"TEMPEST: A Signal Problem:" http://www.nsa.gov/public/pdf/tempest.pdf
The paper states that the US military discovered the TEMPEST threat in 1962.
23 January 2002: Add comments and additional timeline items from Anonymous 2 in italics.
22 January 2002. Thanks to Anonymous.
This is a singularly impressive compilation of the history of TEMPEST technology, the best we know of. Comments and additions welcome. Send to cryptome[at]earthlink.net
See related files and some of the documents cited: http://cryptome.info/nsa-tempest.htm
In particular see a different, more limited and complementary TEMPEST timeline:
http://cryptome.info/0001/tempest-old.htm
This timeline was developed over a period of years, with the hope that it will be used to further the understanding of the subject. The data was gathered from unclassified sources, mostly web sites and books. Hopefully it tells an interesting story, even though it's far from complete. And, yes I realize, has a rumor or two thrown in as well. A lot of information I have gathered just couldn't be dated. I hope people will use the timeline to direct FOIA requests and other information gathering exercises on the topic. Acoustic TEMPEST information is mostly absent, as are military directives. This is obviously a work in progress. If so desired, you have permission to incorporate any/all parts of the timeline into your inherited TEMPEST pages.
Mid-1700s Ben Franklin conducts electricity.
1873 James Maxwell theorizes electromagnetic waves.
Late-1800s Crosstalk is frequent problem in infantile telephone system.
1914-1915 Field telephone crosstalk in World War I exploited and jamming attempted, leading to lower signal British Fuller phone.
1918 Herbert Yardley and the Black Chamber discover radio transmitter emanations.
No, Yardley and his people found that various electronic devices used to handle classified information emanated information, and that these emanations could be exploited to reconstruct the classified materials.
1919 Edward Hebern invents rotor cipher machine.
1925 Charles Francis Jenkins achieves first synchronized transmission of pictures/sound using 48 lines and mechanical scanning.
1927 Philo Farnsworth demonstrates electronic scanning.
1930s Allen Dumont develops cathode ray tube(CRT), eventually accepted as standard for electronic scanning.
1934 Communications Act gives equal opportunity to all to lawfully use electromagnetic spectrum. It establishes Federal Communications Commission(FCC); International Special Committee on Radio Interference(CISPR) formed to determine measurements and limits of radiation frequency(RF) emissions.
1935 IBM markets electronic typewriter.
1940s Receivers shielded for local oscillator radiation to prevent becoming beacons for enemy submarines in World War II.
1941 FCC authorizes black and white 525-line TV recommended by FCC-established National Television System Committee(NTSC).
1943 First working programmable electronic computer(Colossus) is built by British for breaking German High Command coding system.
1946 Canadian Communications Security Establishment(CSE) created, with communication security(COMSEC) its primary mission; British General Communications Headquarters(GCHQ) created.
1950s Berlin tunnel wiretaps by NATO discovered to contain plaintext signal on Communist teletype encrypted communications, first known example of HIJACK attack; Rand Corporation intensely studies shielding to prevent emanations.
1950 Chinese intelligence uses advanced acoustic techniques and materials against foreign embassies in Beijing.
1952 In a method similar to laser eavesdropping, KGB gets caught using great seal in American embassy as bug, a technique further researched by the KGB known as electromagnetic flooding method of interception. Technique also included using such unintentional emanators like ordinary light bulbs and electric circuits.
1953 FCC adopts RCA's color TV system; National Security Agency(NSA) formed, with signal intelligence(SIGINT) its primary mission; COMSEC declared national responsibility and COMSEC board is formed; intentional acoustic TEMPEST performed on Whirlwind I computer at MIT over phone line. It is used to determine program execution status.
1954 MIL-STD-285 standard set for attenuation measurements for enclosures, electromagnetic shielding.
Mid-1950s U.S. Government becomes concerned about TEMPEST and establishes TEMPEST Program; Development of first TEMPEST standard - NAG-1A(General Non-COMSEC Publication); Television manufacturers work on EMF problems in set designs, especially in local oscillators. These problems are later exploited by British to enforce TV licenses.
1956 British intelligence breaks ciphers of Egyptian Hagelin machine(London) by detecting clatters through phone bug in Operation Engulf.
1957: IBM partners with ITT and Analex to develop the Selectric typewriter into a special high volume terminal for inputting and outputting classified information, including Top Secret and code-word materials. The terminal is specially built to radically minimize any kind of emissions and replaced the volume Teletype KSR units.
