Securing U.S. Communications

In the 1950s, NSA pioneered new point-to-point communications security. The KW-26, adopted throughout the Defense Department, was composed partly of tubes and partly of solid state electronics. It was used wherever the U.S. needed the high-grade cryptography at large, fixed-site communications centers. By the time NSA designed a successor to the KW-26, cryptography had gone entirely to solid state designs. The KG-84, much lighter and easier to maintain than earlier cryptography, was first deployed in the 1980s to communications centers around the world.

The most successful voice system through the 1960s was the KY-3, developed by Bell Laboratories to replace existing, and marginally adequate, voice security systems. Using wideband technology; the KY-3 offered high KW-26 quality secure voice with excellent security. It was eventually teamed with other equipment into the Autosevocom worldwide secure voice system. But the crypto gear resided in a safe, and the initial expense limited the number of users. Developed for battlefield use, the Vinson (KY-57/58) equipment was smaller and lighter than earlier voice encryption. It was the first secure unit that could be remotely keyed, an important capability in wartime, when units using secure voice systems could be overrun. Voice encryption continued to represent the biggest problem in information security. The known Soviet exploitation of U.S. unenciphered telephone calls in the 1970s spurred the search for a small, cheap, user-friendly secure telephone. NSA engineers developed a public key algorithm and mated it with a desk telephone — the STU-III. It did away with the requirement for a safe full of equipment, needed only annual rekeying, cost only $2,000 per set, and was made by three commercial contractors. Hundreds of thousands of units were manufactured. The STU-III proved itself as a vital security device for the military during Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM.

Sorry, this is gonna be a long cut-n-paste, but you might find this interesting:

Whatever happened to Romeo Stepanenko??

