The Secret Sentry (51 page)

75. Johnson, “A Preliminary Verdict,” p. 3.

76. David Halberstam,
The Coldest War
(New York: Random House, 2007), p.1.

2: The Storm Breaks

1. This chapter supplements with newly declassified documents the author’s previously published detailed examination of the
role played by SIGINT in the Korean War, for which see Matthew M. Aid, “U.S. Humint and Comint in the Korean War: From the
Approach of War to the Chinese Intervention,”
Intelligence and National Security
, vol. 14, no. 4 (Winter 1999): pp. 17–23; Matthew M. Aid, “American Comint in the Korean War (Part II): From the Chinese
Intervention to the Armistice,”
Intelligence and National Security
, vol. 15, no. 1 (Spring 2000): pp. 14–49.

2. ASA,
History, Army Security Agency and Subordinate Units, Fiscal Year 1951
, vol. 2, p. 2, INSCOM FOIA;
Report to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense
, June 13, 1952, p. 29, NSA FOIA; Russell “Hop” Harriger,
A Historical Study of the Air Force Security Service and Korea:
June 1950–October 1952
, October 2, 1952, p. 4, AIA FOIA; James E. Pierson,
A Special Historical
Study: USAFSS Response to World Crises, 1949–1969
(San Antonio, TX: USAFSS Historical Office, 1970), p. 1, AIA FOIA; Richard A. “Dick” Chun,
A Bit on the Korean COMINT
Effort
, working notes prepared for the NSA History Office, 1971, DOCID 321697, NSA FOIA; Thomas L. Burns,
The Origins of the National Security Agency: 1940–1952
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 1990), p. 84, NSA FOIA; Dr. Thomas R. Johnson,
American Cryptology
During the Cold War, 1945–1989
, bk. 1,
The Struggle for Centralization, 1945–1960
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 1995), p. 39, NSA FOIA; Benson K. Buffham, “The Korean War and AFSA,”
The Phoenician
, Spring 2001: p. 7; report,
On the 20th Anniversary
of the Korean War: An Informal Memoire by the ORE Korean Desk Officer, Circa 1948–1950
, undated, p. 22, RG-263, entry 17, box 4, file CIA Reporting on ChiComs in Korean War, NA, CP; letter, Morton A. Rubin to
author, May 5, 1992. The “North Korean target was ignored” quote is from Jill Frahm,
So Power Can Be Brought into Play: SIGINT and the Pusan Perimeter
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 2000), p. 4.

3. Memorandum, USCIB to Secretary of Defense, May 12, 1949; memorandum, Denfield to Secretary of Defense,
Atomic Energy Program of the USSR
, June 30, 1949, both in RG-330, entry 199 Central Decimal File 1947–1950, box 61, file CD 11-1-2, NA, CP; Russell “Hop” Harriger,
A
Historical Study of the Air Force Security Ser vice and Korea: June 1950–October 1952
, October 2, 1952, p. 2, AIA FOIA; historical paper,
The U.S. COMINT Effort During the Korean War: June
1950–August 1953
, January 6, 1954, pp. 2–3, DOCID 3216598, NSA FOIA; interviews, Frank B. Rowlett and Louis W. Tordella. Quote from Frahm,
Power Can Be Brought
, p. 4. Rubin quote from interview with Morton A. Rubin.

4. Historical paper,
The U.S. COMINT Effort During the Korean War: June 1950–August 1953
, January 6, 1954, p. 2, DOCID 3216598, NSA FOIA; Richard A. “Dick” Chun,
A Bit on the Korean
COMINT Effort
, working notes prepared for the NSA History Office, 1971, p. 1, DOCID 321697, NSA FOIA; Burns,
Origins
, p. 85; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, p. 39; David A. Hatch and Robert Louis Benson,
The Korean War: The SIGINT Background
(Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 2000), p. 5; Frahm,
Power Can Be Brought
, p. 4.

5. ASA, Pacific,
ASAPAC Summary Annual Report, FY 1951
, p. 63, INSCOM FOIA; Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 8; interviews with Morton Rubin and Clayton Swears.

6. Dr. Thomas R. Johnson, “Signals Intelligence in the Korean War,” paper presented at the 26th Annual Conference of the Society
for Historians of American Foreign Relations, June 23, 2000, Toronto, Canada; Frahm,
Power Can Be Brought
, pp. 6–7; John Milmore,
#1 Code Break
Boy
(Haverford, PA: Infinity Publishing, 2002), pp. 33, 40–41, 47.

7. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, pp. 43, 55; Frahm,
Power Can Be Brought
, p. 7; NSA OH-1999-51, oral history,
Interview with Benson K. Buffham
, June 15, 1999, p. 33, NSA FOIA.

8. Johnson, “Signals Intelligence”; Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 9. See also Clay Blair,
The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953
(New York: Times Books, 1987), p. 171. Polk quote from April 25, 1991, letter to author from General James H. Polk. Woolnough
quote from Senior Officers Debriefing Program,
Oral History of General James K. Woolnough
, vol. 1, p. 31, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA.

9. Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, p. 43; Dr. Thomas R. Johnson, “American Cryptology During the Korean War—A Preliminary Verdict,” June 2000, p. 5,
paper presented at the 26th Annual Conference of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, June 23, 2000,
Toronto, Canada; Frahm,
Power Can Be Brought
, p. 12; “SIGINT in the Defense of the Pusan Perimeter: Korea 1950,” manuscript, date unknown, NSA FOIA; Blair,
Forgotten War
, p. 240.

10. Memorandum, GHQ FEC G-2, Operations Branch to C/S ROK,
JSO/KLO Report No. 17
, 130030K Aug 1950, RG-6, box 14, folder 6, Correspondence: Memoranda/Messageforms, 23 July–August 30, 1950, MacArthur Memorial
Library, Norfolk, VA; memorandum, GHQ FEC G-2, Operations Branch to C/S ROK,
JSO/KLO Report No. 19
, August 15, 1950, RG-6, box 14, folder 6, Correspondence: Memoranda/Messageforms, 23 July–August 30, 1950, MacArthur Memorial
Library, Norfolk, VA; message, G 10011 KGI, CG, EUSAK REAR to CG EUSAK FORWARD, August 19, 1950, RG-338 Records of the Eighth
U.S. Army, entry 116 ACofS, G-2 Outgoing Radio Messages 1950–1951, box 50, file: Comeback Copies— 1950, NA, CP; DA TT 3708,
Telecon, WASH and CINCFE, August 30, 1950, p. 8, RG-59, Decimal File 1950–1954, box 4268, file: 795.00/8-3050, NA, CP.

11. Memorandum, GHQ FEC G-2, Operations Branch to C/S ROK,
JSO/KLO Report No. 17
, 130030K Aug 1950, RG-6, box 14, folder 6, Correspondence: Memoranda/Messageforms, 23 July–August 30, 1950, MacArthur Memorial
Library, Norfolk, VA; SRC-3927, CIA,
Situation
Summary
, August 25, 1950, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, Independence, MO.

12. HQ Eighth U.S. Army Korea,
Appendix No. 1 to Annex A (Intelligence) to Operations Plan 10
, September 10, 1950, pp. 4–5; TS message, Dickey to Davidson, undated but circa September 11, 1950, both in RG-338, Rec ords
of Eighth U.S. Army, entry 113, box 44, file 322.1 1950, NA, CP.

13. CIA,
Situation Summary
, August 18, 1950, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file Situation Summary, HSTL, In de pen dence, MO; report,
AFSA [deleted]-1230/50, WS-[PKC 321], North Korean, September 14, 1950, NSA FOIA; report, AFSA [deleted]-1305/50, WS-[PKC
360], North Korean, September 14, 1950, NSA FOIA; SRC-4232, CIA,
Situation Summary
, September 15, 1950, p. 2, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file Situation Summary, HSTL, Independence, MO; SRC-4397,
CIA,
Situation Summary
, September 22, 1950, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file Situation Summary, HSTL, Inde pen dence, MO; Frahm,
Power
Can Be Brought
, p. 13.

14. Milmore,
#1 Code Break Boy
, pp. 57–58.

15. ASA,
History, Army Security Agency and Subordinate Units, FY 1950
, p. 28, INSCOM FOIA; ASA,
History, Army Security Agency and Supporting Units, FY 1951
, vol. 2, pp. 3, 18–22, INSCOM FOIA; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, p. 44; Guy R. Vanderpool, “COMINT and the PRC Intervention in the Korean War,”
Cryptologic Quarterly
, vol. 15, no. 2 (Summer 1996): pp. 9–10, NSA FOIA; Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 9; Johnson, “Signals Intelligence in the Korean War.”

16. CIA,
Situation Summary
, October 27, 1950, p. 3, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, HSTL, Independence, MO; Johnson,
American Cryptology
, bk. 1, pp. 44–45; Vanderpool, “COMINT and the PRC Intervention,” pp. 11, 14; Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 9.

