Cryptologic Technicians (CT) — the Navy’s signals intelligence, communications intelligence, and electronic warfare rating — served both afloat aboard combatants and submarines and ashore at Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA) stations worldwide during the Cold War. CTs aboard ship worked in dedicated compartments — Classified Communications spaces, Combat Information Centers, and SIGINT collection spaces — built within ships constructed with asbestos-containing materials throughout their interior construction. Shore-based CTs at NSGA stations operated in older building complexes with mechanical systems containing asbestos insulation in heating, ventilation, and utility distribution infrastructure.

Shipboard CT Asbestos Exposure

CTs assigned to fleet units served aboard cruisers, destroyers, and other combatants where they worked in interior compartments adjacent to or sharing ventilation with engineering spaces:

  • Interior ship construction in CT working spaces — Combat Information Centers and dedicated signals collection compartments — used asbestos floor tile, overhead lagging, and bulkhead insulation throughout ships built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down
  • Ventilation system connections in interior CT spaces shared ventilation with adjacent ship areas where asbestos-containing materials in overhead construction could shed fibers into circulating air
  • Ship’s general construction exposed all crewmembers to ambient asbestos fiber levels throughout the hull during normal operations, maintenance, and shipyard availability periods
  • CTs aboard submarines — Cryptologic Technicians assigned to fast-attack submarines (SSNs) and ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) lived and worked in the entirely enclosed submarine environment where asbestos insulation on steam plant components was present

Shore Station Asbestos Exposure

Naval Security Group Activity stations — at NSA Fort Meade (Maryland), NSGA Adak (Alaska), NSGA Yokosuka (Japan), NSGA Rota (Spain), NSGA Bremerhaven (Germany), and other Cold War-era facilities — occupied older government building complexes with asbestos-containing materials in building mechanical systems:

  • Steam heating systems serving older NSGA buildings used asbestos-insulated pipe in boiler rooms and distribution systems throughout the facility
  • Acoustic ceiling tiles and overhead construction in older NSGA building interiors, where asbestos-containing ceiling materials were present in spaces predating the 1970s asbestos phase-down
  • Building renovation and maintenance at NSGA stations involved disturbance of asbestos-containing materials in building infrastructure during routine maintenance and upgrade work

SIGINT Ship Assignment

Some CTs received orders to dedicated SIGINT collection ships — the Navy’s USS Liberty (AGTR-5) class and the earlier Auxiliary General Technical Research (AGTR) hull types — where they were present in engineering spaces with the same asbestos insulation patterns as other Navy auxiliary vessels. SIGINT collection vessels built and operated during the Cold War used steam propulsion plants with asbestos insulation throughout their engineering spaces.

VA Claims for CT Rating Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure for Navy veterans in ratings with documented asbestos exposure histories. CTs who served aboard ships or at shore stations in older building infrastructure before the early 1980s asbestos phase-down and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.