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December 15, 1995

Email, ITAIN Division to South Asian Romp n’ Stomp, 'India Update 19951215'

This document was made possible with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)

A subsequent email from ITAIN Division to South Asian Romp n' Stomp regarding the state of cables at an Indian nuclear facility. US government observers were perplexed (“clear as mud”) by what they saw at the test site—the cables looked different, perhaps because the satellite photography had been taken at a different angle, and the National Photographic Intelligence Center (NPIC) was not sure what the explanation was. At Drill Site 3, where much activity had previously been observed, “lotsa trucks and folks” were busy and a “probable satellite television truck” had been deployed. One wit observed that that was for MTV viewing on “long lonely nights.” An alternative interpretation is that the analysts were seeing a digital communications system using small dishes that could send encrypted messages via satellite. The meaning of the acronym "ITAIN" is presently unknown, as it the jokey reference to “South Asian Romp n’ Stomp.

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Source

Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) Request to the U.S. Department of State, Case No. M-2009-00895, Released 8/15/2012. Contributed by William Burr, National Security Archive.

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Original Uploaded Date

2013-02-21

Type

Email

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Record ID

116344

Original Classification

Secret

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Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)