The Secret Sentry

by Matthew M. Aid

  25. For CIA dismissals of Panikkar warnings, see “Indications of Chinese Intervention in Korea, October 1950–December 1950,” p. 1, Exhibit O to CIA Historical Staff, Study of CIA Reporting on Chinese Intervention in the Korean War: September–December 1950, October 1955, CIA FOIA; CIA, Daily Summary #1409, October 3, 1950, p. 1, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP78-01617A006100020074-8, NA, CP; CIA, Weekly Summary, October 6, 1953, pp. 6, 8, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0001117967, http:// www.foia.cia.gov; CIA, Threat of Full Chinese Communist Intervention in Korea, October 12, 1950, p. 4, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0000121494, http:// www.foia.cia.gov.

  26. Chen Jian, The Sino-Soviet Alliance and China’s Entry into the Korean War (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Cold War International History Project, 1992), pp. 29–30.

  27. John Patrick Finnegan, Military Intelligence: An Overview, 1885–1987 (Washington DC: Department of the Army, 1998), p. 121, INSCOM FOIA; April 25, 1991, letter to author from General James H. Polk.

  28. Memorandum, Smith to President, October 20, 1950, White House Office, National Security Council Staff: Records 1946–61, Executive Secretary’s Subject File, box 10, file: Eyes Only (1), Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, KS; TS #43933, memorandum, Smith to Deputy Secretary of Defense, Summary of Intelligence Estimates on Intervention by Chinese Communists in the Korean War (12 October–24 November 1950), May 4, 1951, RG-330, entry 199 Central Decimal Files 1951, box 232, file: CD 092 Korea Folder #5 February 1951–April 1951, NA, CP.

  29. CIA, Situation Summary, October 27, 1950, p. 3, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, In de pendence, MO; Johnson, American Cryptology, bk. 1, p. 44; Van-derpool, “COMINT and the PRC Intervention,” p. 14.

  30. Report, Far East Command, ACS/G-2 Trends of High Level Washington Estimates on Chinese Communist Intervention, February 23, 1951, RG-23, MacArthur Memorial Library, Nofolk, VA.

  31. Interviews with James Polk, Morton A. Rubin, and Milton Zaslow; Shelley Davis, “New Exhibit Accents the War for Secrets in Korea,” Stars and Stripes, September 25, 2000; Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office, oral history, Interview with General M.B. Ridgway, April 18, 1984, pp. 20–21, DoD FOIA Reading Room, Pentagon, Washington, DC. See also Laura Sullivan, “Old Hands Disclose Once-Secret Tales as NSA Opens Exhibit on Korean War,” Baltimore Sun, September 20, 2000.

  32. The best description of the Battle of Unsan is Roy E. Appleman, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (Washington, DC: OCMH, 1961), pp. 673–81, 689–708.

  33. CIA, Situation Summary, October 27, 1950, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, Inde pendence, MO; message, W 95148, DEPTAR WASH DC to CINCFE et al., October 28, 1950, RG-9, box 112, file: DA WX October 1950, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA; message, No. 310, Seoul to Secretary of State, October 29, 1950, RG-59, Decimal File 1950–1954, box 4269, file: 795.00/10-2950, NA, CP; CIA, Daily Summary #1432, October 30, 1950, p. 1, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP78-0617A006100020051-3, NA, CP.

  34. Message, GX 26711 KGI, CG EUSAK to CINCFE, October 26, 1950, RG-338 Records of the Eighth U.S. Army, entry 133 AG Section, Security Classified General Correspondence 1950, box 723, file 350.09, NA, CP; message, G 26900 KGI, CG EUSAK to CINCFE, October 30, 1950; message, G 26979 KGI, CG EUSAK to CINCFE, October 31, 1950; and message, GX 27016 KGI, CG EUSAK to CINCFE, October 31, all in RG-338 Records of the Eighth U.S. Army, entry 133 AG Section, Security Classified General Correspondence 1950, box 723, file 350.09, NA, CP.

