Content provided in partnership with
German Air Force signal intelligence 1956: A museum of comint and sigint
Cryptologia, Jul 1999 by van der Meulen, Michael
The Association manager, OSFw (Chief Master Sergeant) Hans Frommer, may be reached at:
Traditionsverein Fernmelde- / Elektronische Aufklarung Luftwaffe e. V.
General von Seidel Kaserne
Luxemburger Strasse 230
D-54294 Trier GERMANY
Phone: 06 51- 819 - 347 Fax: 06 51- 819 - 205
VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The Association and its museum fill a long-standing need. Neglected by the high officials of the Bundeswehr for almost forty years, until it was almost too late, the museum is a necessary contribution to the history of one of the most secret fields of the Air Force and the Bundeswehr during the era of the cold war. Yet it is also important for the German Electronic Defense Industry's history. Different corporations of the German Electronic Defense industry support the Association.
It is a wise decision of the Association to restrict themselves to Air Force Signal Intelligence. That topic is broad enough to take the members years to come close to their intention when the Association was founded. Still in its first stage, the museum's exhibition of technical equipment for SIGINT is unchallenged by any other exhibition in Germany, including non-public industrial corporate collections.
Although most of the soldiers with wartime experience on COMINT who were the driving force behind the development of signal intelligence in the Bundeswehr Air Force are dead, those who started their careers with the Bundeswehr are still alive and they are today's the members of the Association. Nowhere else can people with their experience be found. The clock shows five minutes past twelve but yet not everything of forty years of history is lost.
The most remarkable point of the whole exhibition is that only three years earlier, such a public exhibition was unthinkable. The Association and the museum has received much publicity in the local press and at Trier, especially at schools with classes that visit the museum. An openness to the public is becoming slowly normal.
Both active and retired members of the Association, sworn to secrecy for forty years, are still a bit uncomfortable about revealing what was once one of the most shielded secrets in Germany.28 Its secrecy is responsible for the reputation of intelligence as "Black Magic"29 but once lifted one sees that there are fewer secrets to the art than thought. COMINT and SIGINT are based on well known scientific and engineering methods, especially those from physics, mathematics, information technology and electrical engineering. Analytic methods are the same as those of engineers and scientists or comparable to the analysis of historians.30 Perhaps greatest secret may be that there is no secret; there is nothing but scientific analysis and good craftsmanship as required in every job. Much of the secrecy is a good toy to hide this simple reality. To use a German proverb: "Die kochen auch nur mit Wasser" (They're no different from anybody else).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is a pleasure to thank Greg Mellen for his advice and editing not only of this paper, but all others written so far for Cryptologia.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Home & Garden
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »