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SECRET. 

UK/US COMkl.'UNICli.TIONS SECURITY Cor-U<,Efil ...INCE 195 .. 3 

FINAL PLENARY SESSION 

Tuesday, 10th November, 1953, nt 3 p.m • 

.AGENDA 

1. To consider Conference Report 

2. .Any Other Business 

3. Remarks by Mr. W.F. Friedman (Head of US Delegation) 

4. Closing remarks by Chairm..<'...n 

Declassified and approved for release by NSA on 05-21-2014 pursuantto E.O. 1352a 

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LCS (53)PLMC2). 

1. Conference rteport, 

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Minutes 

of the Final. Plenary Session 

10th November, 1953. 

(Chairman) 

u.. <=;. 

n.s.:;::. J..a.miralty Mr. W.F. Friedman N.s.1~. 

D,Sigs, War Office Mr. 1!1.C •. Austin N,S • ..::.. 

.ACAS(S) Air Min, Mr. J.R. Chiles N,S • .i.:.. 

DDNI, Mmiralty ·Mr·. T.H. Chittenden N.S • .i~. 

DMI, Wm- Office Mr. J.., W. Small U.S. .i~rmy 

li.Ci.S(I) Air Min. Lt.Col. J·.11 • .Anderson U.S.L.F. 

DDSD, i-i.dmir al ty Major "b'. Ivey U. S. i.., i. 

D.D.Sigs. Wnr Ofi.'ice Lt.Col. W.l!1. Zeller U.S.L.O. 

D.D.Sigs (B) Air Min. 

l:..,D.11 G.C.H.~. 

C.P.B. 

C.P.B. 

B,J.S.M, 

B,J,S,H, 

B.J.S.H. 

.PL 86-36/50 USC 3605 

(Secretery} 

TEE CF..J • .IBMJili said: "First of all I know you will be very serry to hecr tha.t 

owing to illness! lis unable to talce the Chair to-d~y. Ee hes o.sked 

me to tcl<o hia rleoe and in due cou:e I sluUl rerul. to :oti. a message from him, 

I have also received apologies fro9 Jana. from Mr. jones, 

Director, G,C,H.~. who, owing to o"t r cotttttlltmetltS, mween unable to come. 

The first business is to consider the Conf'ereilce Report. kJ you will see, it 

consists of ~ comp~xatively short report comprising, in the first plo.ce, the 

highlights of nll the matters thnt have be~n considered and, in the second place, it 

st~tes quite clenrly the Qction recommended to be to.ken in conn0ction with those 

matters. -'"8 ~matter of proce•;ture the report has to be forwi.rded to the Chiefs or" 

Btc:.i'i' of both our Nc.tions as it is on their authority thc.t these Conf..;rences are 

held. I would like to remind you that the report which we are now consiiering is 

the outcome of very detailed reports drl:.wn up by three Sub-Conunittees, on 8ecurity, 

Engineering and Operational Requirements respectively. These latter reports have 

not been rlaced before you to-day but have been endorsed by the ~xecutive 

Committee. The detailed reports have been dre£ted, re~drnfted, vetted, discussed, 

re-discussed, re-drr.fted, improved 1:>nd finally endorsed by the Executive Committee 

end out of them have cmr.e the extre.cts which ere bd'ore you to-day. With the 

exception of' the recommenddion reg.<-.rding the next Conference there is nothing in 

this report which has not ~ppeared in detailed raports. 

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The first few words of paragraph 3 of' the first page of the raport says that 

"The Conference included a full and fr1'nk exchange of views •••• " I would like to 

say the.t in the peat I have had consider~ble persom:.l experience of Inter-iUlied 

discussions md I can sincerely say thc..t I h~ve never known a Conf'erence which 

has enjoyed such a full and fronk exchange oi' views. It is most refreshing und I 

hope that there is the same feeling on the otheor side of the table. 

The Executive Committee have made two recommendntions on the Covering Note of 

the report and I take it that there are no corrunents on these two recommend~tions 

with the provis9 that the Enclosure has still to he formally approv~d by this 

Plenary Conference. 

i~ reg£1rdB the report itself, I do not propose to take it in de't£cl.l but I 

should like to stress one or two points, particularly to those of you who have not 

taken part in the discussions. One of these is a genero.1 one and· is the high 

degree of agreement and accord betw~en thf: U.K. ond u.s. representatives et all 

levels and on all aspects of this extremely abstruse and complicated problam. 

