[GreenKeys] Reperforator tape colors

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

I remember that day.  As best I recall, we happened to have both the BLT 
and the HMM aboard (I know that we didn't wait around to recover them from the 
beach and there would have been no reason to go without them) and got 
underway headed Northeast (to clear Hainan Island and the China coast and steamed 
for several hours before slowing , turning around and proceding back to the 
mouth of the Qua Viet River at a more leisurely pace.  I didn't happen to 
be in Main Comm that day so didn't find out until later that day what had 
happened.

Robert D.

In a message dated 01/08/2013 23:56:16 PM Central Standard Time, 
w5jv at hotmail.com writes: 
> Hi Charles,
> 
> 
> Toward the end of January in 1968, my ship was finishing a WESTPAC cruise 
> and we were
> beginning to leave the Southeast Asian waterways for the open Pacific.  
> All of a sudden
> the teletype bells started going off and FLASH messages bearing the SECRET 
> classification
> (always in plain language) began coming across the broadcast machines 
> about the USS Pueblo
> and the North Koreans.  The watch supervisor called the bridge and asked 
> the CO to come
> down to Radio Central.  Minutes later, the Captain and Ops Boss were 
> standing over the
> machines reading the traffic.  The messages were focused on enemy contact 
> and what
> was happening on the Pueblo.  Soon afterwards TOP SECRET coded messages 
> (full pages
> of 5 letter groups) began coming across and the handling classification 
> was reduced from
> FLASH to IMMEDIATE and simply dictated that the information be decoded and 
> routed to
> appropriate eyes.  
> 
> 
> The message handling classifications were:
> 
> 
> R - Routine
> P - Priority
> O - Immediate
> Z - Flash 
> 
> 
> I would imagine as radio messages evolved from being delivered by signal 
> to being downloaded
> from satellite, message handling also improved.  I'm told that on modern 
> ships, the ships'
> internal computer networks provide instant access to information and 
> network administrators
> watch over and facilitate who sees what.  On commercial ships, the bridge 
> now has CRT screens
> or LED screens dedicated to different visual tasks.  I would think the 
> Navy has already adapted
> to the same.  
> 
> 
> To answer your question, in my military days I never saw message security 
> compromised.  The 
> messages were just adjusted so that speed of handling and what needed to 
> be sent got the job done.
> 
> 
> John W5JV
> 
> 
> 
> Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 21:17:08 -0500
> From: w3nu at roadrunner.com
> To: w5jv at hotmail.com
> CC: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Reperforator tape colors
> 
> My remaining big concern is all that had to consume lots of time. If 
> something had to be acted on speedily, was it less likely to be classified Top 
> Secret?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 1/8/2013 2027, John Hensley wrote:
> 
> >> The data protection was accomplished through encryption processes and 
>> limited equipment control areas.  Top Secret, for instance, was only 
>> carried through certain hard wired &shielded
>>  cables between the Communications Officer's private office and the 
>> encrypting equipment.  A
>>  1MC intercom was in his suite which was used when he was ready to 
>> transmit.  This rarely even
>>  occurred.  99% of TS was incoming and garbled until decoded by the COMMO 
>> or duty supervisor.
>>  
>> 
>> The colors of the tape, message forms, etc. were work aides to remind 
>> personnel on rotating 
>>  shifts what was what.  The Navy required Confidential and above to be 
>> physically protected 
>>  (behind secure need-to-know access doors) until disposed of and 
>> disposition was by incinerator.  
>>  In most cases, personnel read only the header of the tape and did not 
>> even do that for tape which
>>  was used and then put in a burn bag.  Very few people had the time or 
>> office to read most of the
>>  stuff.  The burn bags went into what
>>  was called a "burn basket", a rectangular box kit shaped screen mesh 
>> cage which we mounted
>>  on the fantail and then set the paper afire.  The screen mesh insured 
>> only ash could escape.
>>  
>> 
>> Top Secret was reserved for the eyes of the Communications Officer and 
>> the Captain.  And only
>>  those two could route a TS message for other eyes.  The message board 
>> was prepared by the
>>  COMMO and sent directly to the CO.  The CO would then check appropriate 
>> "initial" blocks which
>>  determined which other officers would need to read &initial.  Those 
>> papers were then put in
>>  a special burn bag and kept 24 hours before being destroyed.  Or so was 
>> the routine where I
>>  was between 1965 and 1971.
>>  
>> 
>> John
>>  
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> =

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
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