Early SIGINT Efforts in Vietnam (Part 2 of 7)

By March 1962, the 3rd RRU had evaluated the marines’ performance and reported back to Director National Security Agency (DIRNSA).

The ASA suggested that if the marines were to be extended past their initial 120-day mission, their site should be moved to the Danang area and be assigned a mission in support of the effort by the army intercept site in the Philippines. It was determined that the Marine Corps effort at Pleiku mostly duplicated that of Army’s at Phu Bai. Furthermore, it was noted that the resulting intercept was below the standards of Bien Hoa in terms of quantity and quality.

Late in 1963, the marines shifted their base from the mountainous Central Highlands at Pleiku to the newly established station at Phu Bai near Hue where they moved in with the ASA. There they worked with ASA personnel who trained the marines in traffic analysis (TIA) and intercept of communist communications. As the marine expertise grew, the detachment took on new missions with emphasis on the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) naval communications, including Hanoi’s coastal surveillance radar network and the tactical command and control of its small navy of patrol craft and torpedo boats. Eventually, marine operators would work with the expanding Air Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) program and the KIT KAT SIGINT support project for OPLt\N 34A missions.