State Department
Beltsville Communications Annex
This facility presents a bit of a puzzle. It is located right next door to
the joint CIA/NSA "CSSG" Special
Collection Service facility on Springfield Road, although there does
not appear to be an obvious direct physical connection between the two. While
the Beltsville Communication Annex is listed in the State Department telephone
directory as State Annex SA-26, there is no indication on the sign at the
site of this affiliation, which is contrary to typical State Department practice.
It is also reported that SCS personnel use Consular Service and Diplomatic
Telecommunications Service cover when forward deployed, so it would stand
to reason that they might operate from a "State Department" facility when
in the United States in order to maintain the plausibility of their cover.
Of course, the robustness of their cover would be even further enhanced if
the facility actually was a State Department facility. So in this case we
are left with a Scottish "not proven" verdict.