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sean Kutzko"
> To:
> Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 10:06 AM
> Subject: [dx-list] Romeo, I Hardly Knew Ye (Long)
>
>
>> Gather 'round the campfire, boys and girls...
>>
>> A few months back, I posted a note on the Society of
>> Midwest Contesters reflector asking if anybody knew
>> the whereabouts of our dear old friend Romeo
>> Stepanenko, 3W3RR. As many will recall, Romeo had a
>> habit in the late 1980's and early 1990's of popping
>> up with his gear from some of the rarest countries in
>> the world of ham radio, make tens of thousands of
>> contacts, and then getting us armchair DX'ers to flood
>> him with requests for QSL cards (which included "green
>> stamps") that often came very late or not at all.
>> There was also that minor issue of him not being able
>> to provide the DXCC administrators with the proper
>> documentation from some of his adventures, proving he
>> was indeed where he said he was. In the parlance of
>> DX'ing, Romeo was the ultimate Slim, a pirate.
>>
>> I'm a musician, and I figured if ever there was
>> somebody that was worthy of a scurvy-dog, sea-shanty
>> kind of song, ol' Romeo was that person. There were
>> rumors he was a shady character, who showed up at the
>> Dayton Hamvention in 1999, years after being expelled
>> from DXCC, and then disappeared from the face of the
>> Earth. He is the sort that is perfect for song and
>> story. I needed factual material for the tune, so I
>> started to do my homework. The note to the SMC
>> reflector was the beginning of that homework.
>>
>> I didn't get much response other than a couple of
>> notes that said, "Yeah, whatever happened to that
>> guy?" So, In July 2005, I posted a note on Eham.com in
>> their DX forum, entitled "Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?"
>> Again, no info. So, I started searching on Google. I
>> found an article online about ham radio in Afghanistan
>> that mentioned him in passing, and a site that had
>> several of Romeo's QSL's (including WX9X's fake
>> P5/R0MEO card he handed out at Dayton one year). I
>> printed the articles and stuck them in my notebook I
>> keep for writing lyrics, where they have sat for a
>> while, collecting dust. I forgot about it and moved on
>> to other projects.
>>
>> On the evening of October 19, 2005, I received a phone
>> call from an inspector with the U.S Postal Service
>> based in St. Louis. He said he needed to meet with me
>> concerning an investigation of "...one of my
>> associates." I obviously made myself available at his
>> earliest convenience, which was the next day's lunch
>> hour.
>>
>> I ran over to my friend Matt, NM9H's place. Was he
>> trading endangered animals over the Internet?
>> Circumnavigating customs laws by importing fresh fruit
>> from Venezuela? Ripping tags off of mattresses and
>> mailing them to Botswana? He assured me he was doing
>> nothing of the sort, as he was "...an old man with a
>> house full of kids, with neither the time nor energy
>> to be surreptitious."
>>
>> A night of fitful sleep ensued. We jazz and folk
>> musicians have a sordid history in America, often
>> lumped together with other unsavories like gangsters,
>> communists, and bootleggers. Which of my compadres had
>> warranted constabulatory intervention, and how did the
>> Postal Service get involved? Besides, my youthful
>> indiscretions are long over, as I have nothing to be
>> discrete about any longer and I'm closer to
>> middle-aged than youthful. In short, like my friend
>> NM9H, I'm boring and getting old.
>>
>> The Inspector came to my place today (20 October
>> 2005), and after some pleasantries, asked if the name
>> Roman Vega meant anything to me; I truthfully answered
>> no. He then asked if I was a ham operator, to which I
>> said yes. He then asked if the name Romeo Stepanenko
>> meant anything to me, and I nodded uncertainly. The
>> Inspector then produced a printout of my Romeo inquiry
>> on Eham.com. He said he was following up on an
>> investigation from the US Department of Justice in San
>> Francisco concerning our beloved Romeo, and he wanted
>> to know why I was asking about him in a public forum.
>>
>> I gave him a Reader's Digest version of ham radio,
>> DX'ing, and an overview of the DXCC program. I
>> explained how Romeo pretended to operate from various
>> exceptionally rare places, duped tens of thousands of
>> us into sending him SASE's with green stamps included,
>> and was then caught and expelled from the DXCC program
>> for these fraudulent ham activities. I explained why
>> this caused such a scandal to a program that has had
>> an exceedingly high level of ethics and scrutiny
>> associated with it over the years. He was quite
>> interested in people sending dollars along with QSL
>> requests. I explained it was customary to help pay for
>> the QSL you're going to receive, especially when
>> dealing with an operation from a place as rare as
>> Myanmar or North Korea.
>>
>> I then had to explain to him why I'd want to write a
>> song about such an unsavory character. As I explained,
>> every hobby or pastime has some level of folklore or
>> legend attached to it, and Romeo is one of the most
>> infamous characters in the history of DX'ing. In
>> baseball, people wrote songs about Jackie Robinson and
>> Joltin' Joe. Bob Dylan wrote about Emmett Till. Heck,
>> Frank Zappa wrote about a wacko dubbed by the press as
>> The Illinois Enema Bandit. Numerous ballads have been
>> written about pirates, oddballs, do-gooders and
>> ne'er-do-wells in all cultures all around the globe.
>> Ham Radio DX'ing may be a small culture in the grand
>> scheme of things, but it is a culture nonetheless. It
>> stands to reason that, just like any other culture,
>> the heroes are glorified and the villains are reviled.
>> To me, writing a song about Romeo seemed logical and
>> fun.
>>
>> After an hour of questioning by the Inspector (nice
>> guy, by the way), he said it was quite obvious I
>> wasn't involved in any of Romeo's current shenanigans,
>> and proceeded to tell me The Story:
>>
>> Roman Vega, aka Romeo Stepanenko, was arrested and
>> extradited from Cyprus to the United States in March
>> of 2004, and has been charged with 40 counts of wire
>> fraud and trafficking in stolen credit card numbers.
>> He is alleged to have done this in online chat rooms.
>> The Inspector I spoke with indicated that he allegedly
>> bilked over $3 million out of this scheme. Romeo has
>> pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has been held in
>> northern California, as he is considered a flight
>> risk. His trial is scheduled to begin in San Francisco
>> on Monday, November 28.
>>
>> Here is a link to the US Department Of Justice press
>> release:
>>
>> http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/html/2004_06_04_vega.html
>>
>> Here is a link to the actual indictment filed in
>> Federal Court:
>>
>> http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/assets/applets/2004_06_04_Vega_ind.pdf
>>
>> As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of
>> the story."
>>
>> The Inspector never informed me that I was not allowed
>> to discuss this, so I'm posting it here for all to
>> see. He indicated the case against Romeo looked quite
>> good indeed, and that they were following up on all
>> leads they had concerning him. I was "lucky" enough to
>> have been considered a Person Of Interest; I got to
>> see a copy of my Federal subpoena, where I was
>> "commanded" to appear in Federal court on November 28
>> at 8:30AM. The Inspector indicated this would probably
>> not be needed. He did mention that San Francisco is
>> quite nice this time of year, though, and it was
>> almost a pity I wouldn't get to take the Government up
>> on their free "vacation." I gave him one of those
>> nervous smiles and waited for him to move on.
>>
>> He left me his card, said he'd file his report, and
>> told me I'd probably never hear from him again. He did
>> give me the case number (Northern District Of
>> California CR04-0101 CRD), since it's a matter of
>> public record. The fact that I was sitting on the edge
>> of my seat as he was telling me this, slack-jawed and
>> with my eyes as wide as saucers, might have had
>> something to do with him giving me the info as well.
>>
>> How did I get associated with Romeo? I'm just a ham
>> operator who had one QSO with him when he was in
>> Vietnam (still my only 3W QSO), spent probably
>> hundreds of hours listening for him from his other
>> far-flung locales, but never worked him anywhere other
>> than 3W. I just happened to ask the right question at
>> the wrong time.
>>
>> It certainly is interesting what bites sometimes when
>> you go fishing, eh?
>>
>> I'm finally recording my solo CD now. I'll be sure to
>> let everybody know when it's done. I could use a lead
>> player, though; maybe I should give WB6ACU a call...
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Sean Kutzko

__________________
Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

Great story Palangi. Thanks for posting it.

