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---1gpp1·oved for Release by NSA on 09-23-2013 pursuant to E.O. 1352¢1 

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.. "'rhe Magic intelligence was pre-eminentq important and the neceaaity 

tor keeping it confidential cannot be overestim&ted. However,. ~o cl.osely 

held and top aecret was this intelligence that it appears the tact the - Japanese codes ba4 been broken was regarded as or more :tmportance than the 

information obtained from decoded tratf'1c. 11 

TIME •ay&, in connection with this phase ot the ator;y or Magic during 

World War III 

"So p.riceleaa a possession was Megia that th& U .s. high command 

lived in constant fear that the Japs would discover the aecret, change 

their code machinery, force U.S. crY,ptographera to atart al1 over aga1n. 11 

' Bow I don lt want to seem to over-emphasiJSe the importance at COMI?fr 111 

the Pearl Barbor at:tair but I think 1t warranted to read you what the Ma.Jority 

said about it in its Report. The f'ollowing comes :Crom. p. 232s 

11 ••• all witnesses f'am1liar with MAGIC material thrOUShout the 

var have teatif'ied that it contributed enormousl.7 to the defeat ot the 

enem;y, sreatly ahortened the war, and aaved mny thousands ot l.ives." 

General Chamberlin, wbo waa Ma.cArthur*a G-3 throughout the war in the 

l'ac1f'1c1 has writtens "The intormat101l G-2 gave a ... 3 in the Pacif'ic '?heater 

alone aaved us me.ny thousands or lives and shortened the war by no less than 

two ~ara." I hardly need say that we can•t put a dollar-a:ad-cents value at 

COMIB'l' in the saving ot lives J but we can make an est1ma.te ot what COMIN'r meant 

in the wa7 ot ahorten1ng the war bJ' two years means. I made & calculation and 

- --found that •1.11 •pent tor COMIMT 1a vortb $1,111 spent tor Otiiii' activltie• 

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In shOl"t, vhen our commanders had COMINT in World War II they were able I 

to pUt what smBll forces they had at the right place,, at the right time.. 2ut 

vhen the didn't have 1t--a.lld thia lla.ppened eevera.l times--their forces af'ten 

took a beating. Ie.ter on ve 'll note instances or each type. 

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I hope I've not tried your patience 'by such a. lenatb¥ pre1's.ce to the 

real subste.nce of m::1 talk, so let'• get dawn to bras• tack8, 8.Dd e!nce o. 

bit of history ie alW&¥6 useful 1n introducing a sU.bJect bel.onging to a 

special. and not~to-weU-knowu f'ield, I'll begin by giving you some hiatorica.J. 

inf'orma.tion about er;ypto1ogy, which comprises two related sciences,, that ot 

cr;yptography, and tbe other or cryptanal.7e1a. They et.re but opposite fe.a~a 

of the same coin, for progreas in one 1nev1tabl.y leads to progress in the 

other. 

Bow 1 'beca:u.se of the eecrec;,y or cloe.k at ail.ence which of'f'icially surrOWJda 

the vhole f'ield at cryptology and especially cryptanal:ytics, it is obvious 

that autheil.tic 1n:t'ar:me.t1on with re:f'erence to the background and development 

ot the science 1n foreign. couutr1ea 11 quite s:pa.rseJ and although after WOL"ld 

War II ve learned much regarding the aeeca;pliahmenta in this f'ield of work 

by our enemies 1 security rules prevent my s~ing veey mu.ch in detail abou.t 

bov good er bad they were in complrieon with ua. Su.f'f'1ce 1t to say that we 

1ooked pretty good in cryptologtc affairs; together with our p.t"incipal. ally,, 

:Britain, ve cryptologieta lM!l.tur~ think we won the war, though otbers aeem 

to have mislaid the peace somewhere. 

I can Oiicy give a. t'a.irly good account of U.S. cryptologic a.ct.1.v!ties up to 

--& certain point of time 1 and even then I wUl .n.ot be able to aq very mu.ch about 

tbem aimpl.7 'because tbe story ie too loca to give in a lecture ar even & series 

ot talks-. In tbe courae or m:t talk t viU present & number or illustrations at 

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I had intended to aay a -rev vorda about the deai:P}lerment Of Ean>tian 

bierogl.)tpbic writing because it ia •upposed to repl"eaent the next and • ;reat 

Jantlmark in the hiatary at crJPtoloQ. Professor Horbert Wiener, ar K.I.'r.,. 

in bis famous book entitled Cybernetic,• calla tba.t deciphermen..t the greatest 

vu rather simple; the difficult part was the reconstruction o1: the language 

and ita grammar. I•a •orry we cantt go into that now, but I do want to add 

that it was very fortunate tbat the earl.7 •tudenta ot Egnlto1ogy didn't even I 

•ua:pect that the Egyptians .iao uaed cr_yptograpbys there wre crn>tographic 

biero~ics, it you can imagine such things. 