The paragrn.ph on Speech Security on page 2 ple.ces the present position frenkly 

before you, which is the.t no speech security equipments suitable for Combined end 

NJ.i'.l'O use are available at present. You will appreciate that when speech 

security equipments are avai.lo..ble they will have a momentous effect on the 

problems before us. Next,the Conference are greatly concerned about Transmission 

Security and we have at le.st gras_ped. the nettle of plain langue.ge; we hope a 

solution will be found when 'the Working Groups get to grips. .i"S for l'i'onCommunications 'fransmissions a great deoJ. of thought is still required and as 

regards future liaison I would call attention to the emphcsis on "working" rather 

than on pure liaison. 

This brings me to the lest recommendation ccnc~rning the next Conference and 

I would nsk you to n:)te that the io.gendH ~nd business cf r,ho.t Conference Hre to be 

left to be formulated later." .PL 86-36/50 USC 3605 

There were no c6aunents from eit~r side of the table and. the Conference -tl.ep0rt 

was signed by the Chairman and Mr •. iriedman. 

2. Remarks by Mr, W.F. ]friedmon (Head of US .Deleg:J.tio~ 

l-lR. "b~IEDV..liN seid: ''First I WC"'uld like/ to express on beholf of the members of 

: teom and :•elf our regrets -at the ini¥>ility ofl I ond 

l land the Directer. iG..C.H.Q. to attend the closing Plene.ry 

ession. I pe that l lwill be recovered in a dey or two .rnd the.t 

his illness is not seri0us. 

i.s to the Conference, I too wos struck forcibly by the harmcny cf our tw:-·. teams 

working in co-operation. In generai, I hE~ve been, as you kn·iw, engaged in this 

"racket", as General Canine calls it, for many years. I think that nothing more 

cleerly indicates the f'ull confidence and trust which our two sovereign nations 

have placed in each other than the fact that in the cryptclogic field, where the 

greatest degree ::•f secrecy is usually applied by every c~:untry, we have h.e.d a 

redly f'ull and fr€lllk exchange :;f secrets. Despite rrry having been eng!lged in 

this wcrk for so lcng a time,flgain I am impressed with that feet. Now, the 

Chairman ha.s already referred t::i some cf the renlly outstanding acc.::mplishments .:~f 

the Conference. I think that the grasping cf the thr·I'rzy' pr:~blem .:·f transmissbns 

security in our hands at this Confurence fr)r th~ first time is significant ruid I 

hope that the authorities ,')n both sides will give the fullest p1:ssible support t:· 

our recomm.endations so fnr as is procticable and within their abilities. We 

recognise their difficulties and appreciate them. I hope that having ma.de this 

star't we will go forward with vigc-ur towords a scluticn tc cur problems in this 

area. Nnw, with regard t:· the la.st parf.\graph f the recr .. mmendation f;:;r the next 

Conference, we, as you kn-JW, ar1;1 going tc have u s::imewhll.t "new lo.::•k" in our c.::-untry 

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on the organise.tion to be devoted specifically to communications security. i.s 

you knew, we have new a new Board but I am at the moment unable to give you any 

indication of the representatives on that Board. We hope, however, to make our 

new Board as useful and as :impcrtant as the Cypher Policy Board of the 

United Kingdom. 

liS regards the next Conference I do not know whether I can give you the same 

assurance of control over the weather in Washingt':ln when you come over as I have 

exercised in London. l~e have indeed had remarkably good weather and we have all 

appreciated that fact. However, I d0 extend in advance a most cordial welcome to 

the members of the team who will be selected by the U.K. to come to Washington 

and work with us a.gain in full harmcny and t :· continue the g:iod work that we have 

been able to do together in Lond:m at this Conference. On behalf of the members 

of my team I wish to extend our most sincere thanks to all who have made our 

visit so enjoyable and tc sey hew much we have appreciated your hospitality. 11 

3. Reply by 'the Chairman. 

____ T_h....,e CH.tcrRMii.L1' then seid: "I will of course pMs yrmr message on to 

.__ ___ __,!who will be gratified by what ycu have said. Befsre ree.a.ing his message 

I "WOUld like tv say how much we look forwar~ t.:- ccntinuing our gvca. work on the 

.Jther side of the Atlantic. I wculd like Blso b pcy a tribute t ' thJse 

·responsible for tJ;ie mechanics of the Conferencej the Secretn.ries, typists, etc. 

without whom we would not be able tC' do anything. We owe them all a. g:cd deal of 

thwks. n PL 86-36/50 USC 3605 

MR. FRIED¥.J.N second.e.d this. 

