Editing USS Liberty incident (section)

==NSA tapes and subsequent developments==
The NSA reported that there had been no radio intercepts of the attack made by the ''Liberty'' herself, nor had there been any radio intercepts made by the U.S. submarine {{USS|Amberjack|SS-522|6}}. Within an hour of learning that the ''Liberty'' had been torpedoed, the director of the NSA, LTG [[Marshall Carter|Marshall S. Carter]], sent a message to all intercept sites requesting a search of communications that might be connected to the attack or any reaction to it. The only such communication reported was intercepted by a U.S. Navy [[EC-121 Warning Star|EC-121]] aircraft that flew near the attacks from 14:30 to 15:27, Sinai time (12:30 to 13:27 [[Coordinated Universal Time|Z]]); it had collected voice conversations between two Israeli helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hatzor Airfield following the attack on the ''Liberty''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Possible Reflections of Israeli Attack Against USS Liberty |publisher=National Security Agency |url=http://www.nsa.gov/liberty/liber00007.pdf |date=8 June 1967 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704174443/http://www.nsa.gov/liberty/liber00007.pdf |archive-date=4 July 2007 }}</ref>

On 2 July 2003, the NSA released copies of these recordings and their translations and summaries.<ref name="NSA Liberty">{{cite web |title=U.S.S. Liberty |url=http://www.nsa.gov/liberty/ |publisher=National Security Agency |date=8 June 1967 |archive-date=21 August 2007  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821222114/http://www.nsa.gov/liberty/}}</ref> These revelations were elicited as part of a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] lawsuit by Florida bankruptcy judge and retired naval aviator [[Jay Cristol]]. Two linguists who were aboard the EC-121 when the recordings were made said separately that at least two additional tapes were made that had been withheld.<ref name=trib /> English language translations of the released tapes indicate that the Israelis spoke of hitting an Egyptian supply ship even after the end of attack.<ref>{{cite web |title=Audio Recording Labeled 104 |publisher=National Security Agency |date=8 June 1967 |url=http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/audio_trans_104.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010010229/http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/audio_trans_104.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Audio Recording Labeled 130 |publisher=National Security Agency |date=8 June 1967 |url=http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/audio_trans_130.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010010314/http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/audio_trans_130.pdf}}</ref> The rescue helicopters relayed urgent requests that the rescuers ask the first survivor pulled out of the water what his nationality is; there was discussion as to whether the survivors would speak Arabic.<ref>{{cite web |title=Audio Recording Labeled 105 |publisher=National Security Agency |date=8 June 1967 |url=http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/audio_trans_105.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010010703/http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/audio_trans_105.pdf}}</ref>

A summary of the NSA-translated tapes<ref>{{cite web |title=SIGINT Reflection of LIBERTY Incident |publisher=National Security Agency |date=27 June 1967 |url=http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/misc_reports/sigint_reflection.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010011609/http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/misc_reports/sigint_reflection.pdf}}</ref> indicates that at 12:34Z Hatzor air control began directing two Israeli Air Force helicopters to an Egyptian warship, to rescue its crew: "This ship has now been identified as Egyptian."  The helicopters arrived near the ship at about 13:03Z: "I see a big vessel, near it are three small vessels ..."  At 13:08Z, Hatzor air control indicated concern about the nationality of the ship's crew: "The first matter to clarify is to find out what their nationality is."  At 13:10Z, one of the helicopter pilots asked the nearby torpedo boats' Division Commander about the meaning of the ship's hull number: "GTR5 is written on it. Does this mean something?"  The response was: "Negative, it doesn't mean anything."  At 13:12Z, one of the helicopter pilots was asked by air control: "Did you clearly identify an American flag?"  No answer appears in the transcript, but the air controller then says: "We request that you make another pass and check once more if this is really an American flag."  Again, no response appears in the transcript. At about 13:14Z, the helicopters were directed to return home.

