/3.

  10 SEAC Noise Investigation Bureau report for May 1945, WO 203/4089.

  11 R.V. Jones, Most Secret War, p.92.

  12 Bonsall, ‘Bletchley Park and the RAF Y Service’.

  13 Johnson, American Cryptology, Vol.1, p.10.

  14 Hughes to Hodges (Asst CoAS A-2), 26.02.45, File 1945, Box 77, Vandenberg Papers, LC; Condensed Analysis of the Ninth Air Force in the European Theatre of Operations, 1984, 120, CAFH.

  15 Captain Wenger, US Navy Coordinator of Joint Operations, to Colonel R.P. Klocko, USAF, CJO 0001922, 12.03.48, memo: ‘British Proposal for Liaison on “Noise Investigation”’, USAF D of I records, File 2-1100/2-1199, Box 40, RG 341, NARA.

  16 As a quid pro quo Jones was made scientific adviser to GCHQ with a deputy based permanently at Cheltenham. This eventually blossomed into the post of GCHQ Chief Scientist, the first incumbent being the talented Gerald Touch, a lifelong friend of Jones. Jones, Reflections on Intelligence, pp.15-17.

  17 McMurtie (JSM), to Moore (Pentagon), 20.11.48, File 2-8300-2-8399, USAF D of I records, RG 341, NARA.

  18 Aid, Secret Sentry, pp.56-7.

  19 Memo for D of I and CNI, 17.11.48, Microfilm Reel 1031, CAFH.

  20 Addison (AOC 60 Grp) to Porter (DDS B/1), 25.03.46, AIR 40/2591.

  21 It had previously been located at Medmenham.

  22 Mtg to discuss a paper on Tactical Sigint, 23.07.47, AIR 40/2591, TNA

  23 Peter Long, In Support of So Many.

  24 Air Technical Intelligence Study, ‘Soviet Electronic Countermeasures’, 10.06.51, 20034, Box 149, USAF D of I records, RG 341, NARA; Air Technical Intelligence Study, ‘Soviet Air Communications’, 12.07.51, 20032, ibid.

  25 Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Buff, pp.12-23.

  26 Oscar Martinez, ‘The Account of the Sinking of the USS Cochino’, 08.49, http://www.sid.hill.com/ntins/bbs-034a.htm

  27 Lederer, The Last Cruise, pp.78-9.

  28 Sontag and Drew, Blind Man’s Buff, pp.7-24.

  29 Packard, Century, pp.195-7; Tamnes, High North, p.77; Burrows, By Any Means Necessary, pp.108-9.

  30 Bradley memos, ‘Special Electronic Airborne Search Operations’, 05.05.50 and 22.07.50, and Truman minute 19.05.50, HST microfilm, Pt.2, Reel 3, HUL.

  31 Tamnes, High North, p.79; Riste, Norwegian Intelligence, pp.62-3.

  32 Tamnes, High North, pp.122-3.

  33 Porter (DS) to RWE Watton, 27.02.46, enclosing DD of Sigs (B), ‘Tactical Signals Intelligence in Peace and War’, 22.02.46, AIR 40/2591.

  34 Addison (AOC 60 Grp) to Porter (DDS B/1), 25.03.46, ibid.

  35 JIC (51) 96th mtg,(5), ‘Inter Service Scheme for the Training of Russian Linguists for War’, 14.09.51, CAB 159/10.

  36 William Trites and Forrest G. Hogg took up equivalent roles in the UK. See Tamnes, High North, pp.116-17; D of I USAF to US Air Attaché London, ‘Liaison with GCHQ’, 26.10.52, 235700, Box 68, D of I records, RG 341, NARA.

  37 JIC 611/1, ‘Intelligence Estimate of Technical Characteristics and Tactical Employment of Soviet Electronic Devices’, 18.06.52, JCS 1951-3 350.09 USSR (12-19-49) Sec.1 RG 218, NARA.