  35. Message, FRU/FEC 1845, October 27, 1950, and message, FRU/FEC 1846, October 27, 1950, both in RG-6, box 14, file: Correspondence, Messageforms, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA. For Willoughby barring the CIA from the POW cages, see letter, White to Tarkenton, October 27, 1950; letter, Ewert to Tarkenton, October 28, 1950; and letter, Ewert to Tarkenton, October 31, 1950, all in RG-338 Records of the Eighth U.S. Army: 1946–1956, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, box 55, file: General Willoughby File, NA, CP; message, C-67919, CINCFE TOKYO JAPAN to CG ARMY EIGHT, October 31, 1950, RG-9, box 38, file: Army 8 Out: October 1950, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA.

  36. Vanderpool, “COMINT and the PRC Intervention,” p. 17.

  37. CIA, Situation Summary, November 24, 1950, pp. 1–2, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, HSTL, In de pendence, MO; Vanderpool, “COMINT and the PRC Intervention,” p. 18; Cynthia M. Grabo, A Handbook of Warning Intelligence, July 1972, vol. I, p. 18-4, RG-263, CIA Reference Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP80B00829A000800040001-6, NA, CP.

  38. Message, WST 268, G-2 GSUSA to SSR TOKYO (Collins to MacArthur Eyes Only), November 11, 1950, p. 2, RG-16A Papers of Major General Courtney Whitney, box 5, folder 14, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA.

  39. Message, C 69953, CINCFE TOKYO JAPAN to DA WASH DC, November 28, 1950, RG-6, box 1, folder 11 Correspondence November–December 1950, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA.

  40. For lack of SIGINT coverage of the Chinese military prior to the Chinese intervention in Korea, see ASA, History of the Army Security Agency and Subordinate Units: FY 1951, vol. 2, pp. 3, 18–22, INSCOM FOIA; Vanderpool, “COMINT and the PRC,” p. 9; Hatch and Benson, The Korean War, p. 9; Milmore, #1 Code Break Boy, p. 65. For lack of Chinese linguists, see ASA, Pacific, Summary Annual Report, FY 1951, p. 63, INSCOM FOIA; ASA, History of the Army Security Agency and Subordinate Units, FY 1951, vol. 2, p. 8, INSCOM FOIA. Quote about lack of intelligence on Chinese forces from memorandum, Banfill to Commanding General, Location and Disposition of the CCF in Korea, December 14, 1950, RG-554, Records of the Far East Command, entry 16 ACofS, G-2 Executive (Coordination) Division General Correspondence Decimal Files, box 23, file 350.09 Book #3, NA, CP.

  41. Matthew B. Ridgway, Soldier (New York: Harper, 1956), p. 205; G-2 Briefing Notes for Lt. General Matthew W. Ridgway, December 26, 1950, pp. 3–4, RG-338, Rec ords of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 117 EUSAK ACofS, G-2 Intelligence Admin Files 1950–1955, box 51, NA, CP.

  42. Johnson, American Cryptology, bk. 1, p. 55.

  43. G-2 Briefing Notes for Lt. General Matthew W. Ridgway, December 26, 1950, pp. 2–3, RG-338, Rec ords of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 117 EUSAK ACofS, G-2 Intelligence Admin Files 1950–1955, box 51, NA, CP; Special Study Group of the NSA Scientific Advisory Board, The Potentialities of COMINT for Strategic Warning, October 20, 1953, appendix 9, COMINT as a Source of Advance Warning in World War II and the Korean Conflict, p. 3, DOCID: 3213594, NSA FOIA; USAFSS History Office, A Special Historical Study of USAFSS Response to World Crises: 1949–1969, April 22, 1970, p. 3, AIA FOIA.

  44. Memorandum, Pizzi to Commanding General, January 2, 1951, RG-338, Rec ords of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 118 EUSAK G-2 Action Files, box 58, file G-2 Action Files 1951— vol. 1, NA, CP; Cipher Tele gram No. 103, Mao Zedong to Stalin, January 8, 1951, Cold War International History Project, http://www.wilsoncenter.org.