1958 U.S. Air Force begins Simulation for Air and Group Engagements(SAGE) air defense system, using graphical terminals; British intelligence picks up Russian London embassy radio's local oscillator's emanations up to 200 ft away to figure out tuned spy frequencies in Operation Rafter.
1959 MIL-STD-220A(Method of insertion-loss measurement) implemented; CSE mission expanded to give advice and support on emission security.
1960s Federal standards FS222/FS222A replace NAG-1A.
1960 Canadian Communications Security Board policy paper expands COMSEC mission to include TEMPEST; British intelligence conducts HIJACK attack on conducted signals generated by French diplomatic cipher machine(London) in Operation Stockade, showing importance of red/black separation; FBI conducts operation similar to Stockade against French embassy in Washington.
It is not called a "HIJACK Attack", but should be properly called a "HIJACK Exploit", and since the Brits were not exploiting an intermodulation product the moniker of HIJACK does not apply. HIJACK is based on the mixing of two signals, the first signal (such as a cell phone) acting as a carrier for the secondary signal (typically classified materials).
1961 Julius Silverman et al. v. US (365 US 505) U.S. Supreme Court case concerns heating duct acoustic TEMPEST; British intelligence informs the CIA and NSA of Engulf and Stockade operations in conference. Presentation of Rafter to the CIA causes uproar.
Now, the case was based on ACOUSTIC signals being conducted thought the vents, not electrical signals.
1962 NSA's Project Tempest (defensive methods) begins; During Cuban missile crisis, NSA(aboard Oxford spy ship) attempts to circumvent unbroken Soviet cipher system by capturing radiation emitted from Soviet cipher machines located at Russian communications station in Cuba. Noise spikes are also attempted to be captured, revealing rotor settings on older cipher machines.
1964 Operation Stockade against French embassies in London and Washington ends when French technicians install metal sheets and copper tubes in cipher rooms; NSA 65-6 specification set for RF shielded enclosures for communication equipment; NSA considers HIJACK when improving U.S. State Department COMSEC; Teletype comes into widespread use.
Teletype was in widespread use back prior to 1958. I own one built in 1953 that came out of a government station.
1965 At a System Development Corporation conference of research security administrators for classified systems, Jerome Russell of Lawrence Radiation Lab discusses TEMPEST.
Mid/Late-1960s Military/intelligence standards established for effectiveness of electromagnetic shielding enclosures; Naval Research Laboratory works on TEMPEST, leading to national standards specifications.
Herbert Yardley actually had his research ripped off and absorbed into the NRL several decade before this date.
1966 White Electromagnetics publishes RFI/EMI Handbook on Measurements; Robert L. Dennis' unclassified paper "Security in the Computer Environment" mentions the 1965 System Development Corporation conference.
1967 TEMPEST first publicly discussed at Spring joint computer conference. Willis Ware of Rand addresses TEMPEST threat; NAG-8/TSEC (TEMPEST Information Memoranda) published. It is replaced by NACSIM 5000.
TEMPEST was first mentioned in an unclassified briefing in 1965.
1968 Arms Control Export Act passes. It requires licenses to export TEMPEST information (products); Omnibus Streets and Crimes Act criminalizes trespassatory Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) as interception of aural, wired communications; Department of Defense (DOD) Directive S-5200.19 "Control of Compromising Emanations" published.
Late-1960s TEMPEST Project established between NSA and DOD.
August of 1969, and the project actually involved the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.
1970s FCC receives increasing number of complaints of interference to radio and TV reception where digital equipment is identified as source.
1970 National Communications Security Information Memorandum (NACSIM) 5100(Directive of TEMPEST Security) published; National Communications Security Emanations Memoranda(NACSEM) 5101 published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/2-93.
1971 IBM begins measuring emanations of all its devices for information-bearing radiation, a project that included Walter Tuchman of Data Encryption Standard(DES) development; National Communications Security Committee(NCSC) 4(National Policy on the Control of Compromising Emanations) published. It is replaced by NTISSP 300; NACSEM 5106(Compromising Emanations Analysis Handbook) published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/2-91; KAG-30A/TSEC (Compromising Emanations Standard for Cryptographic Equipment) published.
DES was cracked in 1976.
1972 Canada's first embassy collection operation(Stephanie) in Russia uses TEMPEST proof safe to hold intercept equipment.
