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a. Watch Station Defined: An occupied area which operates
on a 24-hour, 7-day a week basis in which responsibility for all
COMSEC material is transferred from the off-going to the oncoming supervisor is defined as a watch station.
NOTE: (1) For the purposes of this article, submarines
in port are not considered watch station environments
and will adhere to the inventory guidance outlined in
Article 778.c.4.
(2) The provisions of 778.c.4 are NOT applicable to
surface ships in port not undergoing maintenance/upkeep or
where material remains issued to LEs, is accessible to duty
personnel and responsibility is transferred through a daily
turnover. These units will follow Article 775.
(3)
To negate the need to perform watch-to-watch
inventories, page checks or destruction of COMSEC material
when in port for extended periods, it is recommended that
Internal
LEs (e.g. CIC) not maintaining communications
circuits in port or at home base requiring COMSEC material
turn the material in to the EKMS Manager when feasible.
b. Custody: All COMSEC material held or used to a watch
station must be reflected on and accounted for on a watch-towatch inventory. The LE will maintain a local custody file
containing the local custody document(s) for all material issued
to the LE for the duration set forth in Annex T.
c. Responsibility:
While on duty, each watch supervisor
is responsible for all COMSEC material reflected on the
watch-to-watch inventory, regardless of which watch supervisor
signed the local custody document for the material.
d.
Inventory
Requirements:
(1) A watch station must maintain a watch-to-watch
inventory which lists all COMSEC material held (including
accountability of resealed segments/material).
(2) All COMSEC material will be listed and inventoried
by sighting the short title, edition, accounting number, and
quantity. Equipment, which does not have an edition may be
listed and inventoried by quantity only. If an equipment
requiring key is operating properly the keycard/segment may be
verified as present in the equipment on that basis.
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(3) The inventory must be designed to provide a means of
the recording dates and initials or signatures of the
individuals who conducted the inventory.
(4) A complete inventory of all COMSEC material held by
a watch station must be conducted whenever watch personnel
change.
(5) The inventory will be conducted by appropriately
cleared and authorized personnel. Watch-to-watch inventories
will be signed by both the person conducting the inventory, as
well as the witness.
(6) Items returned to the EKMS Manager prior to the end
of the month reflected on the watch-to-watch inventory will be
done using a SF-153 (Local Custody document) and lined out from
the date of return on the watch-to-watch inventory and be
initialed by two LE personnel. A copy of the Local Custody
document signed for by the EKMS Manager and Alternate or
Witness, if required will be retained by the LE turning in the
material and the EKMS Manager in accordance with Annex T.
(7) Although equipment may be listed and inventoried by
quantity only, LE personnel must ensure the quantity reflected
on the watch-to-watch inventory is accurate. Example: If a
local element was issued (3) AN/CYZ-10(V3)s but one failed and
was returned to the EKMS Manager, the LE personnel must lineout, correct and initial the quantity field on the watch-towatch inventory. The same principle applies when an increase
occurs, if the watch station is issued and is accounting for (4)
KG-84Cs but is issued one more, they must line-out, correct the
quantity field to (5) and initial the change. Bottom line: All
COMSEC material must be continuously accounted for!
NOTE: Material not reflected on a watch-to-watch
inventory, which includes incorrect Short titles,
reg/serial numbers or quantities for material held must be
documented as a Practice Dangerous to Security in
accordance with Chapter 10.
e. Page check Requirements: All unsealed (extracted)
keying material, publications, and equipment held by the watch
station must be page checked/verified in accordance with Article
757 and Annex W. Unsealed keying material includes:
(1) Keytape segment(s) that may have been
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unintentionally removed from its canister before its effective
period and not yet resealed in accordance with Article 772.
(2) Keytape segment(s) that cannot be destroyed
immediately after use because there is an operational
requirement to retain the key until it is superseded. The
still-effective segment must remain under TPI if TOP SECRET, be
resealed, properly stored, and accounted for until it is
superseded and destroyed.
(3) Superseded extract(s) or segment(s) of keying
material which is awaiting destruction, including extracts or
segments which have been placed in a Special Access control
container (SACC) securely welded to the interior of a
GSA-approved security container.
(4) The last copy of a multiple-copy key segment which
was removed from its canister and is being held until
superseded. If the material will not be destroyed within 24
hours, the material must be resealed in accordance with Article
772 and added to the watch-to-watch inventory.
NOTE: Classified COMSEC related publications will be page
checked and indicated as discussed in Article 757.e.4.
(5)
AKAC 874).
Key in loose leaf manuals or booklet form (e.g.,
NOTE: Unsealed material does not include keying material
packaged in canisters.
f. Discrepancies:
Any discrepancies noted (item(s) not
accounted for) must immediately be brought to the attention of
the chain of command and the EKMS Manager or Alternate, as
applicable prior to the off-going section being relieved and may
necessitate reporting such as a COMSEC Incident in accordance
with Article 945.
g. Status Information: Effective and supersession dates
for all keying material held by the watch station must be
clearly marked on the material in accordance with Article 760.
h.
Destruction:
(1) Destruction of superseded material must be conducted
in accordance with Article 790 within the timeframes set forth
in Article 540.
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