Telecommunication and electronic reconnaissance

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This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Aerial photo of the BND branch in Gablingen

Telecommunication and electronic reconnaissance ( Fm / EloAufkl ; English Signals Intelligence - SIGINT ), also known as signal-recording reconnaissance , is the acquisition of knowledge from electromagnetic emissions with communication content ( Fernmeldeausklerung - Fm Aufkl; English Communication Intelligence - COMINT) and without communication content ( electronic reconnaissance - Elo Aufkl; English Electronic Intelligence - ELINT). The term electronic intelligence also includes Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence ( FISINT ) and Measurement and Signature Intelligence ( MASINT ).

General

The American satellite "Mentor 4" ( USA 202 , 2009-001A ), which monitors communication with the civil satellite " Thuraya 2 "

Telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance are mostly operated by military or civil intelligence services , such as in Germany for military reconnaissance and to gain knowledge about foreign countries that are of foreign and security policy importance, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Bundeswehr , carried out operationally by the Electronic warfare (EloKa). Echelon is also a system network for telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance.

Based on the article published in 1999 by the intelligence expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom Receptive to the Secret - The (West) German Intelligence Services in the Aether , Christiane Schulzki-Haddouti created informative, geographically scaled, but now outdated map material about the locations of the wiretapping systems in the Federal Republic of Germany. The monitoring systems are operated by the BND, the Federal Police , the German Armed Forces and the NATO armed forces.

Telecommunication and electronic reconnaissance is carried out from the ground, at sea and also from the air. For a long time, the Bundeswehr used Breguet Atlantic BR-1150 aircraft in the SIGINT version for this purpose , which were to be replaced by unmanned Euro-Hawk drones ; however, the program was discontinued in May 2013 after the Euro-Hawk affair . In addition to the locations for telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance , the Bundeswehr also operates two of the listening towers on the former inner-German border for training purposes.

Telecommunication and electronic reconnaissance is a separate reconnaissance area, but is also particularly valuable in the reconnaissance network with imaging reconnaissance. While a picture (photo, radar, video) mainly shows the geographical location, further conclusions can be drawn with the help of telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance. By z. B. Listening to the radio messages and command codes, as well as determining the operating modes of the radars can be inferred from the deployment command of the units, vehicles and systems shown in the picture.

An important secondary task of telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance is also the determination of one's own compromise, e.g. B. the determination of the emissions of one's own command post or weapon system or radio transmitter in the field for electronic emission minimization ( electronic protective measures - EloSM).

Based on the abbreviation of the English term for telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance, signals intelligence , the Chaos Computer Club founded the SIGINT conference of the same name. In addition to developments in encryption and classic hacking, it primarily dealt with the social and economic aspects of digitization and was last held in 2013 in Cologne's Mediapark .

Listening devices of other countries in Germany

Due to agreements after the reunification of Germany , the official reason for the continued existence of the allied wiretapping systems was no longer applicable. They were primarily strategically deployed on the border with the Warsaw Pact states and were gradually dismantled, for example by blowing up the French listening tower on the mountain " Stöberhai " in the western Harz in 2005.

Before that, the first thing to do was to demolish the Soviet electronics central station on the Brocken , which, according to the Eastern language, was used for " radio electronic combat ". Then the US pen-shaped "eavesdropper" was dismantled on the Wurmberg . Several reconnaissance towers of the Bundeswehr , including on the eastern slope of the Hessian Hohe Meißner , on the Großer Arber , in Barwedel and Thurau , followed. The massive British radio direction finder in the northern Harz should be one of the last to fall.

literature

  • Rudolf Grabau: Technical Enlightenment. Discover - classify - identify - locate - evaluate sensors, systems and processes. Franckh, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-06044-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anna Daun: An Eye for an Eye ?: Intelligence cooperation in German-American relations . Springer, 2010, p. 147 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Florian Skopik: Cyber ​​Situational Awareness in Public-Private-Partnerships: Managing cross -organizational cyber security incidents effectively . Springer, 2018, p. 203 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Klaus Naumann: Peace, the mission that has not yet been fulfilled . Mittler & Sohn, 2002, p. 50 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Traditionally, signal intelligences (SIGINT) is treated as one of the most important and sensitive forms of intelligence. The interception of foreign signals can provide data on diplomatic, military, scientific, and economic plans or events as well as on the characteristics of radars , spacecraft, and weapons systems. SIGINT can be broken down into two basic subcategories: Communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronics intelligence (ELINT). from: Loch K. Johnson (Ed.): Handbook of intelligence studies. Routledge, London a. a. 2009, ISBN 0-415-77050-5 , pp. 108-109, @google books , accessed February 11, 2013.
  5. ↑ http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3095/1
  6. ↑ events.ccc.de , announcement of SIGINT 2013