1973 Lance J. Hoffman book "Security and Privacy in Computer Systems" addresses problem of terminal (CRT) TEMPEST; NACSEM 5109 (TEMPEST Testing Fundamentals) published. It is cancelled by NSTISSC-049-94; NACSEM 5110 (Facility Evaluation Criteria - TEMPEST) published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/1-93; NACSEM 5200 published. It is replaced by NACSEM 5201.
1974 Industrial TEMPEST Program started; NACSEM 5100 (Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Standard, Electromagnetic) published. It is replaced by NACSIM 5100A; Privacy Act doesn't include TEMPEST as a required security protective measure.
1975 NACSEM 5112 (NONSTOP Evaluation Techniques) published; NACSEM 7002 (COMSEC Guidance for ADP Systems) published; S2-TR-75-1 (Technical Rationale for Angle Modulated TEMPEST Signal Limits) published; CSE's Operation Kilderkin targets Soviet embassy in Canada for TEMPEST emanations.
Mid-1970s Polish intelligence is caught by KGB intercepting power line emanations from military building in Moscow; Soviet cipher machines determined by KGB to be vulnerable to HIJACK attacks until replaced with steel enclosures with noise generators(causing interference to televisions as far as 1 mile away) and clean motor generators. Machines also determined to be vulnerable because of recent KGB breakthroughs in flooding intercept technology methods that included use of X-rays and radioactive isotopes.
1976 NACSEM 5202 published. It is replaced by NACSEM 5201.
1977 Germany discovers TEMPEST during exercise with NATO; Proposed Federal Computer Systems Protection Act, as introduced in U.S. Senate, defines TEMPEST as one form of computer access/penetration that should be unlawful. It is never passed with this language.
1978 NACSEM 5201(TEMPEST Guidelines for Equipment/System Design) published. It is cancelled by NSTISSC-041-93; NACSEM 5204 (Shielded Enclosures) published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/1-95; Iranian students "execute" a Prime T3300 TEMPEST computer in U.S. embassy courtyard.
1979 Don Britton Enterprises sells devices to reconstruct signals from "leaking" cable systems; Canada's CSE borrows RFI tent from NSA for Operation Pilgrim test, testing for emanations at 150 ft; FCC adopts minimum technical and administrative requirements to limit interference potential of computers and other digital electronic equipment.
1980s TEMPEST bugging devices built in UK go to places like Hong Kong golf club and Cambridge University; FBI shows example of TEMPEST information gathering to TRW because of PC radiation.
There is no such thing as a "TEMPEST Bugging Device", TEMPEST is dedicated to STOP compromising emanations, not exploiting them.
1980 NSA establishes its own internal TEMPEST security program; NACSIM 5002(Technical Rationale:Basis for Electromagnetic Compromising Emanations Limits) published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/2-93.
NSA started "their" TEMPEST program in 1964.In 1980 TEMPEST and related disciplines are practiced by a huge number of government techs, and the TEMPEST school at Lackland AFB certifies over 200 TEMPEST certified people a year.
1981 NACSIM 5100A (Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Requirements, Electromagnetic) published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/1-91; NCSC 3 (TEMPEST Glossary) published. It is replaced by NSTISSI 7002; U.S. Congressional report says TEMPEST spying possible only for those with limitless resources, such as foreign governments.
The Congressional report is partially correct.
1982 NACSIM 5000 (TEMPEST Fundamentals) published; NACSIM 5203 (Guidelines for Facility Design and Red/Black Installation) published. It is replaced by NSTISSAM/2-95; Executive Order 12356 (National Security Information) classifies compromising emanations information; NATO Air Mobility Support Group(AMSG) 720B (Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Standard) published.
1983 Swedish National Police Board informs Swedish business community about TEMPEST; House Democrat Al Gore talks TEMPEST with Los Alamos National Laboratory representative in Congressional hearing; Wim Van Eck begins TEMPEST research project in Netherlands; CSE publishes COMSEC installation planning (TEMPEST guidance and criteria).
Wim van Eck's article is actually the source of most f the incorrect TEMPEST information out there.Late 1983, Zenith rolls out the Z-150 or Z-148 which eventually becomes the first Desktop TEMPEST desktop computer to reach mainstream usage.
