Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Thank you.
Firstly, for the last 10 years or so I've had an odd...ok, obsesion with SIGINT. Don't know why, but there it is.
In the shadow of that have come the obvious interrests in the Pueblo, Liberty, and the Airborne platforms that rarely have garnered the same attention as a Navy ship being lost or attacked(except for that one in Bush's first term...the plane forced down over Chinese territory).
So I'm glad to have a couple more books to read on at least one of those incidences. I will read them.
Sounds like you're serrious about research. I read lots of books every month, and I don't read fiction.
jon

Yes, there is all kinds of surveilling going on all the time by all kinds of people. The sigint that the NSC got that related to the comms between the North Korean vessels just before they seized the Pueblo has been suggested as having come from a spy submarine. Again, it poses the question, why was the Pueblo there if they had other ways to obtain this information? The military often goes in for redundancy, so that could be the simple answer.

A part of the Pueblo mission was a sort of "show the flag" exercise. The US government wanted to demonstrate that they would exercise their right to the seas, even in hostile or disputed areas. This should have given a clue to the intel experts that possibly these surveillance missions were something more than "minimal risk."

If you have ever watched the movie, "Enemy of the State" with Gene Hackman, you get some idea of what can be done with electronic surveillance. I have no doubt that everything technical shown in the movie has been done in reality and then some.

I do a bit of reading myself, also virtually all non-fiction. Once in a while, I will read a novel just for fun, rather like eating a candy bar.

I agree toatally with your "Show the Flag" theory.
Too many trawlers and no response...have to show 'em we're big boys after all....even if we can get the same information without being so obvious.
This is an endless area of interest for me.
If you've never read Bamford's two books on the subject I highly recomend them. Although the second, "Body of Secrets" is a bit of an easier read than "The Puzzle Palace" was.
Again, thanks for the informative post.
jon

edited to say...Maybe my emotions run too deep on the subject, and I deleted my three paragraphs of rant after a few hours.
The problem rests squarely with General officers.
If Our command structure wasn't so politically motivated then we could talk.
jon

as always a great read gary , and so thought provoking ,

i cant speak to the chain of comand discussion ,
im not suprised that the politions and analysists got it wrong ,
but i cant believe - with all of our history - that we leave any of our vessels unprotected in this world , especialy with a country that claimes excessive international waters , put a missle boat off her stern and disuade any foolish boarding partys with prejudice