... ... · . REF ID:A4163 • ._... 

APPENP.ED DO'Cl:JMENTS .. ~NTA:N CODE WORD- MATfRIAL 

!IC 

APPENflEB f)ffCUMENTS GQjl!J.Ci~N C09E ,'lJ~D· MA 7£fdAL I . 

Is-A/ . l 
J... • . 

. . 

ABBREVIATED HISTOR!' . 

OF 

SPEx:IAL CRYPTOLOGIC.ADVISORY GROUP 

(SCAG) . 

FEBRUARY 19.Sl ""FEBRUARY l9.S2 

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ABBREVIATED HISTORY OF SCAG 

1.. In February 1951 the idea emerged that, although the Armed Forces 

Security Agm.cy (AF!:JJ\) had acquired in its year and a h.alf of axistence a 

highly competent am experienced. staff, nevertheless the services of .a 

definite group of outstanding technical ccnsultants in certain fields of 

interest to J\F:iA :-A:)ul.d provide a valuable soi.irce of advice an:1 assistance 

in meeting special problems o · 

2. An agreement was therefore reached in :r:.arch i951 between the Chair~ 

man of. the Research and Development Joard (ROB),, Dr. ;·Jilliam ivebster, and 

t~s Director, Ai"SA, ~,~.Earl- b:. Stone, u .s~ Navy,, whereby RD..; would provide 

tne necessary f ..inds l'or the support of such a group of s">eCialists (to be 

designa~e Special Ccyptologic Advisory Group or SC.l\G) • _p.n:i AFJA would 

maintainllf.he technical records and provide the appropriate4ssistance. Mr .. 

&:twin A. Speakman of HDi3 was desigl'...ated by Dr. i'Jebster to assist ~epresentatives of AFSA in working out necessary details. As an initial program for 

the group., it was decided J.o begin with a course of familiarizatj;on of' meinbers 

w.l. th AFSA • s organi~tion( J.asks ~ problems,, and accomplishmexits(' after which 

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.. 

the views of members wouldb"0SoUght to how they might, both collectively and 

individually,, best provide the a4vice am assistapce needed by AFSA. 

· .. ;.,}<>· · T,n~~ first meeting of SCAG,. held 4-5 J~e 19Sl., at the Naval security 

Station:>. Washington, D .. C. ~ at Arlington Hall Statton• Arlington, Virginia, 

was attend~ by eight prominent scientists: 

.. '-... 

"\ .. 

~ .· ' ;- : . 

Dr. Stewart s. Cairns "'! um.versi~y of Illinois 

Mr. Joseph R. Desch ..... National Cash Register Co" 

Dro Howard E. Engstrom,-.. Engineering Research Ass. 

Mr~ John C9 ncPherson ~ International Business ·Machine.s 

Dro John von Neumanii ... '!'he Institute for Advanced Study , _.,. . : Dr,.. Ro K. Potter ... Beli~::talaphone Laboratories · · · · · · ,. 

, ·. Dre Clau;ie E. ShannQ,..t;~i Bell Telephone Laborato.~~e~ . ,./ 

.· ··. ·. Dr. Charles B. T~~,~ :~ George Washington university · 

The program for the first rneetill$"'.incltxied orientataon of the· members· of 

.. SCAQ. pn AFSA organization an:l technical problems and a tour of the analytic 

m.achinery at both stations o Captain .J" s. Harper~ USN,, Chi~f, Office _of 

Research and Development, AFSA~ ~as designated as the official contact cf 

AFSA with SCAG lnemberso 

4Q At the second meeting of SCAG,, held 10 July l9Sl, ·members of the 

Group made. individual visits to working sections of AFSA and held discussions . 

with technical personnel on spt?Cii'iC problens in their field of interest~ 

S. Betwen the sec.om meeting of SCAG (July 19Sl) · and the third meeting 

(Sej:>tember 1951) various· suggestions were made hOW' SCAG could function most 

profitably for AFSA and with most convenience to its members., These suggestions included: 

ao SCAG should be divided into two sub.groups om for mathematical. 