1984 National Communications Security Instruction (NACSI) 5004 (TEMPEST Countermeasures for Facilities within U.S.) published. It is replaced by NTISSI 7000; NACSI 5005 (TEMPEST Countermeasures for Facilities Outside U.S.) published. It is replaced by NTISSI 7000; NSA publishes TEMPEST security requirements for NSA contractors processing SCIF information; FCC requires non-interference certification for microcomputers; Israeli government provides shielded photocopy machines to spy Jonathan Pollard through Washington embassy for reproduction of top-secret documents; Swedish government commission publishes "Leaking Computers" booklet, a best-seller in the Swedish business community; West German police apprehend Polish spy holding evidence of TEMPEST eavesdropping; Wang Corporation sells an estimated $75 million in TEMPEST products to U.S. military/military contractors; NSA becomes focal point and manager of U.S. TEMPEST security and makes recommendations to NTSSC; U.S. government/military agencies, including the Air Force and NSA, identify concept of zoning.
1985 Iverson builds TEMPEST version of IBM PC for Operation TEMPEST; Grid Federal Systems makes only NSA-approved portable TEMPEST computer using a plasma display; Dutch scientist Wim Van Eck publishes an unclassified paper on TEMPEST eavesdropping of up to 1 km after demonstrating it at Securicom '85 in France, raising both awareness and furor in open security community because of its ease and affordability by individuals. Others duplicate his device; BBC's "Tomorrow's World" runs 5-minute TEMPEST demonstration(with Wim Van Eck's help) on TV, introducing it to British public. Targets are New Scotland Yard and an office in London; Prestigious and scholarly journal "Computers and Security" discusses Van Eck radiation paper; Canadian Criminal Amendment Act criminalizes TEMPEST reception; DOD "Yellow Book"(Secure System Development Environments) deems TEMPEST outside its scope; NSA COMSEC publishes "Procedures for TEMPEST Zoning Information - Processing Equipment, Systems, and Facilities"; NSA public affairs director says they have been open and have been charged with being open in assisting public sector with TEMPEST protection standards.
Since 1969 the exploitation of "Compromising Emanations" has been illegal in the United States.
1986 Electronic Communications and Privacy Act considers unwired communications but unclear on TEMPEST; Sales of TEMPEST security systems and services reach $874 million with over 50 manufacturers; Exhibitor at Computer Security Institute(CSI) conference stopped by U.S. Government from demonstrating product protecting against TEMPEST. Wang Corporation stopped by NSA from giving TEMPEST demonstration; Government report says better evaluations needed to determine required TEMPEST countermeasures for DOD; National Telecommunications And Information Systems Security Instruction (NTISSI) 4002 (Classification Guide for COMSEC Information,Control of Compromising Emanations) published; Polish Secret Service TEMPEST target list (~180) surfaces in Germany; East German Foreign Office concerned with extreme Robotron PC radiation at East German embassies.
1987 Zenith provides Pentagon with 12,000 TEMPEST PCs; NSA requests company to cancel TEMPEST demonstration at Interface '87 conference; Czechoslovakians supposedly perform TEMPEST eavesdropping on U.S. military installations while posing as tourists in U.S.; Sean Walker, a BBC reporter, demonstrates TEMPEST at trade show by pushing Van Eck cart around and tuning into exhibitors' computers; NTISSAM COMPUSEC/1-87 (Advisory Memo on Office Automation Security Guidelines) addresses TEMPEST as potential threat; Computer Security Act (successor of numerous Federal Computer Systems Protection Act bills) fails to address TEMPEST; Van Eck receives patent for TEMPEST video terminal, using scrambled raster patterns.
Nope, Zenith was cranking out thousands of Z-148's prior to 1987.
1988 Sales of TEMPEST security systems and services estimated to reach $2.9 billion by 1992; Endorsed TEMPEST Product List (ETPL) begins after Industrial TEMPEST Program is restructured; NTISSP 300 (National Policy on Control of Compromising Emanations) is published. It is replaced by NSTISSP 300; NTISSI 7000 (TEMPEST Countermeasures and Facilities) is published. It is replaced by NSTISSI 7000; NSA infosec booklet "TEMPEST Alternatives Data Book (including maps of zoned facilities)" published; BBC's second TEMPEST demonstration on TV show "High Tech Spies" takes place. Targets are London law offices and brokerage firms; Editor of "Computers and Security" journal updates Van Eck information in "Abacus" journal and later in "Computers and Security" journal; Consumertronics of New Mexico publishes plans for Van Eck unit to general public, along with other information in booklet "Beyond Van Eck Phreaking". Future revisions include Van Eck's actual plans; Ian Murphy (Captain Zap) presents TEMPEST receiver plans;
No, Captain Zap did not publish any such plans, but was only providing photocopies of van Ecks article and the Consumertronics raster analysis signal generator while unemployed and working as a taxi driver. Ian Murphy (Captain Zap) is and was a psychiatric patient and convicted felon with a long history of fraud and being delusionary. He has spent half his life either in prison or institutionalized.
