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Memo for Lt. Col. Rowlett: 

1. Under separate cover there has been forwarded a package 

containing the OKW/Chi decodes forming the subject of my telegram 

JL 58/8 of 8 August. 

~· In connection with your 15952 of 12 August, giving the classifi~ations of five of the messages contained· in the package, 

it appears that either the information supplied by the State Department .is incorrect in at least one instance, or the people at OKW/Chi 

attributed erroneous classifications .to the messages, for reasons 

·quite obscure, or, finally, that regulations for the cryptographing 

of messages are not carefully followed· by certain State Department 

offices. 

3. Taking up the five messages, one by one: 

-~!­

~~ ')J>I, 

·!1 ' w.: ' y -J!.lt;J. ~l 

~ :1'0J 

..j_ ·~) 

a. Nr. 143 . from Moscow to Washington. - The German decode ::j, ~~~J starts as follows: ~Secret. ·For the President, Secretary of State, ~ ·:~ and the Undersecretary of State." Accordin~ to the information in · ·:! 

your 15952, this message . was enciphered in Confidential Strip." ;-, c.-2i . 

. ~;~;} 

b. Nr. 1691, from Ankara to Washington. - The German decode'.· 

indicates that the message began with.the word "Secret." According ;.:: 

to your 15952, .the message was encfphered in an unknown restricted : 

system. It may be assumed tha)t the Br.own Code was employed, since the . . message was dated · 9 Sept. 194.4 ::_~nd the GerI_D.an decode was solved the 

same day and was issued on 13 .s/ept. 1944. 'I.t is, of course, clear---r--=q 

that the use of the Brown Code .. w~s wanrantedj, since practically th. 

whole message is merely a trans~ation ©f a Note handed our Ambassa o · ·t; 

by the Rumanian Foreign Office •.. But then the question arises; "WI y ' :::; 

begin the message with the word "Secret"? .~ 

,,. 5:? 

c. Nr. 173 from Washirigt0n to Moscow~ - This is a two-p rt ~?: message, containing the texts of two .messages from _Chungking and A.: ar . ·~ 

being repeated for the informationaf' the Ambassador at Moscow. Th ~..; . second telegram begins:. "Strictly Confidential 11 According to yo'. tt • f 

15952 the message was enciphered in a strip'._-cipher, no classificat on~~~ ·, 

indicated on the Washington message. 1 ~ ~ \ : 

' fj :3 

d. Nr. 810, from Stockholm to Washington. - This message ' ~o-~ 

begins: "Ausserst Geheim", which is equivalent to "Most Secr·et" o ~~; 

"Top Secret". Your 15952 states that the message was sent as an ~ ;; 

unclassified, plain language telegram. This can.hardly be correct, ~sf. 

the message is dated 23 June 1943, was solved by 9 October 1944 a .~ 

issued on 24 October 1944 - sixteen months later. -.. 

e. Nr. 1617, from Ankara to Washington. - The German decode, 

indicates no classification and it was issued only two days after it was 

received in ,OKW/Chi.. The. chances are that the message was sent in plain 

lang~~pyndicated in yourlO? ans~~~ Properly treated. 

\ 
m~D:~fnft1 ·--- .. ,. -r ~rcrra~~rt 3. Within the package sent you there are many messages which were 

solved with a year or more's delay. They were probably in strip cipher 

but they bear no indication of classification (in accordance with good practice). Undoubtedly many of them were secret and confidential, but 

they were all of an early date in 1943, when the uninterrupted version 

of the strip cipher was in effect. However, in the same package you 

Will find at least one case wherein a message bearing the internal 

classification "Top Secret" was read by the Germans within a couple of 

days: This one, which I found in a rather quick survey, was from Ankara 

to Moscow (Nr. 1 of 18 October 1944). It is largely a quote from a 

Note and maybe it was correct to send the message in Brown Code. But' 

why mark it "Top Secret"? If it was not in Brown Code then I am at a 

loss to account for this one and there would seem to be certainly 

something "very rotten in the State of Denmark". If, as I assume 

the modified strip cipher was in'use everywhere after l January 1944, and 

the statement of German cryptanalysts, to the effect that they could 

not handle the modified version of that cipher, are true then what shall 

we make of a case like t~is if the message was not in.Brown but in 

strip? Or are these chaps lying? I am anxious to know as soon as 

possible what information SSA can dig up on the contents of the package. 

4. So far only one box of material has been obtained, but an 

extensive diving operation in Lake Schliersee is being undertaken, 

as soon as possible and it is anticipated that additional boxes may be 

found. Whether these will contain many solved messages of 1944 and 

early 1945, long after the strip system was modified, therefore remains 

to be seen • 

. 5. At the moment it apfiears that the statement of an officer at 

USFET, to the effect that a 'Naiy Machine'·' had been used for enciphering 

some of these messages, may be erroneous--but I don't know for sure. 

6. I presume you are keeping Security Division informed and in 

the picture on this very interesting situation. I hope you get the 

same "kick" I did in handling the original German VN's and seeing how they did it. · 

7. Many thanks for information regarding my fami'ly. Letters came 

the next day. I 1·m having an interesting and profitable visit. Greetings 

to all. 

(in handwriting) 

/s/ William F. Friedman 

WILLIAM F. FRIEDMAN J P.s. Attached clipping makes reference to a recently released W.D. p report on the atomic bomb. Dr. McVittie has asked me to try to "'· 3 get up to six copies, if possible. Would you please ask Lt. · 

J Hornberger to try to obtain them? If available, send to Major 

Seaman, marked for attention of Dr. McVittie. Many thanks. \9 . 

~~ J-t 

Itd like to have a copy kept for me by Mark Rhoads.