  38 AFOIN-T to D of I USAF, 16.04.52, 223200, Box 64, USAF D of I records, RG 341, NARA.

  39 Ibid.

  40 Cook (USAF) to Lang (BJSM), 02.06.52, 2-23600, Box 65, ibid.

  41 Eubank (COS) to Rowlands (MoS), 31.01.52, DEFE 11/350; Eubank to DRPC, 31.01.52, ibid.

  42 COS (52) 152nd mtg (1) Confidential Annex, 04.11.52, ibid.

  43 Wenger (NSS) to Travis (GC
HQ), 05.03.46, Box 101, CNSG records, RG 38, NARA

  44 Millward, ‘Life in and out of Hut 3’, in Hinsley and Stripp (eds), Code-Breakers, p.26.

  45 Jones (GCHQ) to Wenger (NSS), 09.05.46, Box 101, CNSG records, RG 38, NARA.

  46 COS (52) 152nd mtg (1) Confidential Annex, 04.11.52, DEFE 11/350.

  47 DSI/JTIC (52) 17th mtg, 23.09.52, DEFE 10/497.

  48 DSI/JTIC (52) 14th mtg, 22.07.52, ibid.

  49 These were WZ966, WZ967 and WZ968, together with a standard bomber version as a trainer, WW346.

  50 ‘Boeing B-29/F-13A/RVB-29A/RB-29A Washington/RB-50’ http://www.spyflight.co.uk/rb29.htm

  51 DSI/JTIC (52) 13th mtg, 06.07.52, DEFE 10/497.

  52 DSI/JTIC (53) 5th mtg, 17.03.53, ibid.

  53 DSI/JTIC (52) 22nd mtg, 16.12.52, ibid.

  54 Hooper (GCHQ) to Treasury, 10.04.61, DEFE 25/11. See also Peter Long, ‘In Support of So Many’.

  55 Brief on Fifth Report to the President by PBCFIA (Recommendation Concerning Fusion of Comint-Elint Activities), 11.03.60, File: 1960 Mtgs. with President Vol. 1 (5), Box 4, Presidential Subseries, Special Assistant Series, OSANA, WHO, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.

  56 DCEM 1017, ‘Control of Radio Countermeasures’, 14.02.55, JCS 1954–6, 311 (3-2-7-42) Sec.11, RG 218.

  57 The first one after Korea was held in May 1954. JCEC 894/5, ‘US/UK Electronic Warfare Discussions’, 19.09.55, JCS 1954–6, 337 (9-6-51) Sec.1, RG 218, NARA.

  58 McCabe (ASA), ‘Electronic countermeasures Responsibilities’, 10.10.52, File 010, Box 1, Army Int. TS Decimal File, 1945–52, Entry 47A, RG 319, NARA.

  59 DSI/JTIC (53) 16th mtg, 10.11.53, DEFE 10/497.

  60 DSI/JTIC (54) 3rd mtg, 02.02.54, ibid.

  61 DSI/JTIC (54) 1st mtg, 05.01.54, ibid.

  62 Alexander (SoS Def) to PM, ‘Radio Intelligence Flights’, 01.10.52, AIR 40/2552.

  63 Ibid.

  Chapter 7: The Voyages of HMS Turpin

  1 Tony Beasley, personal recollections (LHCMA).

  2 They remained effective until the advent of frequency-hopping radars, which forced the jammers to dilute their power.

  3 Lashmar, Spy-Flights, pp.60–75.

  4 Lord De Lisle and Dudley (SoS Air) to Churchill, 19.03.53, AIR 19/675.

  5 Undated map showing course of both Lincoln and MiGs at AIR 55/291.

  6 Statement of a witness: Wilma Muller, 13.03.53, AIR55/291. All the witness statements are on this file.

  7 FCO to Wahnerheide, No.252, 15.04.53, W1226/83, FO 371/104052.

  8 Parliamentary question by George Odey, MP for Beverley, HC Deb, 15.04.53.

  9 Roberts (FO) min. to Strang (FO), 21.04.53, CW1226/113(1), FO 371/104054.

  10 Hancock (FO) min. 18.06.53, W1226/160, FO 371/104056.

  11 The full crew was: S/L Harold J. Fitz, F/Lt Stephen V. Wyles, F/Sgt Peter J. Dunnell, Sgt Ronald F. Stevens, Sgt George B. Long, Sgt William R. Mason, Sgt Kenneth J. Jones. ‘Lincoln Bomber Crew’, April 1953, AIR 19/675.

