SHOOTDOWN OF KAL 007. On 1 September 1983, Sovietair de-
fense forces shot down Korean Air Line flight 007, a Boeing 747, in
Soviet airspace. The commercial flight apparently had veered off-
course for unexplained reasons, but Soviet authorities claimed that
the airplane flew erratically and ordered it shot down. Soviet author-
ities at this time were already suspicious of U.S. intentions, fueled by
anti-Soviet rhetoric in the United States, and were already on alert to
detect a surprise American nuclear attack. The incident also sparked
numerous conspiracy theories, some of which claim that KAL 007
was actually on an intelligence mission for the United States. Inves-
tigations have been unable conclusively to explain the reasons why
the commercial flight strayed off its course, but Russian president
Boris Yeltsin acknowledged in mid-1990s that the Soviet Union was
to blame for shooting down the civilian airliner. See alsoIVYBELLS
(OPERATION); SOVIETWAR SCARE.SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE (SIGINT).Signals intelligence is the
interception and decoding of foreign electronic communications. It is
comprised of three subsidiary collection disciplines: communications
intelligence (COMINT), which is the interception of communications
traffic; electronic intelligence (ELINT), which is the interception of
electronic emissions; and telemetry intelligence (TELINT), which is
the interception of signals from test vehicles or weapons systems. Al-
though many of America’s intelligence agencies engage in SIGINT
collection, the National Security Agency (NSA) is the official man-
ager of the country’s SIGINTprograms.
Signals intelligence as a collection discipline has a long and sto-
ried past. The British pioneered signals intelligence measures in the
interwar years, but SIGINT’s modern era dates to World War II,
when the U.S. broke the Japanese military code and learned of plans
to invade Midway Island, allowing the United States to defeat
Japan’s superior fleet. The use of SIGINT probably contributed di-
rectly to shortening the war by at least one year. The establishment of
the NSAin 1952 gave coherence to the government’s scattered sig-
nals intelligence programs. Some intelligence agencies, such as the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), conduct their own specialized
form of signals collection, but even these activities must be per-
formed within NSAguidelines.SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE• 18305-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 10:39 AM Page 183