Chen Ping
aka Ralph J. Effner
aka J. R. Storm

ACTUAL RECORDS

CLAIMS

RALPH J. EFFNER

A few days ago (mid-September 2009) I stumbled across two websites (click here and here) that a fellow named Ralph J. Effner (apparently aka J. R. Storm) maintains.  On these websites, Effner claims that between 2002 and 2007, while working in China , he acquired information suggesting that N. Korea was currently holding POWs from the Vietnam and Korean Wars. 

I had not heard of Effner previously; however, he caught my attention with his claim, posted on one of his websites, to have served concurrently as a Clerk Typist (MOS 71L) and an Electronic Intelligence Interceptor & Analyst (MOS 98J) with the Army Security Agency (ASA) on Shemya Island, Alaska, in 1964-65.  Excerpts from the two websites cited above:

“After my initial training I was assigned to the 79th SOU (Special Operations Unit), Shemya Island , Alaska .  My primary MOS was 71L which is an Administration Specialist, my secondary MOS was 98J (non morse intercept).  As an Administration Specialist I controlled and maintained access to all classified material.”

“My story begins many years ago when I worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) in the Far East . I was involved in the collection of information (intelligence) and activities concerning several countries in the "far east". After working there for several years I left to pursue a career in law enforcement…”

I served in the ASA 1959-1963, including a year on Shemya Island .  Based on my experience, Effner's  claims to have served as an ELINT specialist and an intelligence collector working for the NSA appear to be exaggerations.  FWIW, here is my assessment of those claims:
 
He served on active duty from 1 July 1964 to 8 April 1968.  He served with the ASA at:

·         Shemya Island , Alaska (ca. Nov 64-Nov 65),

·         14th US ASA Field Station ( Japan ) (ca. Nov 65-Oct 67), and,

·          Arlington Hall Station (Dec 67-Apr 68)
 

He entered service on 1 July 64, at the age of 18 (DOB: 22 Dec 45, click here).  Excerpts from his official military personnel file reveal that he took 8 weeks of basic infantry training at Ft Leonard Wood, MO (9 Jul 64-2 Sep 64), followed immediately by a six-week clerk typist course (3 Sep 64-mid Oct 64).  A normal 2-week pre-deployment leave and travel time would account for the interval between Clerk Typist school and his arrival at Shemya on/about 13 Nov 64.
 
Effner described his alleged secondary military occupational specialty (MOS) 98J as “non morse intercept.”  Without going into classified details, ASA’s intercept mission could be broken down into two broad categories.  COMINT: communications intelligence (e.g., intercept of Morse, voice, teletype, phone communications), and ELINT: electronic intelligence (i.e., the intercept of non-communication electronic emissions such as radar emissions).  As one can imagine, the special knowledge and skills associated with the ELINT discipline are not the sorts of things one picks up on the job.

If Effner had attended a service school for any ELINT MOS, that fact would be recorded in his official military personnel file.  A six-week clerk typist course is the only service school listed in Effner’s official military personnel file. 

My experience is that persons who exaggerate their military experience, when caught, often claim that information supporting their story is not in their official personnel file because it was classified.  However, the fact that a person attended an ELINT service school or held an ELINT MOS is not classified.  For example, the US Army has posted detailed job descriptions for MOS 98J on the Internet (click here, here, and here).  Details about how, and more importantly, how effectively our intelligence services perform ELINT missions is the classified aspect of the duties of an ELINT specialist.

I have a general understanding of the missions that 98J’s (989’s) performed.  My understanding is that MOS 98J (actually, MOS code 989 prior to mid-late ’65) could be acquired only through formal training at a service school.  If there were any exceptions, I believe the exceptions would have applied only to experienced service-school-trained specialists already holding one of the other 98-series MOS’s.  My memory is that the service school for 989/98J was a 12 week course conducted at Ft. Devens in 1964.  If my understanding is accurate, I do not understand how Effner could have served as a 98J (989) on Shemya Island .
 
I served a one year tour on Shemya in 1960.  Unless security standards were relaxed dramatically between then and 1964, I cannot imagine any circumstance in which a clerk typist (other than, perhaps, a classified documents control clerk) would have been allowed entrance into the ELINT operations area.
 
A few days ago, I posted notes on a couple of ASA veterans e-mail nets, asking if anyone recognized this guy.  None of the respondents remember him. 

My guess is that Effner served as an orderly room clerk typist, a personnel clerk, or a classified documents control clerk.
 
While it is true that the ASA’s missions supported the NSA, it is a long leap between having served as a clerk typist at an ASA detachment and Effner's claim that he worked as an intelligence collector for the NSA.
 

As an aside, I notice that in one resume Effner posted on the Internet, he states that he is the author of a book titled “The Tumen Bridge” (PublishAmerica, 2006, 143 pp).  PublishAmerica is a vanity press publisher.  Amazon.com lists the author as J. R. Storm.  Apparently, Storm is Effner’s nom de plume.  Effner wrote, under his true name, one of only two customer reviews of the book posted on Amazon.com.  Note his opening sentence:

 
“I know the author of this book. He has lived near the North Korean border and has previously worked for a US Intel agency plus he was a state police detective for many years. He has discovered the locations of American prisoners of war inside DPRK. He included this information in a novel so it would be published. This whole book is inspired by actual events that took place when he lived in China near the DPRK border. If you want to know what happened to some of our Vietnam Vets after the war you need to read this book!”

If Effner exaggerates or misleads folks about his intelligence credentials, perhaps he exaggerates or misleads folks on other topics.
  
 
name withheld

Hay Ralphie the library of congress already has a web site with all the information that you claim to have gathered yourself, why did you travel all the way to china when to information was already at the library of congress, and their web site, you are somewhat of a fraud, I told you that the information had been publicly available for years.  either produce new high quality information or move on.  i have an associate at the Lao/China border right now, you are just a joke, who could not find the NSA with radar