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MILITARY INTELLIGENCE D!VISl°W 

la replying refer 10 

REF ID:A99653 

WAR DEPARTMENT • 

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF 

WASHINGTON 

September 9, 1919. 

My dear Yardley; 

4-e) 

W>'J..~· - ' 

I enclose t'~ lotters from Colonel Fabyan and my 

answer, both of which are included in one letter, dated today. 

Please send me a memorandum explaining frankly and 

fully eT.actly what your idea is of Colonel Fabyan's suspicions 

c.':oncern:i.ng Colonel Mauborgne' s rnoti ves. 

In eighteen years' service in the Army, ! have never 

yet comE~ across a genuine case in which an officer, ,,-,;,o was in 

any way represente.ti ve of the Regular Army, has permi ~ted 

hir!lsel:f' to be influenced by the ulterior motives assigned to 

Colonel Uauborgne by Colonel Fabyan. Colonel llauborgne' s frank 

manner in discussing the :?J.atter with me gives :ne an additional 

rAaSOn for believin~ that the SUSpiCiOn is entirely unjustif i8dj 

but I should like to have you throw a little light on it. 

! do not think it advisable to have Colonel Uauborsne 

learn through us that Colonel Fabyan feels this way, but I do 

think it very essential that ill feeling and suspicion be 

remdved. 

I enclose a draft which you prepared concerning the 

general question of publication, and also copy or my letter to 

Colonel Fabyan on the sa~e subject. 

Major H. o. Yardley, 

No. 3 East 3Bth St., 

New York, N. Y. 

Very sincereli your , 

'fl)Cl.. ll. lure ·11· i I l...,,'""'"'.....,.--,:~.-'L..-'-""--­ • 

Brisadior-~eneral, General Staff, 

Director of Military !ntelH.gence. 

5 encls. 

hc:n 

eclassified and approved for release by NSA on 07-30-2014 pursuant 

o E.O. 13526 
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¥1 dear Colonel Fabyans 

REF ID:A99653 

c... - -

L 

,,.. h 

~ l/-131- ..... ,. 

f;t' 

September 9, 1919.wt.t.J i r f 

During my v1•1t to Riverbllllk, we diacusaed tho general 

question or p11blication in connection With ooclea and ciphera. 

Colonel Van Deman hu returned from J'ranae, ad att•r 

a aon'lih' • l•a·r• will 'be here in Wuhington. It you can aee your 

'WaJ' clear to oame to W&8hington ao•e time after Oatober 9, I 

ahould like 'Hl'f muoh to haTe JOU ••• II. I. D. u it now tunction11, 

and al•o to ha'H the opportun1"1 of diacueeing with General. Holan, 

Colonel Van Demmn and aya.it the general eubJect of puQlicit7. 

Ob'Yioualy, peace-time aondit1ona an not war-t:l.ae condition• •d 

certain modification• of our polio:r are ine'Yitable. But it will 

al"V&l'• lHt deairable , I think, to keep from other nation• UJ' 

information 11biah would lead t.b• to haTe 11DJ particular reapeot 

tor our m11thoda of cipher attack, or which would g:1'Y8 allied nations 

any cauae for off'enae in connection with th• publication of note• 

which they had entru.11ted to u•. 

Colonel CJ11orge Fab7an, 

P. O. Box 435, 

Chioaao, Ill .. 

hom 

V•Z"J eincerel1 1ourw, 
CO~JFID§)JTIAQ 

117 dear Colonel Fab7an: 

I deaire to aatnowlodge 7our letters of September 2nd 

ad 6th• mul to expre•• my regret that in our lotter of 

September ~'nd th• word "ueum.pticm" was not uaed in place ot 

"sue••". J: &a•t.11'• you that tbe word "guess" -.. not ued with 

•1 unpleaiJIUR oonnotation. 

J: will do •Terything in my power to obtain tbe intormation 

you requeai; ia your latter of Sept•ber 6. 

Colonel George la'b)'an, 

P. o. Box 4·35, 

Chioego • Il.l. 

hom 

Veey ainoerely 70ure, 

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.·H 

' 

1 
., 

t REF ID:A99653 

I EOH1 iULH I iAU I 

I Colonel George .Fab;ran, 

etc. 

, .. 'Jq dear Colonel Fabya.n: 

The subject of the conversation I had with you 

while I was at Riverbank has been on my mind from time to time, but 

it was not until tod.q that I was able to give it further consideration. You will recall that you asked whether Lt. Friedman had my 

permission to insert in his manuscript anything that he desired, and 

without foreseeing at the time exactly what Ski:K this question 

involved, I state~ that I had no objection. 

7-), 

The information about codes and ciphers collected 

at our Generallleadquarters in Francie was the result of a liaison 

with our Allies and of the combined e_tforts of some fifty officers, 

field clerks, and enlisted men Who for ••p«rlllYTw=f the period of the 

war devoted their time to.the breaking ot enell\V-=--: codes and ciphers. 

A .. bis information is not the result of the efforts 

of one man, but of tlfe efforts of the Services otFrance, England, 

Italy and the tm.ited States~,in justice to our Allies, to the me~ and to our Service, :i1 I teal that if this information is 

-compiled or published, it should be compiled, published, and issued 

by the service2: whether tor limited or wide circulation. 

)noMri,in.1~ • L I have your interests in mind as well as T1T9 o'V?l, ~r besides being a reflection on the Service,·it might by son;e be i~terpreted as a reflection on Riverbank which would be put in a 

position that ndght lend aolor to SJl intimation that it was assuming 

credit for work done by the Service, a position that both of us wish 

to avoid. 

This opens up the entire subject of publication and distr:l.bution which I feel should be settled. The Military 

Intelligence Division will continue to remain silent about codes and 

ciphers. 'Ne mEcy" loose some publici tn ~ our silence, but I am 

concerned with results only. 

But I do not want you to feel bound to our 

policy. I shal1 offer no objection to Riverbank publications even 

though we rema.!t.n silent, in fact, now that conditions have changed I 

wish to withdraw my objection to the distribution of the Riverbank 

publications held during the war. 

~ . The disposition of these and fu.Dlire publications(howeve1\} teey should be me.de by Riverbank rather than MID, for 

we cannot retu1se to publish and consent to distribute an". maintain a 

consistant pol:Lcy. 

I have a report from .OOS.jor 'Jard.lay tbat your 

latest exposition on the A T & T is highly interasting, but that he 

has not been able to reach a joint conclusion with the.Signal Corps. 

Very sincerely yours KC ~ 1: 

ONFIDENTIA . .