[Spooks] EAMS?

[Larry Van Horn]

This is actually a common question that milcom monitors get all the time. 
EAMs have nothing to do with the weather, hurricane/earthquake relief, etc. 
They are specialized messages transmitted for command and control to various 
U.S. military units. The basic understanding of what an EAM is can be found 
at http://monitoringtimes.com/html/eam.html. It was written by the dean of 
EAM monitors Mr. Jeff Haverlah.

I added additional and new material to Jeff's piece in thie December 
Monitoring Times magazine in my monthly Milcom column. My column was titled 
November-Foxtrot-India-India-Four-Sierra: DoD EAMs revisited.  I think the 
best information comes from the top dogs in DoD, the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
(JCS). In a JCS instruction 5721.01D dated February 8, 2008 on Nuclear 
Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Hybrid Solution (HS), they wrote: 
"EAMs are highly structured, authenticated messages primarily used in the C2 
(Command and Control) of nuclear forces. EAMs are disseminated over numerous 
survivable and non-survivable communication systems, including terrestrial 
and space systems."

In another online publication published in 2008, the Nuclear Matters: A 
Practical Guide, Chapter 5 had these two statements: "Emergency Action 
Message - Use Authorization Control. An Emergency Action Message (EAM) is 
the medium through which actions involving nuclear weapons are authorized. 
These messages are encrypted and sent to lower-echelon units for action. The 
messages have different formats and may require authentication with sealed 
authentication code cards depending on the intent of the message. "National 
Military Command and Control System. The Joint Staff Director for Operations 
(J-3) operates the C2 system. EAMs are conveyed to the Combatant Commands 
through secure communications links."

There is a lot more to this story so if you are a MT print or MTXpress 
subscriber, you can get the rest of the story including freq info on pages 
52/53 of your December 2009 Monitoring Times. I have added this piece as a 
post to my online military communications blog at the address below in my 
signature block.

73 de Larry

Larry Van Horn, N5FPW
Brasstown, NC USA
MT Assistant/Review/Technical Editor
Milcom/What's New/First Look Columnist
Milcom Monitoring Post at
http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <sher0242 at yahoo.com>
To: "Shortwave Spy Numbers Stations" <spooks at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Spooks] EAMS?


> Visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks to unsubscribe from 
> this list
>
> EAM's are Emergency Action Messages transmitted by the USAF (I.e. Andrews, 
> Offutt AFB) to aircraft and other stations using the HF Global System. 
> These are coded messages but not always Emergency in nature. There are a 
> number of frequencies on this network. Main daytime freq. 11175usb.
> Edward Caron
> New Bedford, Ma.
> USA
> ------Original Message------
> From: Ashley Dugan
> Sender: spooks-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> To: spooks at mailman.qth.net
> ReplyTo: Shortwave Spy Numbers Stations
> Subject: [Spooks] EAMS?
> Sent: Jan 31, 2010 19:45
>
> Visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks to unsubscribe from 
> this list
>
> What are EAMS?  I have been hearing this this too, except around 6930.
>
> --
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