Kami Seya from the 1960s to 1995
The NSG station at Kami Seya was organized as NSG Activity, Kami Seya, on January 15, 1960.
At that date it had approximately 1,500 people assigned. It underwent numerous changes over the next 30 years, with respect its organization, roles, and equipment. In September 1965, Kami Seya was the largest NSG station in the world, with more than 1,000 officers and enlisted personnel. However, its status wavered and was redesignated as a detachment of NSGA Misawa from 1971 to 1984, when Misawa was recommissioned as an Activity.
DF Antennas Systems Upgraded

The interception and DF antenna systems were substantially upgraded in the early 1960s. In 1963, the old AN/FLR-7 CDAA was upgraded to a state of the art AN/FLR-11 CDAA, which utilized elements developed for the first AN/FRD-10(V) CDAA system, and the AN/FRA-44 recorder/analyses sub-system was replaced with an AN/FRA-54 subsystem. The high-band elements of the AN/GRD-6 were also upgraded with some of the prototype elements from the first AN/FRD-10(V) system in the early 1960s. This enabled Kami Seya to participate in the world-wide Classic Bullseye HFDF network, which was otherwise limited to stations with AN/FRD-10 systems. A Bullseye Data Transfer Sub-System (BDTSS) was installed in the Tunnel. It used AN/FRR-60 dual diversity radio receivers and AN/FGC-60 teletype multiplexers to receive Bullseye data from other stations in the Western Pacific HFDF Net.
COMSEC is the New Mission
In August 1964, NSGA Kami Seya was assigned major new communications security (COMSEC) missions. As its unit history for 1964 noted, COMSEC 702 Unit at Kami Seya has been assigned responsibility for coordinating the transmission monitoring, cryptomonitoring, traffic analysis, frequency measurement and communications security training programs conducted by all WESTPAC communications security components. In addition to these roles, it became the second-echelon COMSEC Processing and Reporting Center for the Western Pacific. The unit initially comprised four officers and 40 enlisted men.
Kami Seya Maintained Several detachments in Japan
NSGA Kami Seya maintained several detachments elsewhere in Japan through the 1960s. A detachment was maintained at Hakata from May 1959 until Hakata was elevated to an NSG Activity itself in July 1967. Another was located at Sasebo from December 1957 to July 1968. A detachment was established for DF purposes at Misawa on 5 January 1962. It was inactivated on February 20, 1963, but was reactivated soon after the fire in September 1965. One was located at the USASA’s 12th Field Station at Chitose, Hokkaido, around 1962-63; it reciprocated with an ASA detachment at Kami Seya, which became operational in January 1960.
Another detachment was established at Yokosuka on August 1, 1969, where it remained until Yokosuka became an NSG Activity in June 1995. Personnel from Kami Seya visited the Yokosuka detachment frequently, to borrow equipment, to get equipment repaired, or for social reasons. NSGA Kami Seya also provided the Navy Element at the PACOM ELINT Center at nearby Fuchu Air Base. Detachment 2 of the U.S. Air Force Security Service’s (USAFSS’s) 6988th Radio Squadron Mobile (RSM) based at Fuchu was stationed at Kami Seya from 1 July 1955 to 16 January 1962.
Source:
Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, 23 December 2015
20 July 2018 at 15:00
This represents a staggering amount of historical research. My compliments to those engaged in this effort. Lou Giacchino.
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19 November 2020 at 20:46
Had a marine friend Ivan C Modrick. He was at Kama Saya 62-63 discharged 64. I was in transit to Korea. Ivan is deceased, very good friend. Joe Vuknic Army DAV
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23 August 2021 at 10:02
I was stationed at Kami Seya from March 67 to March 69 and we were on watch the day the U.S.S. Pueblo was hijacked by the North Koreans. We were stunned by what we were reading on TTY gear that day and many of us thought WWIII was about to start. We couldn’t believe the powers in D.C. would let any foreign military force capture a USN ship and her crew. We were wrong, and those crew members were held prisoner and suffered greatly for almost a year. It was asad part of our country’s history, made even sadder by the fact that very few people even know about it today.
But we CT’s and others who were there do. REMEMBER THE PUEBLO!
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9 January 2022 at 17:42
James H Goldsworthy served here 1960-1962
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21 January 2023 at 01:52
Spent 63 to 65 in Kami Great base with a Best Mess Navy for an extended time
Miss it and the CT group Great education and friends
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