[Milsurplus] red/black TTY shipboard question

[C.Whitaker]

de WB2CPN
I, too, apologize, for not recalling the big picture.
I was thinking about Red/Black as associated with
synchronous crypto facilities, such as ***** which
was used on long-haul circuits, and some local also.
Everything was in a shielded and filtered room, and
secured to ****** DCA ****.  That was a long time
ago.
Then I remembered Red/Black in an older configuration.
That was a mess.  A machine could be used first in one
mode, and then in another.  Errors were not permitted.
Thanks, Nick.   Nothing above violates the info rules.
73  Clete
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



On 5/8/2012 10:39 AM, Nick England wrote:
> I apologize for not being very clear - Yes, I am familiar with
> red/black, TEMPEST, etc. - first learned about them 40 years ago when
> I was an engineer for the Naval Electronics Systems Command.
>
> My question now is how and why this switch/indicator set-up was used -
> Why was TTY gear in a classified space sometimes switched to a black
> (unclassified) circuit - to copy or send what kind of traffic? What
> gear was typically plugged into this switch box? And am I correct in
> my guess as to why it says CAUTION on the UNCLASSIFIED indicator?
>
> thanks,
> Nick
>
> --------------------------
>
> And just to (I hope) straighten things out - RED signals are NOT
> ENCRYPTED - this is the classified plain text *before* it is encrypted
> or after it has been decrypted.
> "OPEN FIRE AT 0500" is RED UNENCRYPTED text
>
> After it is encrypted the signal is BLACK - meaning it is unclassified
> and can get transmitted into the aether where every Ahmed, Boris, and
> Kim in the world can copy it but they can't figure out what it
> actually means.
> "DRTGH SHPUH QTJFV" is BLACK ENCRYPTED text
>
> BLACK signals are:
> 1) unclassified stuff that isn't worth hiding (unencrypted requests
> for more coffee mugs); or
> 2) classified stuff that is worth hiding (encrypted requests for more
> nukes); or
> 3) unclassified coffee mug requests that are EFTO (encrypted for
> transmission only).
>
> Confusing people might be a message header that says SECRET followed
> by a whole bunch of seemingly random letters (encrypted text). This
> means that when it is decrypted, the contents of the message are
> classified SECRET. But the encrypted version is unclassified - you
> really can't keep a secret while feeding it into a 40KW transmitter!!!
>
> cheers,
> Nick
>
> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 3:33 PM, Nick England<navy.radio at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Howdy gang - I'd like to understand how a couple of items were
>> actually used aboard Navy ships -
>>
>> One is a key-operated CLASSIFIED/UNCLASSIFIED teletype line switch SA-734/SG
>> http://www.navy-radio.com/rtty/misc/sa734-sg-91.jpg
>> I presume CLASSIFIED means red (unencypted) circuits and UNCLASSIFIED
>> means black (encrypted)?
>> So an UNCLASSIFIED switchboard would be an SB-1203
>> http://www.navy-radio.com/rtty/patch/sb1203-02.jpg
>> and a CLASSIFIED one would be an SB-1210
>> http://www.navy-radio.com/rtty/patch/sb1210-02.jpg
>>
>> OK - the actual teletype equipment connects to this switch via two
>> 1/4" phone jacks, only one of which is uncovered at a time by turning
>> the key. What TTY equipment would be plugged in here - a 28KSR on a
>> roll-around stand? or test gear? or something permanently mounted but
>> with a flexible line cord? In other words if I saw one of these
>> switches shipboard, just what would be plugged into it?
>>
>> And the related device is the UNCLASS/CLASS warning lamp ID-866/SG
>> http://www.navy-radio.com/rtty/misc/id866-sg-01.JPG
>> I assume this was controlled by the switch and installed near the
>> teletype equipment.
>>
>> So the red WARNING lamp lets you know that this is a circuit for
>> UNCLASSIFIED info only and you'd better not type anything on that KSR
>> unless you want Boris and Natasha to read it.
>>
>> I convinced myself all this made sense until I looked at this
>> installation aboard USS New Jersey, which seems exactly opposite....
>> http://www.navy-radio.com/ships/bb62/p1010024.jpg
>>
>> So how did things actually work??? I've got these items installed with
>> my TTY gear - now I just need to find a KW-37 crypto unit at Dayton or
>> Fair Radio next week - ha!
>>
>> thanks,
>> Nick K4NYW
>> www.navy-radio.com
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