  12 Private information.

  13 James to Pendred (Flying Training Command), 5.05.53, AIR 19/675.

  14 Warner min. 28.04.53, W1226/105, FO 371/104054.

  15 However, guns no longer had to be ‘cocked’. See D.L.D. min. to Eden (PM), 23.09.55, PREM 11/856; Eden (PM) min. 24.09.55, ibid.

  16 Burrows, By Any Means Necessary, p.5.

  17 Makins (Washington) to FO, No.2253, 15.10.53, W1226/220, FO 371/104059. See also Burrows, By Any Means Necessary, pp.35–40, where he insists that some of the crew were taken prisoner and not released.

  18 HQ 2nd TAF to Air Min., 13.03.53, AIR 19/675; Sec. of State to Churchill, 23.09.53, ibid.

  19 Kirkpatrick (Wahnerheide) to (FO), No.405, 16.04.53, W1226/94, FO 371/104052.

  20 Ward to AVM Jones (2ATAF), 23.07.53, CW1226/184, FO 371/104058.

  21 Kirkpatrick (Wahnerheide) to (FO), No.405, 16.04.53, W1226/94, FO 371/104052.

  22 Peter Long, In Support of So Many.

  23 DSI/JTIC (50) 13th mtg, 26.09.50, DEFE 10/496.

  24 DSI/JTIC (54) 15th mtg, 17.08.54, DEFE 10/497.

  25 DSI/JTIC (54) 16th mtg, 07.09.54, ibid.

  26 Lashmar, Spy-Flights, pp.124–5.

  27 Comments by E.M. Jones (GCHQ) at Confidential Annex to JIC (55) 99th mtg, 15.11.55, CAB 159/50.

  28 Tony Beasley, personal recollections (LHCMA).

  29 ‘Material for a Biography’ enclosed in Roake to McGeogh (former FO S/M), 24.04.04, Roake papers, RNSM.

  30 Tony Beasley, personal recollections (LHCMA).

  31 Lennox-Conyngham (DSD) to DNI, ‘Communications Security in Operation Defiant’, Top Secret – Froth, 16.12.54, ADM 1/26923.

  32 All from Tony Beasley’s personal account, with his kind permission.

  33 James, Anthony Eden, pp.436–7; Goodman, ‘Tentacles of Failure’, pp.768–73.

  34 Eden to Bridges, M.104.56, 9.05.56, AP20/32/78, Avon Papers, Birmingham University Library (BUL).

  35 See Goodman, ‘The Tentacles of Failure’, pp.774–82.

  36 Eden (PM) to Antony Head (Min. Def.), 22.12.56, AP20/21/228, Avon Papers, BUL.

  37 Aldrich, Hidden Hand, p.526.

  38 ‘Sinbad’ Sinclair (MI6) to Penney (LCSA), 01.07.56, 1/17, Penney papers, LHCMA.

  39 There had also been tussles between JIC and LSIB over the coordination of sigint. See comments of Clive Loehnis at JIC (58) 8th mtg (7), 23.01.58, CAB 159/29; also JIC (58) 55th mtg (6) 14.08.58, CAB 159/30.

  40 Elkins (BJSM) to Mountbatten, 16.10.56, ADM 205/110.

  41 Elkins (BJSM) to Mountbatten, 31.11.56, ibid. See also Coote, Submariner, pp.206–7.

  42 Entries for 4, 11 and 12.09.57, Diary of M.J. Hurley, ‘Early T-Boat Patrols in the Cold War’, RNSM.

  43 Entries for 19, 25 and 28.09.57, ibid.

  44 Entries for 15, 17, and 19.03.58, ibid.

  45 Entries for 28.03.58, 29.03.58 and 1.04.58, ibid.

  46 In 1962, the JIC set out special rules for submarines ‘designed to apply to operations close to the Soviet coast’. See Butler (SoS) to Carrington (Adm), ‘Operation Bargold’, 19.06.63, DEFE 13/255.

