ASA establishes theater headquarters in Pacific

Courtesy Photo | A soldier of the 126th Signal Service Company operates in Kyoto, Japan as part of ASA Pacific (courtesy photo).  

FORT HUACHUCA, AZ, UNITED STATES

11.22.2022

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian

On November 25, 1945, the newly formed Army Security Agency (ASA) established ASA Pacific as a theater headquarters. Over the next seven months, Col. Abraham Sinkov and, later, Col. Samuel P. Collins went about shaping their signal intelligence (SIGINT) assets into an effective intelligence activity for the vast Pacific theater.

Ten weeks earlier, the Army had established ASA on September 15, 1945. During World War II, the Army realized the most effective SIGINT operations came thorough a centralized, integrated service. Consequently, the new agency contained all the Army’s SIGINT as well as its communication security units and personnel. While overall direction of the Army's cryptologic effort was centralized at the agency’s Arlington Hall headquarters, the ASA chief commanded his overseas elements through theater headquarters in the Pacific and in Europe.
Toward this end, ASA established ASA Pacific in Manila, Philippines just after Thanksgiving. Initially, Colonel Sinkov, who had led SIGINT efforts in the Southwest Pacific Area, took charge. In early January 1946, Colonel Collins, a 42-year-old Signal Corps officer, assumed command. He faced a number of challenges. First, the Pacific was a huge theater. ASA units in Tokyo and Honolulu were 1,640 and 5,295 miles, respectively, away from his headquarters. He also had to coordinate with three separate, overlapping Army commands. Moreover, in the chaos of the Army’s post-war demobilization, he encountered shortages in personnel, unreliable communications, and scarce transportation.

While remaining under ASA operationally, the ASA Pacific headquarters fell under U.S. Army Forces, Pacific (AFPAC) in Tokyo for administration and discipline. Its mission was to “fulfill theater signal intelligence and communications security requirements with facilities available for the purpose. As a secondary mission, [it] will meet the War Department requirements using designated fixed stations and other facilities available after the primary mission is accomplished.”

Initially to perform this mission, Colonel Collins had an authorized strength of 66 officers and 273 enlisted men in three major units and four detachments. The 111th Signal Service Company was in the Philippines, while the 126th Signal Service Company and 1st Radio Squadron Mobile were in Japan. Later, ASA Pacific received two detachments in Hawaii and the Philippines and activated two more detachments in Tokyo.

As the Army continued to demobilize after the war, Collins and his men were hard-pressed to maintain even a “holding-force” to perform its theater missions. At one point, ASA Pacific could only muster about 66 percent of its authorized strength. With most units and personnel in Japan or the Philippines, ASA Pacific still found ways to broaden its collection effort. It sent one of the 126th Signal Service Company’s platoons to Seoul, Korea. It even scraped together enough resources to send a small team to Shanghai, China.

With AFPAC’s headquarters in Tokyo, Collins began moving his headquarters there as well. By the end of June, a large portion of the headquarters had made the move. Meanwhile, ASA Pacific began receiving much needed personnel, and Collins began to flesh out his capabilities. As he looked to the future, however, he had to continue to “sell” the theater’s leadership on his organization’s potential.

• Date Taken: 11.22.2022
• Date Posted: 11.21.2022 10:09
• Story ID: 433636
• Location: FORT HUACHUCA, AZ, US