Eroble.ms and one !'or engineer:tng problems. This suggesaan was vetOOd. on t&i 

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ground· that many of the problems considered by SCAG involve close collabora-

.tion between the mathematicians and the engtneerso Concentration of membsrs 

on particular problems in their own field was not.I> or courseg preclutledo 

b., ['he organization of SCAG should be formalizedo The consensus 

indicated that. the greatest'. contribution ot SCAG meriibers £0 the problems of 

AFSA tJould probably. be 1 of an individual nature am that any formalized. 

organization of SCAG should in no way inhibit personal consultation or 

initiative ·in attacking technical probleJ'l!So .It was agreedJJ however, ~'~ · 

soms formal or.ganihticm '!ifould be desirable, including a secretariat IVt'O pro ... Vida minutes of discussions. 7 · . · 

. . ,., C 0 _: Speci~rol1J.il!US ;.;;:-uld be gi,yeii, th.!L.....i;~ or· st;AG, Nith time 

and opportunity prov-ea £0 lliscuss ifffli each otfuir aiil iaflh miiiifiars of AF!3A 

tbs problems whic!) aere seto · 

. '·. . 

do A counterpart o:f SCAG 'Id thin· AFSA should be establishe,d ~ consisting or 12:J:5 persons divided into pan&s for special silbjec'tse . ' .. 

. e.; Friendly social rel.ations of SCAG members with AFSA personnel 

should be estabnslied.I> thus artoroing oppoiiUri!ty arid stiiliUiat.ton toward tna 

, solution .ofi AFSA problems .. 

, t ~ More members should be added to the groupp chosen by common 

agreement. among members ot SCAG,, trl.th £fie approval ol' the Director,, AFSA., 

6 .. · ·At this time RADM Stone suggested that an attempt 'be. ~d~. ,:t,Q ,a.stab"! 

.. lish, on the, mOdel of the Board .of'. Vis'itors at the UoSe Na.val Academy; .a. · 

small_,, .select group of outstaridihg men who might give advice and general 

guidance tO AFSA' s e£forto 'The names of Dr.; Webster~ retiring Chail'"Jllah:i . RDB ~ 

RADM (Rato) Joseph Ro Rmman,, arid Dro,· Vannevar Bush were proposed as possible 

choices for membership on this Board., · The close of Admiral stone 0 s tour of' 

duty as Director,, AFSA br0·ught ti,lis plan to at lea.st a temparary endingo_ 

' ' 

1. As a resUit or the above· suggestions~ steps were taken betweoo the 

second arid third meetings ·of SCAG ·toward its f orznalizationo Such a step was 

t.he election at. the end· of the . second meeting of nr·, .Howard T;, Engstrom3 ERA., 

· as Chairman of SCAGo ·At the request of SCAG JTJembars., Dr. Engstrom prepared 

for discussiQn ~t the nsxi meeting a statement 0£ the mission of SCAG (attached 

as Appendix A.) am the task priorities of AFSA (attached as Appendix .S) o 

Bo At the third meeting of SCAG~ held J2 ... 13 September 19$1_, niSmbers · 

wre presented to Dro Walter Whitman; .. who had succeeded Dr. Webster as Chairman; RDBa and to Major General Ralph Jo Canine who had succeeded RADM Stone ·. as Director, AfSA o It l::l'as announced that: for the present no counterpart or 

$CAG would be .formad. t-ri.thL11 AFSA~ that Mr. \ll'illiam F o .Friedman had been 

appeinted AFSA representative for SCAG members, and that as 11 cover11 outside 

AFSA the dasigila tion SCAG 1'1ould be understood to refer to "Speciil. Communica.;.. 

ti.ans Advisory Groupo" . Natters ot an organization and technical. nat:""ure diS ... 

cus sid at the third meeting were: 

statement ~s -~::-~6:if£!~~EHiff£~~~o~ be ~P~~~~a:. !~! :!:Cliied 

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statement of the mechanics b;r'. which SCAG could best carry out its missiono · 

The Chairman of SCiiG and r-iro John HO!tlard were delegated to draft such a 1 

supplemento · · · 

.. bo Statement of task prioritiesa Although it was generally agreed 

that· the task PHorif.ies hid been coITectly set=' it was al.so the· opinion that 

the problems were closely inte~related and that it would, therefore:i be 

difficult to .consider them separately" The. Chairman pointed out that one of 

the primary purp<>ses in drawing. the statement of' task priorities had been to 

nermit SCAG members to devote their time to individual problems in the:ir field 

of interest, Attm• general discussion, howeverJJ it appeared that tha SCAG 

menit~ers pref'_~ to consider the problems as a whole.. '· 

c~ ,Additional members: The names ot approximately· 20 .scientists 

were proposed as possible lletf memberso A membership coinmi~tae, consisting 

of the Chair11$r1, Dro Robertson, arid Mr. McPherson was appointed to ·consider 

the problem or additional memhership'c . . . 