T:Hl CHJJRMAN then l:'e ool ... ________ __.~tatement: 

"I very much regret that I am unable to be with you to-day. 

Your meeting brings the formal business of the Cc,nference to a close ann there is 

no doubt from the repcrt which you have just consir1ered, and frc'm what I ha.ve 

heard, that your deliberations have been very pi-bfitable and the..t you have 

advanced the cause of communications security n.Jt '.'nly as it affects U-K/US 

communications but alsc N.t'.TO c::immunications. 

This is only the fourth Conference of its type. Before 1950 

there had been almost negligible collaboration between cur two nations in this 

field and there were inevitably large gaps to be filled in cur Combined UiC/US 

COMSBC defences. Since the first Conference, the N.t\.TO requirements have 

materialised and these have substantially increased the number and size of the 

gaps. It is no small achievement therefore that, despite the limited amount cf 

equipment available, we have been able to effect s.ome. bridging of the NATO gaps, 

even though the bridging is by no means complete and largely of a temporary 

nature. It is very ~atifying that the advent of the U.S. crYPtoprinciple 

embodied in llFSJJv'L 7 , , el.lied with. ycur very substantial pr::iduction capacity 

will, before long, bridge the main gap comprehensively. 

While on the subject of JlFS1ilV1 7, I should like to express 

for permanent record our great appreciation of the very generous terms on which the 

machine has been offered to us by your Goverrunent. But f,_,r this of'fer, the 

Combined UK/US and Nii.TO ~'irst and Second level requirements could not be met 

until much later, SJ far as the British Commonwealth is concerned. 

'rhe report which we hnve just considered reco!,1mends even 

·closer collaboration between cur tw8 nations on beth the engineering and the 

security sides. The precise ways and means of imp.ementing this recommendation 

will have to be workeCT. out, but the recommendation shows a refreshing enthusiasm' 

for collaboration which I endorse wholeheartedly. I am reminded. of the rem.ark 

by Mr. Friedman at the Opening Plenary Session when he referred to the UK/US 

orypto position in 1941. At thQt time the U.K. and the U.S. both had goo~ 

machine systems but they could not interwork. Only by building 2Jl adaptor of 

materially less security coul~ we achieve combined communications in mnchine 

systems. That, as he said, shoul~ be a very sobering less~n. We must make . 

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certain that in the future our two countries can intercommunicate in the best 

possible systems. 

While on the theme of collaboration, I should like to say how 

pleased I am that, during the Conference, you have b_een able to give detailed 

consideration to transmission security. . This .is a subject on which possibly we 

know less at present than on cryptography and your deliberations could hardly 

ha.ve been expected to prcduce suggestions for ccmprehensive remedial measures. 

You have none the less c.greed that this pr~blem must be pursued with vigour ann 

have ma.de some suggestions anrl I welcome your recommendation that Working Parties 

should be set up at once to investigate this subject fully. 

~'is I mentioned at the first meeting the Cypher Policy Boerd 

have widened their terms of reference. One of the new resprnsibilitiea which it 

has assumed is the security of non-c0mmunications tr(illsrilissions. This is a 

problem about which our present knowledge is very limited but it is one which 

requires our combined and detailed consideration. 

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Your program.111e has been a full one and I 1.IDclerstand that 

d.isoussions have gone on outsB.e Conference hours.·· I hope we have n:it ove!"W2rked 

you and that you have been able to see some cf the interesting things we. have in 

London and some of the cotmtry outside London. . · 

On behalf of all the U-~K. members T should like to thank all 

the members of the U.S. team, including those who have already returned home, for 

their valuable contributions to the Conference, to say how much we have enjoyed 

having you over here and to wish you all B.:in Voyage." 

. · 11R. FRIED!v1ii:N said:: "On behalf of the U.S. Dr1ea2fion I must sincerely 

. say how milch we appreciate the words of wisdom that lha.s put in his message 

and we are sorry that he was unable to be here to present them himself." 

THE CHJJ:RM.li.N then declared the 1953 UK/US Communications Security PL: 86-36/50 USC 3605 Conference closed, 

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