17. Department of the Army, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Intelligence,
Periodic Intelligence Report
on Soviet Intentions and Activities
, July 7, 1950, tab “A,” p. 1, RG-319, entry 4 1950 Chief of Staff Top Secret Decimal Files, box 3, 091 Russia Case #5, NA,
CP; memorandum for record, November 15, 1950, RG-341, entry 214 file 2-17100-2-17199, NA, CP; Cynthia M. Grabo, “The Watch
Committee and the National Indications Center: The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Warnings, 1950–1975,”
International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
, vol. 3, no. 3: p. 367.

18. Interviews with Morton A. Rubin and Louis Tordella. Panikkar’s background from K. M. Panikkar,
In Two Chinas: Memoirs of a Diplomat
(London: Allen and Unwin, 1955) and K. M. Panikkar,
An Autobiography
(Madras: Oxford University Press, 1977).

19. Department of State, Office of Intelligence Research,
Current Soviet and Chinese Communist Intentions,
No. 1
, August 8, 1950, p. 2, RG-59, entry 1561 Lot 58D776 INR Subject Files 1945–1956, box 17, file: Current Soviet and Chinese
Intentions 8-8-50, NA, CP; CIA,
Interim Situation Summary
, September 30, 1950, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, Independence, MO.

20. SRC-4635, CIA,
Situation Summary
, October 6, 1950, p. 2, President’s Secretary’s files, box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, In de pendence, MO.

21. CIA,
Interim Situation Summary
, September 30, 1950, p. 1, President’s Secretary’s Files, box 211, file: Situation Summary, HSTL, In de pen dence, MO; Vanderpool,
“COMINT and the PRC Intervention,” p. 14; Hatch and Benson,
The Korean War
, p. 9. See also message no. 792, Moscow to Secretary of State, September 29, 1950, RG-59, Decimal File 1950–1954, box 4298,
file: 795A.5/9-2950, NA, CP.

22. Memorandum, McConaughy to Jessup and Rusk,
Credibility of K.M. Panikkar, Indian Ambassador
to Communist China
, October 12, 1950, RG-59, entry 399A Office of Chinese Affairs Top Secret Subject Files: 1945–1950, box 18, file: 1950 TS
Formosa: August–December, NA, CP.

23. Thomas J. Christensen, “Threats, Assurances, and the Last Chance for Peace,”
International Security
, vol. 17, no. 1 (Summer 1992): pp. 151–52; Chen Jian,
China’s Road to the Korean War
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), pp. 172–77.

24. For the Panikkar warning, see message no. 828, New Delhi to Secretary of State, October 3, 1950, RG-59, Decimal File 1950–1954,
box 4268, file: 795.00/10-350, NA, CP; British Embassy, Washington, DC,
Message Received from His Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires, Peking, dated 3rd
October, 1950
, RG-59, Decimal File 1950–1954, box 4298, file: 795A.5/10-550, NA, CP; memorandum, Clubb to Merchant,
Chinese Communist Threat of Intervention in Korea
, October 4, 1950, RG-59, entry 399A Office of Chinese Affairs Top Secret Subject Files: 1945–1950, box 18, file: 1950 TS
Korea: June–October, NA, CP. See also memorandum, Bolling to Chief of Staff,
U.S. Intelligence Coverage of the Relationship of Communist China to the Korean War from 25 June
to 24 November 1950
, May 7, 1951, p. 12, RG-319, entry 1041, ID No. 928809, NA, CP; Bruce W. Bidwell, Col., USA (Ret.),
History of the Military Intelligence Division, Department of the Army
General Staff
, 1962, part 7,
Korean Conflict: 25 June 1950–27 July 1953
, p. V-16, OCMH FOIA. For the Dutch warning, see Department of State,
Daily Staff Summary
, October 3, 1950, p. 1, RG-59, entry 3049 Daily Staff Summary 1944-71, box 10, NA, CP; message no. 490, The Hague to Secretary
of State, October 3, 1950, Papers of Harry S. Truman, Selected Rec ords Relating to the Korean War, box 7, item no. 18, HSTL,
Inde pen dence, MO; memorandum, Clubb to Merchant,
General Whitney’s Latest Remarks Concerning Chinese Communist Intentions to Intervene in
North Korea
, April 22, 1951, p. 2, RG-59, entry 1207 Rec ords of the Office of Chinese Affairs— “P” Files, box 22, file 13p Korea TS,
NA, CP.

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.