do. Board of Visitors:· The desirability of establishing a Board o£ 

Visitors was dropped ?rom discussion aS being outside the province of SCAGo 

eo ·Intercept: The etf'ect of. quality and quant.ity of traffic on 

analytic success was discussedo Although the major difficulty appeared to 

be centered in the peX>Sonnel proble:rii, the technical. possibilities of late 

devalopmsnts in s\,lch fields· as ·search receivers and antenna designs were 

pointed oμto Dro Potter of Bell telephone Laboratories Was asked to determine 

whether SCAG sh.oUJ.d give this problem its furthsr considarationo · 

. f q , Ultra .. ~h 'sp8e4 ~ectroriics: In 9rder to fulfill AFSM s . 

excessive reqiiiraments for Ulflrieliigh speed computation,. it was ·recommended / 

that AFSA undertake a program of, basic research into ultra ... high speed i/ 

electronics... · · 

. . . 1 

· · go. Methocls_oi'>Cexha~Y.9!1~01; s~~!i:C~: Since methods of ~ustion or scritehing iii connec'Eion wi£Fw!H'fig recovery were subject to abstract. exposition~ it was recommended that. AFSA prepare an abstract ·of this problE!Zl'l ·? 

on· a SECRET lev~ £or consid. e~~ti.onl by SC)\Q.. c ·1-J · · · 4) 

. h, Whee2, ~;;ti~;,~ i.:.:bi{=vi' I~ iras recommended thai a report 

o~ the numerollS m~'th&ii' suggested !'or 7ea1 sim~tion and bombing ~ p~... ? 

pared £or review by SCAGo ~J._:,- ' ~\ ~,.,~ · cl~ J.'.> 

1.. .Pla.i,l,l.l@@~~-~-ggqi:~:t,~:m: The problem of plain language 

recognition in connection wi'Eli 6omblng and other techniques was referred to ) 

Drso Potter am Shannon for considerationo ~ 

9.. In the months following this meeting the question AFSA•s position in 

regard to basic research was crystallized in a l,.etter written 30 October 1951 

by Dro Charles :a ... Tompkins of George Washington University to the Chairman, 

SCAG, suggesting that "the SCAG contribution, at least in mathematics, could 

be materially strengthened by·arranging for some time...c;onswning research· by . members and possibly others' in congenial surroundings.•i · Such a research-· 

facility., )le thought, could be .established on a yeareroum ·basis by means ot 

a contract between the Director of Central Intelligence and the Rand Corpora ... tion1 Santa Monica., Calif orniao · 

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lOo Within AFSA there were variotl.:i, reactions to this proposalo Although 

it was realized that distinct long ... term advantages might accrue from the 

proposed arrangement,, there were disadvan:t;ages from the ·point o.f viet<J of 

availability of qualified scieni1'sts~ ·compliance with Civii Service Regula ... 

tions,, contro_l or the project· by CIA,, location in California., a.ni the short.a 

term value of such. a projecto ···It was suggested that the' solution to many of 

AFSA&s complex problems might be advanced rather by such internal measures 

as .an ~crease in the number of high-level positions open both to AFSA members 

and to newcomers, a,_r~;i.s;i,~ELQ~ .. J'~l:!~""J~~~~gj.°_ AF§ll-,:~~gi-~*ti~:\1-a.nd su.r~~ing~, 

~ _protection.,;,Qi'~.!_!.~~~"?iP.!i~; f_r0m· administrative details:> and gearing or. the . 

administrative functions to ·the efficient performance ·of task so 

. no· 'At the fourthmeetang ·or SCAG, 6 December 19.Sl, SCAG authorized its 

Chairman to address a letter to the Director; AFSAsi suggesting that AFSA . 

appoint a committee to investigate the possibilities of implementing ~~.,-c.;:; 

_ .~~ ~f -~~~-;~-.,--~~~~~' by contract or otherwise~ and to delineate ~ general · ~arms too. nature of tfiis . p!!'Ogramo . ~ · . . . 