First International Symposium on Electromagnetic Security for Information Protection(SEPI) takes place in Italy; 1989 British central computer and telecommunications agency publishes "TEMPEST:The Risk"; NSA drafts specification for high performance shielded enclosures.
Late-1980s French army demonstrates TEMPEST to French government.
Actually it was November of 1979 when they did the demo.
1990s After German reunification, removed French army sells 50 TEMPEST receivers at scrap value to unknown parties.
1990 British Computer Misuse Act explicitly excludes TEMPEST eavesdropping as threat and states that it is legal; Professor Erhard Moller of Acchen University in Germany publishes detailed update of Van Eck's work, with addition of helpful protective measures; "Computers and Security" journal publishes article by Peter Smulders of Eindhoven University of Technology on TEMPEST eavesdropping of RS-232 cable; Christopher Seline publishes evaluation of American laws, pertaining to TEMPEST, on Internet; National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Committee (NSTISSC) TEMPEST Advisory Group (TAG) group formed to streamline national-level TEMPEST activities, which leads to updated standards; "EMP and TEMPEST Protection for Facilities" published by U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
1991 First American broadcast of electromagnetic eavesdropping is shown on Geraldo Rivera's "Now! It can be told" show, performed by Winn Schwartau; Jim Carter, in coordination with Benjamin Franklin Savings and Loan, demonstrates successful attack on Diebold ATM machine using TEMPEST;
The above is a fantasy, all they did have the reconstruction of a composite video signal from a defective monitor. Anybody standing within 15 feet of the monitor could have seen the same information with the naked eye, and at no time was any confidential information obtained.Basically, it was a staged hoax. They operated the equipment inside the near field of the ATM, and the majority of the shielding and gorunding on the ATM had been removed. It was a hoax.
CIA Inspector General report galvanizes intelligence community to review and reduce domestic TEMPEST requirements. This leads to "smart" TEMPEST policy; National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Advisory Memorandum (NSTISSAM)/1-91 (Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Requirements, Electromagnetic) published. It is superseded by NSTISSAM/1-92; NSTISSAM/2-91 (Compromising Emanations Analysis Handbook) published; NSTISSAM/3-91 (Maintenance and Disposition of TEMPEST Equipment) published. Before this directive, the NSA destroyed everything; NACSEM 5009 (Technical Rationale:Basis for Electromagnetic Compromising Emanations Limits) published; Another International Symposium on Electromagnetic Security for Information Protection (SEPI) takes place in Italy; TEMPEST industry becomes 1.5 billion dollar business.
1992 Spy Supply of New Hampshire is harassed by the NSA to stop sales of its Van Eck eavesdropping unit; Chemical Bank is apparent target of TEMPEST attack against its credit-card processing facility; NSTISSAM/1-92 (Compromising Emanations Laboratory Test Requirements, Electromagnetics) published; NSTISSAM/2-92 (Procedures for TEMPEST Zoning) published.
It was the FCC that harassed them, as they were trying to sell something to the public that didn't have the required FCC paperwork to cover it to ensure that it didn't cause interference to other radio devices. The product was so poorly built that is screwed up radio traffic at the local airports, and screwed up the ILS/Navigation systems at the runway.
1993 TEMPEST included as insidious tool of information warrior in book "Information Warfare" by Winn Schwartau; FBI tries TEMPEST techniques to help investigate CIA spy Aldrich Ames; Grady Ward publishes PC TEMPEST countermeasures, using easily-installed, widely-available components, on Internet; NSA introduces formal ZONE program through Government Industry TEMPEST Advisory Panel (GITAP); Worldwide market for CRTs reach 168 million units valued at $13.6 billion. CRT computer monitors projected to have 70% of market by 2000; NSTISSAM/1-93 (Compromising Emanations Field Test Requirements, Electromagnetics) published; NSTISSAM/2-93 (Rationale for Compromising Emanations Laboratory and Field Test Requirements, Electromagnetics) published; National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Instruction (NSTISSI) 7000 (TEMPEST Countermeasures for Facilities) published; NSTISSP 300 (National Policy on Control of Compromising Emanations) published.