  45. Memorandum, Tarkenton to Commanding General, Intelligence Agencies Available to G-2, undated but circa January 1951, pp. 2–3, RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 118 EUSAK G-2 Action Files, box 58, file G-2 Action File 1951, Book #1, NA, CP; checklist, Tarken-ton to C/S, “Notes for the Commanding General,” January 16, 1951, pp. 1–2, RG-338, Rec ords of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 118 EUSAK G-2 Action Files, box 58, file G-2 Action File 1951, Book #1, NA, CP; memorandum, ACofS, G-2/ASA to OCSigO, Modification of Radio Set AN/CRD-2, January 19, 1951, RG-319, entry 47E Army G-2 Decimal File 1949–1950, box 177, file 413.44 4/1/50–12/31/50, NA, CP; ASA, History of the Army Security Agency and Subordinate Units: FY 1951, vol. 2, pp. 3, 18–22, INSCOM FOIA; Johnson, American Cryptology, bk. 1, p. 46.

  46. Memorandum, Tarkenton to Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, I Corps et al., Classified Information for Limited Use, January 2, 1951, RG-338, Rec ords of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 117 EUSAK G-2 Intelligence Admin Fi
les 1950–1955, box 53, file Classified Information for Limited Use, NA, CP; message, G-1231, CG EUSAK to CG X CORPS, January 3, 1951, RG-338, Rec ords of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 133 AG Section, Security Classified General Correspondence 1951, box 785, file 350.09 Jan–Feb, NA, CP.

  47. Eighth U.S. Army G-2, “G-2 Brief: Estimate,” January 15, 1951, p. 3, RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 118 EUSAK G-2 Action Files, box 58, file G-2 Action File 1951, vol. 1, NA, CP; memorandum, Tarkenton to Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, I Corps et al., Classified Information for Limited Use, January 14, 1951; memorandum, Tarkenton to Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, I Corps et al., Classified Information for Limited Use, January 23, 1951; memorandum, Tarkenton to Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, I Corps et al., Classified Information for Limited Use, January 31, 1951, all in RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 117 (A1) EUSAK G-2 Intelligence Admin Files 1950–1955, box 53, file Classified Information for Limited Use, NA, CP.

  48. Memorandum, Tarkenton to Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, I Corps et al., Classified Information for Limited Use, January 29, 1951; memorandum, Tarkenton to Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, I Corps et al., Classified Information for Limited Use, February 5, 1951, both in RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 117 (A1) EUSAK G-2 Intelligence Admin Files 1950– 1955, box 53, file Classified Information for Limited Use, NA, CP.

  49. 1st Radio Squadron, Mobile, First Radio Squadron, Mobile Historical Report: 1 Jan 1951 thru 31 Mar 1951, pp. 3–4, AIA FOIA; Pierson, A Special Historical Study, p. 5; Robert F. Futrell, “A Case Study: USAF Intelligence in the Korean War,” in Walter T. Hitchcock, ed., The Intelligence Revolution: A Historical Perspective (Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1991), p. 286; John Patrick Finnegan, “The Intelligence War in Korea: An Army Perspective,” in Jacob Neufeld and George M. Watson Jr., eds., Coalition Air Warfare in the Korean War: 1950–1953 (Washington, DC: U.S. Air Force History and Museums Program, 2005), p. 217.

  50. Paul Lashmar, “POWs, Soviet Intelligence and the MIA Question,” p. 4, presented at the conference The Korean War: An Assessment of the Historical Record, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, July 24–25, 1995.

  51. Finnegan, “The Intelligence War,” p. 217; confidential interviews.

  52. Message, JCS 88180, CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF to CINCFE TOKYO Japan, April 11, 1951, RG-218, JCS Messages Relating to Operations in Korea, box 9, file JCS Outgoing Dispatches 1/3/51–5/31/51, NA, CP.

  53. Joseph C. Goulden, Korea: The Untold Story of the War (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982), p. 477.

  54. Radio, WST 268, G-2 GSUSA to SSR TOKYO (Collins to MacArthur Eyes Only), November 11, 1950, p. 2, RG-16A Papers of Major General Courtney Whitney, box 5, folder 14, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA.

  55. Richard D. McKinzie, Oral History Interview with Paul H. Nitze, Northeast Harbor, ME, August 5–6, 1975, pp. 268–69, HSTL, In de pendence, MO.