There i8 one person I should men.t1on be:f'are coming to the period ot our 

Civil War. Edgar Allan Poe, in l.842 ar thereabouts, kimled an interest in 

cryptograpey b7 bis f&UIQU8 atory or 111.fhe Gold :Bug'' 1 and by aome articles an 

ceyptograpb;f in newaps.pera and Journals ot the period. For his day he was the 

best informed person in the U.S. on ceyptologic matters. 

~ perial at the Civil. 'W'ar ar the "War Between the Statee", in u.a. 

hiatory was 1 u a result ot the invention aDd development ot telegraphy, a 

:period that saw the use at cryptology in o. large way. Here ia a. picture ar a 

cipher device used by tbe Confederate MDr¥1 captured at Vickaburg, one or our 

Museum treasures. TAe device ia a cylinder covered vi th a aheet ~ pa.per x a & Di S ...., I W P Z _J Qlli I - ll ,. - - t ... 

'bearing alpha.beta 1 the alpbabeta ot the Vigenere table 1 in other worda 1 & 

pointer that you. could alide 1 and a thumb Jmow vi th which you could turn the 

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c7lirl.ter according to the key letter•.. You might like to know two of the ke7& 

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they- used with this s;yetem and devices COMP.Lm'E VIC~ was the f'1rstJ and 

CCWJ: RETRIBUTION the aecood. 

Here is & picture or a message, autbentio without question, which was 

eent by President Lincoln to General Burll814e. It•e very e~e. It ree.da this 

• 4 . : ' """" , * .. +sw ,.a • .. zea ·~ .... !!!Ii • f3,...r51f ... 't.I 

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Tbiere vas ODe rather illteresting cue 1 1D. which I happened to :plq a 

a-t.tempte to stir up a Z'4tbeU1on iu IZM11&, the 14ea being to ea.use •o mu.ch 

trouble in Inrli& that th.a llriti•b voul4 'be forced to withdraw troops :tram. the 

We•tern Front to quell d1aturbe.ncea in India.. These Hindus were :aegot1ating 

a-ter to Ind:f.a. Since the u.a. waa neutral, it wae against our OllD. laws to 

permit euch uudert.ald.nge against a :tr1eml.7 nation. So the busi.neae bad to be 

conducted secret]¥ and tbat 1a how c.rJPtograuus entered into the p1atu.re. Rere 

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In all I've •aid thua te:r about our Worl4 We I crnto ... eommwiicationa 

there•• "been little or nothing ea.id about our high-comm.nd ones, measo.ges 

between General Persh~ and Wuhington, ~or in8tance. I did mention the War 

De}m"tment Tel.egraph Code or 1915~ which we bad when we entered the war as 

a belligerent. It ia with acme sadneea but alao acme amusement that I tell 

1"0U that soon after wo Joined the Jhoitiah the1' told us, with aa much delicac7 

u ;you may 1mag1ne the aituation reqμ1re4, that -i;bir.t code wasn't at all safe. 

You don rt have to wander VfJr"¥ mu.ch wbat the 1mplica1;1ona ~ such a notice 

meant, and I'm. aure our auth01"it1ea amiteated. no great a11toniahment at the 

time... You•u remember wbe.t I ea14 about the :br1t1Jb auccesa :f.n solving the 

Zimmermann lfeleSl'am which brought us into the var on their aide .. 

Well, atepa were taken right q:u.ickl.7 to produce a new and much ea.fer code 

tar tbe Wa:r Deiertment and hilh ca=e.nd useJ al.ao a new one tar mil:ttar;y 

inteU:tgence and aec:ret agent communications. It vaa alao about thia time 

tbat our Jfavy began to :t.mprove its communication secree)" by adopting a cipher 

vbichwent under the C'L1.1:"iou.e an4 almos"b m.ov1e-l1ke title ot the .NCB-... the 

Navy Cipher Box. It was a aort of atr1p cipher eyatem. and 1 he.vo a picture 

of it. 

l don •t know what our State Department a01111nUnication. securit;y was 1ike u a 4 C UGI :;CWWl'l'S:S .,\ 'W' .... ...,....._.~ -....-"""!Jjj""'Q--..-.. -·-

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!A thoae ~ but X have rq auap1c1oms. 'the loua tradition ot aeel'ecy amt 

lec:t'et 4iplana.c1 wun•t mJii tra41t1on--th1• wu 4iatinctly a Europea!l J>iece 

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ta1cen for a. crntolog1a ride--I 4on •t knov. 'l!ba.t voul4 be something tor aome 

crntolog1c~-lll1Dded hiatori&Q. to look into ..... 1r he could have accesb to tbe 

recor4a, vbicb 1• very dou.bttul.. 

And here ia a good point at wb1ch to bring to a cl.ose thta first period. 

We'll contia'.J.e with a 'bit more h1atory 1n tbe next pel"iod but :l'li will be dwoted 

to wa.tchir&g tbe developments in a 41rection opeDed up by inventions made about 

the tima ot World War I. 

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