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| Overview of the US Special Collection Service (F6) |
| 2023-12-11 |
| [GreyDynamics] 1.0 INTRODUCTION The United States Special Collection Service (SCS), codenamed F6, is a joint NSA-CIA program that is referred to as the “mission impossible force.” The SCS’s existence is denied by the U.S. government, but its activities and capabilities have been revealed over the years. Edward Snowden’s leaks and individuals with inside knowledge have shed some light on the highly secretive unit. "F6"... a rather humorous moniker. The mission of the SCS is in signals intelligence (SIGINT). More specifically, they focus on “placing super-high-tech bugs in unbelievably hard-to-reach places” [source]. 2.0 HISTORY The SCS was founded in 1978 as a way for the NSA and CIA to cooperate on highly sensitive and important intelligence collection operations. The creation of the Special Collection Service allowed for a much more efficient and coordinated approach to targets. Prior to its creation, there was increased competition between the NSA’s eavesdropping specialists and the CIA’s bugging specialists [source]. Before the SCS, the CIA and NSA would duplicate efforts and not coordinate effectively. Cooperation between the two agencies allowed them to combine their areas of expertise into one highly capable unit. The SCS’ value in the Cold War was significant. In the Cold War, the SCS installed listening devices on pigeons perched atop of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. Since the 1990s, the SCS has become increasingly daring and widespread. In the late 1990s, the SCS was one of the first units to set up operations in the Middle East. In 1999, the SCS was listening in on al-Qaeda training camps. Around the turn of the century, SCS operations were prevalent across Iraq and only increased with the U.S. invasion [source]. 3.0 ORGANISATION The Special Collection Service is organised to maximise the cooperation between experts in the field and SIGINT experts. To maintain strong cooperation, the leadership of the SCS alternates between the Director of the CIA and NSA. In order to accomplish synergy between the agencies, four units comprise the organisation: the Field Operations Office, Field Engineering Office, Mission Support Office, and Installation and Logistics Office. Snipped sections: 3.1 Covert HQ 3.2 Worldwide Operations 4.0 Equipment 4.1 Innovative Technology 4.2 Operations Enabled by Technology 5.0 Notable Operations 5.1 Berlin Station 5.2 OPERATION NEPTUNE SPEAR Operation Neptune Spear was the 2011 U.S. operation to kill or capture Osama bin Laden in his compound in Pakistan. The Navy’s SEAL Team 6 and CIA Ground Branch received much of the attention, but the SCS played a critical role in the mission’s success. The service’s signal interception capabilities allowed them to follow the trail of bin Laden’s courier to a compound outside of the city. They did this by closely monitoring his phone calls and listening for keywords while they tracked his location. [source]. As the intelligence community narrowed in on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, SCS operatives set up an operation in a safe house down the road from the target building. From this post, the operatives were able to measure vibrations and other signals to determine the number of individuals within the compound’s walls. This allowed them to determine there was one individual who never travelled outside of the home, a piece of evidence used to suggest it was in fact bin Laden’s compound [source]. 6.0 SUMMARY The United States Special Collection Service is at the tip of the spear for U.S. intelligence collection. The organisation offers the U.S. significant insight into potential threats and allows them to respond to them. The SCS has operated in a grey area, at times violating laws and agreements of countries around the world, even allies. Despite this, the value provided by the organisation to the U.S. national security apparatus is enormous. |
| Posted by:Griter Slash1619 |
| #5 F6 - Someone Had A Sense Of Humor |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2023-12-11 12:17 |
| #4 Or willfully ignored. Or proceeded as planned. Hamas will be broken. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2023-12-11 11:19 |
| #3 Attack 'may' have been much, much larger than anticipated. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-12-11 09:24 |
| #2 #1 But somehow the Indications & Warnings of the 7 Oct 2023 Hamas attack went undetected. Posted by: Besoeker 2023-12-11 06:22 Beso, I don't think it's so much that they went undetected, as they went unacknowledged. Or willfully ignored. Mike |
| Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2023-12-11 09:22 |
| #1 But somehow the Indications & Warnings of the 7 Oct 2023 Hamas attack went undetected. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-12-11 06:22 |