B

Thats funny, I think. I can see it now ... ShopForum investigated by the NSA, many participants detained for questioning.

Spy Agency Watching Americans From Space
Email this Story

May 13, 6:29 AM (ET)

By KATHERINE SHRADER

(AP) Reitired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper, outgoing head of the National Geospatial Intelligence...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A little-known spy agency that analyzes imagery taken from the skies has been spending significantly more time watching U.S. soil.

In an era when other intelligence agencies try to hide those operations, the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, is proud of that domestic mission.

He said the work the agency did after hurricanes Rita and Katrina was the best he'd seen an intelligence agency do in his 42 years in the spy business.
"This was kind of a direct payback to the taxpayers for the investment made in this agency over the years, even though in its original design it was intended for foreign intelligence purposes," Clapper said in a Thursday interview with The Associated Press.

Geospatial intelligence is the science of combining imagery, such as satellite pictures, to physically depict features or activities happening anywhere on the planet. A part of the Defense Department, the NGA usually operates unnoticed to provide information on nuclear sites, terror camps, troop movements or natural disasters.

After last year's hurricanes, the agency had an unusually public face. It set up mobile command centers that sprung out of the backs of Humvees and provided imagery for rescuers and hurricane victims who wanted to know the condition of their homes. Victims would provide their street address and the NGA would provide a satellite photo of their property. In one way or another, some 900 agency officials were involved.

Spy agencies historically avoided domestic operations out of concern for Pentagon regulations and Reagan-era executive order, known as 12333, that restricted intelligence collection on American citizens and companies. Its budget, like all intelligence agencies, is classified.

On Clapper's watch of the last five years, his agency has found ways to expand its mission to help prepare security at Super Bowls and political conventions or deal with natural disasters, such as hurricanes and forest fires.

With help, the agency can also zoom in. Its officials cooperate with private groups, such as hotel security, to get access to footage of a lobby or ballroom. That video can then be linked with mapping and graphical data to help secure events or take action, if a hostage situation or other catastrophe happens.

Privacy advocates wonder how much the agency picks up - and stores. Many are increasingly skeptical of intelligence agencies with recent revelations about the Bush administration's surveillance on phone calls and e-mails.

Among the government's most closely guarded secrets, the quality of pictures NGA receives from classified satellites is believed to far exceed the one-meter resolution available commercially. That means they can take a satellite "snapshot" from high above the atmosphere that is crisply detailed down to one meter level, which is 3.3 feet.

Clapper says his agency only does big pictures, so concerns about using the NGA's foreign intelligence apparatus at home doesn't apply.

"We are not trying to examine an individual dwelling, for example, because what our mission is normally going to be is looking at large areas," he said. "It doesn't really affect or threaten anyone's privacy or civil liberties when you are looking at a large collective area."

When asked what additional powers he'd ask Congress for, he said, "I wouldn't."

His agency also handles its historic mission: regional threats, such as Iran and North Korea; terrorist hideouts; and tracking drug trade. "Everything and everybody has to be some place," he said.

He considers his brand of intelligence a chess match. "There are sophisticated nation states that have a good understanding of our surveillance capabilities," including Iran, he said. "What we have to do is counter that" by taking advantage of anomalies or sending spy planes and satellites over more frequently.

Adversaries who hide their most important facilities underground is a trend the agency has to work at, he said.

NGA was once a stepchild of the intelligence community. But Clapper said it has come into its own and become an equal partner with the other spy agencies, such as the CIA.

Experience-wise, the agency is among the youngest of the spy agencies. About 40 percent of the agency's analyst have been hired in the last five years.

"They are very inexperienced, and that's just fine. They don't have any baggage," said Clapper, who retires next month as the longest serving agency director. "The people that we are getting now are bright, computer literate. ... That is not something I lie awake and worry about."

Romeo and one of his associates (whose name escapes me at the moment) were generally suspected at the time to be KGB agents. Some General Dynamics (F-16 program) employees who met him were thoroughly interviewed upon return to work.

When Romeo, his wife, and the above mentioned associate were touring the US some years ago, I cashed in a bunch of airline miles to send the entourage on from Dallas to Phoenix, so I imagine Big Brother already has my number in their database.

__________________
Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

BOSTON (AP) -- If the National Security Agency is indeed amassing a colossal database of Americans' phone records, one way to use all that information is in “social network analysis,” a data-mining method that aims to expose previously invisible connections among people. .........

http://esj.com/newswire/article.aspx?EditorialsID=1786

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

See....I told you it was a bad idea to sunbathe in the nude on your roof.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche