Initially established as the Air Force (USAF) Security Group in June, 1948, the USAF Security Service (USAFSS) was activated as a major command on 20 October 1948.[2] (For redesignations, see Successor units.)
The USAFSS was a secretive branch of the Air Force tasked with monitoring, collecting and interpreting military voice and electronic signals of countries of interest (primarily Soviet and their satellite Eastern bloc countries). USAFSS intelligence was often analyzed in the field, and the results transmitted to the National Security Agency for further analysis and distribution to other intelligence recipients. USAFSS was tasked to carry out a cryptologic mission and to provide communications security for the newly-established Air Force.[1] The USAFSS motto, adopted 27 July 1963,[3] was "Freedom Through Vigilance". Colonel Roy H. Lynn was the first USAFSS commander.[4]
Some of the many world events in which USAFSS processed and reported special intelligence information include the Korean War, Middle Eastern conflicts, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War, as well as College Eye[1] and COMBAT APPLE [5]
- ^ a b c Myers, Harold; Marshall, Gabriel (2009), USAFSS to AF ISR Agency, 1948–2009: A Brief History of the AF ISR Agency and its Predecessor Organizations (PDF) (5th ed.), San Antonio, Texas: AF ISR Agency History Office, retrieved 17 November 2018
- ^ "Twenty-Fifth Air Force (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 20 October 1948. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ Myers, Harold; Williamson, John; Marshall, Gabriel; Henderson, Justin (2016), Twenty-Fifth Air Force, A Continuing Legacy Chronology 1948-2014 (PDF), San Antonio, Texas: AF ISR Agency History Office, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2018, retrieved 17 November 2018
- ^ "Lieutenant General Roy H. Lynn". U.S. Air Force. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ Boyne, Walter (July 2008), "The Teaball Tactic" (PDF), Air Force Magazine, pp. 67–70, retrieved 17 July 2018