Military Intel History
Preface
This document is dedicated to all the men and women who are involved with ensuring the national security of the
United States.
The following information was derived from these sources:
Body of Secrets by James Bamford.
Wizards of Langley by Jeffrey T. Richelson.
Top Secret Tourism by Harry Helms.
The Bureau by Ronald Kessler.
Newsweek magazine articles.
Time magazine articles.
Although I have attempted to gather and arrange the data into a comprehensive, understandable format, any errors and
omissions are mine and not attributable to
any other authors or works. This document was created prior to the reorganization of the intelligence community
following 9/11, so in many respects, it is
out-of-date.
This paper is designed to provide basic information to persons wishing to enter the US Intelligence Community and
those who desire a broader knowledge of it. This
paper is not intended to cover every aspect of the intel community.
Military Intel History
OSS
Precursor to the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services provided assistance to pro-allied underground organizations
in Europe during WW II.
CIA
Organized by President Truman in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency oversees and coordinates all other US
intelligence organizations.
NSA
The National Security Agency's agenda is data collection from communications (comint) and electronic (elint)
sources. NSA was founded in 1952.
Code breaking during WWII
Code breakers in England and the US worked together to break the Axis "Ultra" code. Computers were first used for
code breaking activities. The Japanese
"Purple" code was broken by the US, prior to the Battle of Midway.
Intelligence gathering during the Cold War
Efforts to gather information during the Cold War included human spies (humint), communications intercepts (comint),
and capture and analysis of radar system
output (elint).
Pueblo Incident
The USS Pueblo, AGER-2, was an NSA-sponsored US Navy destroyer-size ship configured to monitor a variety of signals
(sigint), including comint and elint. It
was boarded and captured by North Korea on January 23, 1968 while operating in international waters east of North
Korea. The event brought into focus the problem
of protecting US interests in international waters. 82 surviving members of the crew were returned to the US after
eleven months in captivity in North Korea.
Mayaguez Incident
The USS Mayaguez was an NSA-sponsored US Navy destroyer-size ship configured to monitor signals (sigint). It was
boarded and captured by Cambodian forces
on May 11, 1975 while operating in international waters near the South China Sea. Most of the crew survived and
were returned to the US.