On 10 October 2003, ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'' ran an interview with [[Yiftah Spector]], one of the pilots who participated in the attack.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1065773796483 |title=Satellite News and latest stories &#124; the Jerusalem Post |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016180249/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1065773796483 |archive-date=16 October 2007 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Spector said the ship was assumed to be Egyptian, stating that: "there was positively no flag". The interview also contains the transcripts of the Israeli communications about the ''Liberty''. However, the journalist who transcribed the tapes for that article, [[Arieh O'Sullivan]], later confirmed that "the Israeli Air Force tapes he listened to contained blank spaces".<ref name=trib /> The ''Liberty''{{'}}s survivors contradict Spector. According to subsequently declassified NSA documents: "Every official interview of numerous ''Liberty'' crewmen gave consistent evidence that the ''Liberty'' was flying an American flag—and, further, the weather conditions were ideal to ensure its easy observance and identification."{{sfn|Gerhard|Millington|1981|pages=41, 49, footnote 4}}

On 8 June 2005, the USS ''Liberty'' Veterans Association filed a "Report of War Crimes Committed Against the U.S. Military, June 8, 1967" with the Department of Defense (DoD). They say Department of Defense Directive 2311.01E<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/231101.htm|title=DoD Directive 2311.01E, 'DoD Law of War Program', 5/9/2006|date=31 January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070131163517/http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/231101.htm |archive-date=31 January 2007 }}</ref> requires the Department of Defense to conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations contained in their report. DoD has responded that a new investigation would not be conducted since a Navy Court of Inquiry had already investigated the facts and circumstances surrounding the attack.

As of 2006, the NSA had yet to declassify "boxes and boxes" of ''Liberty'' documents. Numerous requests under both declassification directives and the Freedom of Information Act are pending with various agencies including the NSA, [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]. "On 8 June 2007, the National Security Agency released hundreds of additional declassified documents on the Israeli attack on the USS ''Liberty'', a communications interception vessel, on 8 June 1967."<ref name="NSA Liberty"/>

On 2 October 2007, ''The [[Chicago Tribune]]'' published a special report<ref name=trib /> into the attack, containing numerous previously unreported quotes from former military personnel with first-hand knowledge of the incident. Many of these quotes directly contradict the NSA's position that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots, saying that not only did transcripts of those communications exist, but also that it showed the Israelis knew they were attacking an American naval vessel.

Two diplomatic cables written by [[Avraham Harman]], Israel's ambassador in Washington, to [[Abba Eban]], Israel's [[minister of foreign affairs]], have been declassified by Israel and obtained from the [[Israel State Archive]]. The first cable, sent five days after the attack, informs Eban that a U.S. informant told Harman there was "clear proof that from a certain stage the pilot discovered the identity of the ship and continued the attack anyway".<ref name="JamesScottBookp197"/> The second cable, sent three days later, added that the White House is "very angry" because "the Americans probably have findings showing that our pilots indeed knew that the ship was American".<ref name=trib /> Documents of the Israeli General Staff meetings, declassified in October 2008, show no discussion of a planned attack on an American ship.<ref name=amiroren>{{Cite news| last = Oren| first = Amir| title = War from the bottom up| work = Haaretz| access-date = 29 November 2008| date = 30 October 2008| url = http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1030925.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081027092552/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1030925.html| archive-date = 27 October 2008| url-status=dead| df = dmy-all}}</ref>

On 30 October 2014, [[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] broadcast a documentary film containing recent first-hand accounts by several survivors of the incident.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2014/10/day-israel-attacked-america-20141028144946266462.html |title=The Day Israel Attacked America |work=[[Al Jazeera English]] |date=3 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031063453/http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2014/10/day-israel-attacked-america-20141028144946266462.html |archive-date=31 October 2014 |access-date=8 November 2014 }}</ref> The documentary argues that Israel knew the ship was American, and planned to blame its sinking on Egypt in order to draw the United States into the war on the Israeli side.