12 o In connection with· the p~posed ·program Dro Tompkins representing 

SCAG arid members of the Math~t:tcal Division of .the Office of Research_an::l 

Development representing AFSA drew up lists of installations where such basic rese~h might be conductedo AFSA 0 s s\ll"Vey included also (a) contracts 

alx>eady let; (b) subje~ts sUitable for further contracts; and (c) potential - contractors·o · ! . . •., 

. 1.3<> At. the close of its first. year of existence, it seemed· appropriate 

for SCAG to draw ~or the Director_, AFSA, the Cha:l.rman.11 RDB:i a. report on its 

accomplishments and recommendations., Members were therefore asked to assew.ble 

in a private opening seseion at. th~ ·rifth meeting,, to be hsld :J.2~13 March 1952, 

to consider basic topics and qu,e stions f'rom which su()h a report might be . . v 

drawn0 These' questions, as outlined by Mra Speakman in a lf3tter t,o members 

of SCAG!> are attached as Appendix Co · · · · 

lko ·Upon the answers to these questions· rested in large measure AFSA as 

future course in scientific researcho 

1$0 A list-of the melrbers of SCAG_as of March 19$2 is attached as 

Appendix Da 

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s~R?t't116~• APFKNDIX A 

12 September 1951 

Mission of the ~pecial Cryptologic Advisory Group {SCAG) 

lo The Special Cryptologic .1'1.dVisory Group {SCAG) was set up by the 

Rasaarch and Develo~:;mant Boa.id at the sugg0srliion of the Amc:Kil 

Fo:reas Security Agencyo Its fundamental obj€Ctive is to provide 

ad.Vice and assista.nca to the Armed Forces Security Agency in 

meeting special problems in the general field. of conununications 

intelllgeru:eo- In vlw or its statutory responsibilitias in the 

whole fic:Wi of intalligencet> the Central Intelligence Agency.~ 

express®d a deep interest in SCAGo · 

2 o The members of SCAG are as follows: 

Dr a S~ar't Cairns, Uni vers:i. ty of Illinois o 

Mro Joseph Eu DeschB National Cash Register Companyo 

Dro Ho Te Engstro~, Engineering Researeh Associates, Inco 

Mro John Ho Hoti!'az>d.1 Jurroughs Adding Machine Company 

Mro Jo Co McPhcrsonJI International IJusinass Nachines Corpo 

Dro Ro Ko Potter, Bell Telephone Labora~ieso 

Dro Ho Po Rob~-tson, Central inteUigence AgenGyo 

Dr., Claude Shannon" Bell Talepllono Laoora.tox-ieso 

Mro Ea Ao Speakma.nD Research and DevPJ.opment Docu~o 

· ·. Dro C .. ilo 'l'ompkins81 George Washingt,on Universityo 

Dro John von NeumannD Institute for Advanced Study0 

Princeton~ New Jarsay · Mr o t~illiam Webster D Former Chairman.o Research and 

Devalopment Board., · 

J!'. Members of SCAG will be appointed jointJ.y by the Chairman of the 

Research and Development Board and the Director of AFSAo It is 

understood that the present SCAG manbers will.consider needs foi' 

addH.ional membership and inaka recommendations to the above aganeieso 

4.o It is recognized that the problems facing AFSA in the field of 

communica.tions.intelliawnce al'e of great complexity and of utmost 

importance" Ths Spacial Ceyptologic Advisory-· Group was form.ad fago 

t.he following purposes: 

.· ao · To proVide ad.Vice and assist~e to AFSA in meeting / 

&pe.ciu problems Q . 

· b., To maintain fam.W.a.ri~ w:i.!h~~--~P.,g.!'J, .J!.m.~+~ and ? 

make recommendations to AFSA ·in connection tdth theU' , soluticmo · 

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sltli"tlJVJt4163• 

'-' .I\... .c .I. 

APPENDIX A 

lContinued) 

So The present membership ot SCAG gives representation of the various 

technical fields involved in the solution of these problems~ such 

as mathematics~ statistics~ electronics and computing machinsryo 

SCAG membership also includes individuals who are familiar with 

the latest industrial progress in fields which niay be applicable 

to these prOblems o 

Chairman:i Researeh and 

Development Boa.rd 

2 

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TM J 0. C)iNfNE 

Major General, US Army 

Director 9 Armed F on:es 

Security Agency 
APPENDIX C 

Questions in letter from Mro E. Ao Speakman 

(-1) How does SCAG .feel it can help?. ,Collectively or individually? ( 

Is the concept of SCAQ wrt_h~i;~? · . 

(2) Is SCAG,,p~g=9p~ or Qrgan:t,.2ed? 

'? 