  56. Handwritten working paper of indications for SIE-1, undated, p. 2, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP79S01011A000100010028-8, NA, CP; memorandum, Hooker to Nitze, February 28, 1951, RG-59, entry 1568 Policy Planning Staff Records 1947–1953, box 20, file Korea 1951, NA, CP; message, CX 59843, CINCFE TOKYO JAPAN to DEPTAR WASH DC FOR G-2, April 10, 1951, RG-319, entry 58 G-2 Top Secret Cables 1942–1952, box 170, file Japan 3 Jan–31 Aug 51, NA, CP. For breaking of new North Korean codes, see 60th Signal Ser vice Company, Annual Historical Report, 60th Signal Ser vice Company, Fiscal Year 1951, pp. 16–17, INSCOM FOIA.

  57. Message, GX-3-1440-KGIO, CG EUSAK to CG IX CORPS et al., March 8, 1951, RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 220 COMGEN EUSAK Correspondence 1951, box 1638, file March 1951, NA, CP; message, C50802Z, COMNAVFE TOKYO JAPAN to COM7THFLT, April 5, 1951, RG-9, box 57, Radiograms— Incoming Navy (XTS) November 1950– April 1951, MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, VA; HQ Eighth United States Army Korea (EUSAK), Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Intelligence, “Brief Estimate of the Enemy Situation (Tactical),” April 9, 1951, pp. 4–8, RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 124 (A1) EUSAK G-2 Formerly Top Secret Intelligence Reports, box 81, file G-2 Tactical Estimate, NA, CP; message, CX 59843, CINCFE TOKYO JAPAN to DEPTAR WASH DC FOR G-2, April 10, 1951, RG-319, entry 58, box 170, file Japan 3 Jan–31 Aug 51, NA, CP; Eighth Army G-2, “Indications,” April 13, 1951, in Command Report, Eighth United States Army Korea (EUSAK): April 1951, sec. 2, bk. 3, Part 5, RG-407, Eighth U.S. Army, entry 429, box 1182, NA, CP. See also Blair, Forgotten War, pp. 870–71, 873; Roy E. Appleman, Ridgway Duels for Korea (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1990), p. 507.

  58. CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, memorandum, The Vietnamese Communists Will to Persist, annex 12, An Historical Analysis of Asian Communist Employment of the Political Tactics of Negotiations, August 26, 1966, p. xii–18, CIA Electronic FOIA Reading Room, Document No. 0001169545, http://www.foia.cia.gov; GHQ, UNC/FEC, “Daily Intelligence Summary,” No. 3204, June 18, 1951, cited in Eduard Mark, Aerial Interdiction in Three Wars (Washington, DC: Center for Air Force History, 1994), pp. 303, 316.

  59. The Soviet air forcestand-down lasted for nearly two weeks, with entire days going by when there were no signs whatsoever in SIGINT reporting that any Soviet planes were taking off or landing at Soviet military airfields. The eerie silence finally came to an end on May 4, 1951, when radio intercepts confirmed that routine Soviet air force tactical flight activity had resumed. CIA, memorandum, Cessation of Soviet Far East Tactical Air Activity, May 12, 1951, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file Situation Summary, HSTL, In de pendence, MO.

  60. TS Cont. No. 2-19203, memorandum, Wilcox to Director of Central Intelligence, Soviet AOB and Significant Air Developments, 11–17 April 1951, Inclusive, April 18, 1951, Tab A, p. 1, RG-341, entry 214 Top Secret Cable and Controls Division, box 56, file 2-19200-2-19299, NA, CP; CIA/SIC/N-2M/51, Special Intelligence Estimate No. 2, Communist Military Forces in the Korean Area, April 27, 1951, pp. 5, 11, MORI DocID: 1226087, CIA FOIA.

  61. Memorandum, Smith to President, North Korean Army, July 11, 1951, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file Situation Summary, HSTL, In depen dence, MO; Burns, Origins, p. 93; Johnson, American Cryptology, bk. 1, p. 55; Johnson, “A Preliminary Verdict,” p. 9; Milmore, #1 Code Break Boy, pp. 116–17.

  62. Johnson, “A Preliminary Verdict,” p. 10.

  63. Burns, Origins, pp. 94–95.

  3: Fight for Survival

  1. Canine background from biographical data sheet, Brigadier General Ralph Julian Canine, September 1946, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington, DC; NSA Newsletter, January 1954, p. 1, NSA FOIA.