Winn's book was little more then clueless ramblings plagiarized from other authors who in turn had no idea what they were talking about. It is a classic case of the blind leading the blind who where then trying to pick the pockets of other blind people.
1994 "Redefining Security: A Report to the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence by the Joint Security Commission" recommends that domestic TEMPEST countermeasures no longer be required unless specific threat identified. Zoning solutions increase in importance; NSTISSI 7001 (NONSTOP Countermeasures) published; BEMA markets TEMPEST tents.
1995 Internet Underground magazine publishes article about TEMPEST capers in New York using DataScan device. After U.S. Army starts buying device, Pentagon requests that sales outside Army stop and it is agreed to;
The above is a total falsehood.The company in question never sold any of these units to the Army.
The person who was claiming to be making the DataScan is a well known con artist and charlatan who was eventually criminally prosecuted on felony charges by the government, and eventually banned from doing any kind of business with he government due to extensive fraud.
NSTISSI 7002 (TEMPEST Glossary) published; NSTISSAM/1-95 (Shielded Enclosures) published; NSTISSAM/2-95 (Red/Black Installation Guidelines) published; Federal Information Processing Standard(FIPS) 140-1 "Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules" states that TEMPEST protection is not required (regarding unclassified federal computer systems); Blowfish Advanced 95 encryption software includes feature that discourages TEMPEST monitoring.
1996 U.S. Air Force's Rome Laboratory produces next generation military TEMPEST testing system called Computer Aided Analysis System(CAAS), using digital signal processing; National Information Infrastructure Protection Act doesn't directly address TEMPEST; Frank Jones of The Codex gives monitoring demonstration on Discovery Channel's "Cyberlife"; The Learning Channel's Science Frontier's "Technospy" shows TEMPEST eavesdropping; Discovery Channel's Discover Magazine ("The Science of Security") shows RF shielded TEMPEST laboratories.
The Discovery Channel actually pulled the piece when they found out the demonstration was rigged.
1997 Hacking in Progress(HIP) conference has analog TEMPEST setup on display; WANG Corporation releases new,cost-effective TEMPEST PC and printer(Datadefense Secure) in response to recent network security concerns; TEMPEST techniques against smartcards are discussed at Eurocrypt '97; Steve Jackson's GURPS Black Ops game includes TEMPEST surveillance devices as equipment option; WANG Corporation awarded a U.S. Government Systems Acquisition and Support Services contract (SASS II) for TEMPEST and Zone secure systems and maintenance valued at $105 million over 5 years 1998 "Soft TEMPEST" software techniques (sent for patent), videofonts used to discourage monitoring, published by well-known computer security experts Markus Kuhn and Ross Anderson, surprising many in TEMPEST field. PGP 6.0.2 and Steganos II incorporate Soft TEMPEST fonts; James Atkinson claims Frank Jones and his Datascan device are a fraud, as are most other commercial devices.
Frank Jones is convicted in Federal Court of a serious felony, and in revenge attempts to launch a series harassment lawsuits which all get thrown out of court as being frivolous.
1999 TEMPEST intercept equipment headed for Vietnam from U.S. is stopped by FBI and U.S. Customs in Virginia and man sentenced to prison; NSA only releases redacted NSTISSAM/1-92 in FOIA request by John Young for all TEMPEST standards information; FBI agent admits use of TEMPEST monitoring by agency as possible investigative technique while participating in MIT panel discussion of Whitfield Diffie's book "Privacy on the Line."
Late-1990s Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory develops Video Intercept Receiver, a compact TEMPEST receiver used for field testing.
The ORNL was actually just based on the Micro-tel VDA-60, and the Kaiser RAS-515 raster analysis systems, both of which date from the early 80's.
2000 Appeal by John Young to NSA releases five more redacted TEMPEST documents; Freeware Windows text editor implements Soft TEMPEST fonts.
2001 In Kyllo v. US, U.S. Supreme Court rules against unwarranted infrared detection by law enforcement against private homes; Nine more redacted government TEMPEST documents are released.
2001 The Wall Street Journal runs a front page article on TEMPEST interception, and then is savaged for "shoddy journalism" by other media outlets when it is discovered that most of the article is complete fantasy. Frank Jones probation officer receives a severe reprimand from his superiors for overlooking multiple serious probation violations.