(3) Are the membani so in demand by other agencies that their l 

eff'ort is diluted? u ,_o_,_.__~..__-...!......:..~.::..,,,.,-~- • 

(4) What can be done to facilitate t.h~ ·sclution 0£ the primary 7 

problem? 

(S) What additional requirements should be met (funds; buildings~ 7 . si te"s;-eQuipMeiit~ ~personnSl~ etc 0)? 

(6) SUggested !~~-PJ~~ regarding AFSA., 7 

(7) Should outside contracts be let? It sozi to what purpose~ / 

and'extent? 

(8) To what extent and uhere should long term or basi,c research v"" 

be condllCted.? 

(9) To what extent could individual members contribute more . time to AFSA problemS?-·~-~-~-'~ .. =~--... -. - . . 

(10) Have.SCAG members any comments or suggestions.regarding 

AFSA 0 s organization for an a,~t~c.lL~-.t-.11..~ .. &¥!j,g~p.£PlH,~..,.t \-~ --~-~-··~ " -- ., . 

(11) Oth8r cormnentso 

CONFIDENTIAL 

) 

• 
APPENDIX D 

Namas of Persons Accsp~ as Members of SCAG as or December 19Sl 

CAIRNS, Stewart So DBSCII~ Joseph Ro 

1'l!GSTROMa Howard . 

HfkJARD 1J John 

McPHERSON,o John C., 

UEUll'iANN=' John von 

POST, Dean 

.PO~ER.o Ralph Ko 

JiOJFBTSON, H. R .. SllAiiNON, Claude Eo 

SPEAKMAN, Edwin A .. 

TcmrKINS f) 'Charles B" 

WFBSTER" William 

.... University of Illinois 

.., Na.tiona1·cash Register Company 

Q Engineering Research Associates, Ineo 

= tJurroughs Adding Machine Company 

... International ilusiness Machines Corp .. 

... The institut-a for Advanced Study · 

.... Research and Development iloard 

G ilell Telephone Laboratories 

g Weapons Systems Evaluation Group 

= liell telephone Laboratories 

!"' Research az:id Devalopment Boa.rd 

g George l~ashington University 

... New Englaml Power Company 

CONFIDENTIAL 
~- • 

APPENDIX B 

12 SErptanber 1951 

STATEl,lENT OF TASK PRIORITIES FOR SCAG 

)!::o 3 . 3 ( h) ( 2 ) 

... _lo .___I __ _____. 

PL 86-36/50 USC 3605 

The top priori1-Y under the main problem. is · the task· or recovering 

. I I/This task is subdivided as .f'ollows.o in order \.ot .im= 

portance based upon probability of results: 

__ --------......1·· ~---:---------'! This recovery should provide a&li tional 

infomation concerning the basic machineo The type of in"" 

formation and hov to find it is considered or highest priorityo 

L---------------__,Results of .this test shoUl.d 

be examinedo 

Because of tile large number 

o ia s inv v ~ e pro em of mechanizing these methods 

is of great importanceo One solution whic~ has been proposed 

. is the NOMAD equipmGnto Preliminary discussions have t~en 

place considering pos~ble other methodso 

I The ROBIN .___ ______________________ ___. 

project is desigJied to carry out the search for depths; Pre.., 

Uminary seareha, utilizing the present two ROBIN equipments, have 

resulted in questions concerning criteria tor depth which need 

investigaticmo 
.. 

Eo 3;3(hJJ2) 

PL 86-36/50 use 3605 

s \.connec on, numerous methods have bean presented for simu .... lation of wired- wneelsa EValuation of these methocis is desirable0-

togethar _with suggestions for possible new approacheso 

4o -- Plain Language 'Recognition 

In connection questions 

·exist concerning·optimum statistics to use for recognizing plain_ 

texto - Problems also exist concerning mechanical methods of a~ ... ing such statistioso 

So General Reaearch . Problems 

The following problems.of general nature have been suggested: 

(a) Olt.Jra...Highspead Camputationo 

Certain preliminary researches have been carried out on basic 

computing circuits operating at speeds of the order of l.11000 

megacycles o Should_ additional -support be gi van to irork in 

this field? 

(b) Transistor Tecbniqueso 

The development of the transistor appears to have reached a 

point of practical utilization in highspeed computationo Does 

this program require special attention\' 

( c) Photographic Techniques o 

Since photographic methods provide the most compact :form of 

digital data storage~ as wll as highspeed integration1> should 

further and more attention be given to ezj;ension ot these 

techl'iiques? 

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