  2. Jacob Gurin and [deleted], “Ralph J. Canine,” Cryptologic Spectrum, vol. 1, no. 1 (Fall 1969): p. 7, DOCID: 3217178, NSA FOIA.

  3. Letter, Wenger to Stone, May 13, 1952, RG-38, CNSG Library, box 101, file: MISC November 1951–July 1953, NA, CP; Charles P. Collins, The History of SIGINT in the Central Intelligence Agency, 1947–1970 (Washington, DC: CIA History Office, October 1971), vol. 2, p. 2; Gurin and [deleted], “Ralph J. Canine,” p. 9; U.S. Army Military History Institute, oral history, Interview with John J. Davis, Lt. General, USA Retired, 1986, p. 113, Army Center for Military History, Washington, DC.

  4. For AFSA’s SIGINT problems in Korea, see Thomas L. Burns, The Origins of the National Security Agency: 1940–1952 (Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 1990), p. 93, NSA FOIA; memorandum, EUSAK G-2 to Chief of Staff, Notes for the Commanding General, January 16, 1951, RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 118 EUSAK G-2 Action Files, box 58, file: G-2 Action File, vol. 1, NA, CP; memorandum, G-2 to Commanding General EUSAK, Intelligence Agencies Available to G-2, undated, RG-338, Records of the Eighth U.S. Army 1946–1956, entry 118 EUSAK G-2 Action Files, box 58, file G-2 Action File, vol. 1, NA, CP; message, 12/1908Z, Willoughby to ACSI, March 12, 1951, MORI DOCID: 3104676 NSA FOIA; oral history, Interview with Herbert L. Co
nley, March 5, 1984, pp. 73–74, declassified and on file at the library of the National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, MD; Benson K. Buffham, “The Korean War and AFSA,” The Phoenician, Spring 2001: p. 7. For the nightmarish internal situation at AFSA, see letter, Wenger to Roeder, December 29, 1950, p. 1, RG-38, Crane CNSG Library, box 101, file: Miscellaneous N-RCA, NA, CP; letter, Wenger to Mason, May 19, 1951, RG-38, Crane CNSG Library, box 101, file: Miscellaneous 1950–1951, NA, CP; letter, Mason to Wenger, December 22, 1951, RG-38, Crane CNSG Library, box 101, file: Miscellaneous 1951– 1952, NA, CP.

  5. For reorganization of NSA, see AFSA, General Order No. 1, Staff Assignments, January 9, 1952, NSA FOIA. For Rowlett’s departure, see letter, Wenger to Mason, January 17, 1952, RG-38 CNSG Library, box 101, file MISC 11/51–7/53, NA, CP; NSA oral history, Interview with Frank B. Rowlett, 1976, p. 372, NSA FOIA; NSA-OH-11-82, oral history, Interview with Captain Wesley A. Wright, USN, May 24, 1982, p. 80, NSA FOIA; Dr. Thomas R. Johnson, American Cryptology During the Cold War, 1945–1989 (Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 1995), bk. I: The Struggle for Centralization, 1945–1960, p. 93, NSA FOIA.

  6. Burns, Origins, pp. 77–78; Director’s Meeting, October 25, 1951, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP80B01676R002300070052-5, NA, CP; Daily Diary, December 17, 1951, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP80R01731R0026005300011-9, NA, CP; CIA TS #29771, memorandum, Smith to Executive Secretary, National Security Council, Proposed Survey of Communications Intelligence Activities, December 10, 1951, President’s Secretary’s Files, Box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, In de pendence, Missouri; ASA, Annual Historical Report, Army Security Agency: Fiscal Year 1953, p. 14, INSCOM FOIA; AC of S, G3, ASA, Annual Historical Report of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G3, Plans, Organization and Training: Fiscal Year 1953, September 1, 1953, p. 14, INSCOM FOIA. For CIA attitudes toward AFSA’s per for mance, see Ludwell Lee Montague, General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence, October 1950– February 1953, December 1971, vol. 5, p. 54, RG-263, NA, CP; memorandum, Smith to National Security Council, Report by the Director of Central Intelligence, April 23, 1952, p. 5, CREST Collection, Document No. CIA-RDP80R01731R001100080027-7, NA, CP.