  47 Entries for 4 and 5.04.58, Diary of M.J. Hurley, ‘Early T-Boat Patrols in the Cold War’, RNSM.

  48 Entries for 16, 21 and 27.04.58, ibid.

  49 Roake to McGeogh (former FO S/M), 24.04.04, Roake papers, RNSM.

  50 Alfie Roake, ‘Cold War Warrior’, pp.2–4, unpublished MSS, A1999/163, RNSM

  51 Roake to McGeogh (former FO S/M), 24.04.04, Roake papers, RNSM.

  Chapter 8: Sigint in the Sun – GCHQ’s Overseas Empire

  1 Porritt, ‘Tim Hardy’, pp.7–8.

  2 Canine (NSA), memo for Sec. of Defense, ‘Communication Intelligence Overseas Base Requirements’, 10.04.53, 311.5, Box 21, Entry 199, RG 330, NARA.

  3 C(51)59, ‘Malaya’, 21.12.51, Stockwell (ed.) BDEE, Malaya, B/3, Part II, p.345.

  4 Presentation given by Wg. Cmdr. B. Paton of 51 Sqdn at ‘Cold War Intelligence Gathering’, Hendon, 18.04.00. I am grateful to Anthony Short for information about radios.

  5 Cloake, Templer, pp.224–6.

  6 Interview with Sir Andrew Gilchrist, 1992; Gilchrist, Cod Wars, pp.11–27.

  7 Aid, ‘The Russian Target’, p.22

  8 Aldrich, Intelligence and the War Against Japan, pp.288–9.

  9 Aldrich and Hopkins, Intelligence, p.233.

  10 JCS to CINCFE Tokyo, JCS 86211, 20.03.51, FECOM Records, RG 4, Box 43, DMM. I am indebted to Matthew Aid for a copy of this document.

  11 Young (USAF) to Coordinator USCIB, ‘Site Requirement’, 15.07.52, 224100, Box 66, D of I records, RG 341, NARA.

  12 JCS to CINCFE Tokyo, JCS 86211, 20.03.51, FECOM Records, RG 9, Box 43, DMM. I am indebted to Matthew Aid for a copy of this document.

  13 Counter-draft, ‘Formosa-US Government on Radio Communications Units’, 08.03.55, Box 55, Records of the Office of Chinese Affairs, Lot 56 D625, RG 59, NARA.

  14 Prime Minister’s Meeting on the Future of Hong Kong and the Colonial Terri
tories in the South-West Pacific, Brief for the Minister of Defence (Hong Kong), DEFE 13/309.

  15 ‘Schematic Analysis of Utility of Functions Performed by UK Military Forces in Various Overseas Locations’, annex to ‘US Preferred Positions on British Overseas Deployments’, 1967, SD to US Embassy London, 21.08.63, Box 1, Lot Files, UK – Office of Northern European Affairs, RG 59, NARA.

  16 Redman (VCIGS), Note by COS Representative on the Mason Committee, ‘Operation Debenture’, 22.06.54, AIR 40/2552.

  17 Note for Secretary, ‘Defence Signals Branch Tasks’, 07.48, item 36, CRS A5964, NAA. The targets have been redacted but remain (just) legible.

  18 Whitely (367 SU) to SIO RAF Hong Kong, ‘RAAF Linguist Training’, 30.07.56, item 106e, CRS A1838, NAA.

  19 VCAS memo, ‘Manning of Special Signals Units’, 01.57, AIR 20/10100. Vietnamese was taught at an Air Force language school at Point Cook in Victoria.

  20 Sly, Horse Grows Horns, pp.166–7.

  21 Ibid., pp.162–4.