Join the Veterans Breakfast Club for an open conversation with veterans of the Army Security Agency (ASA), the once-secretive U.S. Army intelligence organization whose soldiers served around the world during the Cold War.
Created on September 15, 1945, the ASA grew out of the Army’s wartime signals intelligence and communications security operations. Its mission included intercepting and analyzing foreign communications, codebreaking, direction finding, electronic intelligence, and protecting U.S. military communications. Its motto was fitting: Semper Vigiles—Vigilant Always.
ASA soldiers served in an extraordinary variety of places and assignments. They worked at large listening stations in Europe and Asia, at isolated field sites and hilltop positions, aboard aircraft and in mobile units, and alongside combat forces. They were linguists, radio operators, cryptographers, analysts, technicians, and direction-finding specialists. Much of their work was highly classified, and many veterans spent decades unable to talk openly about what they had done.
During the Vietnam War, ASA personnel operated under the cover designation “Radio Research.” They intercepted North Vietnamese and Viet Cong communications, located enemy transmitters, monitored communications networks, and provided intelligence and early warning to American and allied forces. Specialist 4 James T. Davis of the 3rd Radio Research Unit was killed during a direction-finding mission on December 22, 1961, and is remembered as the first American battlefield casualty of the Vietnam War recognized by the Department of Defense.
The ASA continued operating around the globe until 1977, when it was dissolved and its functions were incorporated into the newly created U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). Its legacy continues in today’s Army signals intelligence, cybersecurity, and electronic warfare capabilities.
For this VBC program, we’re turning the conversation over to the people who actually served there. ASA veterans from different eras, specialties, and duty stations will share what they did—or what they can now tell us they did—along with stories of the strange places they worked, the equipment they used, the people they listened to, and the friendships they formed.
What was it like to spend your Army years listening to communications the other side didn’t know you could hear? What happened when an enemy radio network suddenly “went hot”? How much did ASA soldiers themselves understand about the larger intelligence picture? And what was it like to come home carrying stories you weren’t allowed to tell?
Whether you served in the ASA, knew someone who did, or have never heard of the agency before, join us for what promises to be a fascinating open conversation about one of the lesser-known corners of American military history.
ASA veterans are especially encouraged to join us, introduce themselves, and share their own stories.
Semper Vigiles—Vigilant Always.
