REF ID:A38456 

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llov I came to be a. crypt~st. Riverbank - the unoff'icial Black 

Chamber. The School. of' Cryptography'. 

Colonel. Gearge Fa'b)ian 

Studying cryptology 

U .s. had ~ organization far cryptanalysis. 

Navy had a very small group tor :making Navy codes and ciphers. 

Arm:/ had nothing, not even what the Navy had. 

Remember W .D. T .c. 1915Uf 

When 1n April 1917 U .s. entered war 1 British soon told Military Intelligence 

Branch, War De:partment General Staff' about insec.irity- of WD Telegraph Code,. ID2, 

Implications t J 

President Wilson•e lack at contidence in State Department codes. 

~ P. 143 of The Life and Letters of Woodrow Wilson, Vol. 61 Showil'lg pJ.a1n 

text at message from Wilson to Rouse, in Wilson'• handwriting. 

152.l 

P. l.44 ~ the book. Message encoded by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. 

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Message aa finally aent bf tbe State Depirtment. 

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m P. 3l6 ot Woodrow W1leon's "Lite and Letters", Vo1. 5., shcnd.118 abartba.nd 

notes made 'by Wilson tar a. telegram to Colonel Bouse. 

J.23.l 

P. 317 o£ above showing President Wilaon•a transcription or the above 

meseage into code, done on hie own typewriter. 

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'l'ranecr1pt1on into plain language on receipt. 

~ Title page or Manual tm: the Solution at M1lit!17 CiJ?l!e!s by Parker Ritt, 

1916. (Things ve studied.) 

Parker Ritt. 

213_. 

Title page ot An Advanced Problem in CrYJ?tOEa:@Z fm;d its Solution. by 

Mauborgne. 1914. 

~- J. o. Mauborg.ue. Became Chiet Signal Of'f'icer. 

We study. We sol.ve :messages for State, War~ Navy aDd J'ustice. We teach 

crypt and run classes • We lear:tl :Bacon' a Bili teral-.. the ea.rliest b!n!!7 code. 

'.Bacon's "biliterarie alphabet" 

81 

- Examples 'l'he Castle. 

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Many' years later (l.5-16), being desirous at giving a picturesque example 

ot bilateral cipher in one at m:J' texts but thinking the picture at a phoney 

castle woul.d not be acceptable to the autha1'1tiea in the OCSigO, I put in an 

exampl.e and challenge students to solve it. 

1. :Building up Riverbank crypt organit:atian, 1916-1917. 

2. What sort at messages did Riverbank eolvet Mexican principally - .. 

meQS~s obtained surreptitiously by D/J. 

Bo tacilities tcr intercept at ro.dio. 

Bo arrangements with Western Union or Postal :tar copies ar messages Of 

belligerents 1n Euro:pe. 

Ciphers at Hilldu conapb'ac;y • 

.u:! One at the ciphers used by the Bimu conspirators ... 1916-17. 

So.Lution ot the Hindu J.etter. 

31i..1 

Another Hindu fJ'YStem. 

'h"iaJ. in Chicago. 

Row trial in San Francisco wound upl 

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In due course, MJ.D builds an organization in Washington around lat Lt. 

Yardle7. In summer 1917 Riverbank 1s cut out tor eecurit7 reasons and tor 

schoolillg at off'icera. 

Will. have something to say about B. o;r. later. 

m The entire otf'icer staff of MI-8. 

Some ot the things MI-8 worked on (with :British hel.p)l Postal censorshipJ 

26 

C'Oncealment systems 1 secret ink message on music ehcct, German. sw ( Courteney de 

Byabach) sentenced to li~e. 

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- Open code "Concealment" (every 4th word) 

26.2 

- The message. 

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Another example ... every 6th ward in l1ni?s with even number of words • 

g7.6 Heavy letters --:pe.ased by German censor. 

31-~2 

Sabotage messages .. 

Spies alld secret agents. 

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Secret ink vr1til:lg 1n the :Black Tom and Kingsland Fire disasters. 

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82 - Riverbank continues to work on Mexican messages but it tapers oft. But 

instructiana.l courses go on. One or the cl.asses ot student officers at the 

Riverbank School ot Cryptograpey1 1917-18. 

I am commissioned and go directly to France. 

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126 

Colonel Moorman. 

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Cipher system used 'b1' tbe Russians in Wor1d War I (from a book by the 

Austrian cryptologist, Andreas Figl). (Misuse or this cryptographic system. 

(or :f'ailure to use} cost the Russian8 the deteat at T&nnenberg! Importance of 

tb&t def'eat. 

Rusao-Finnish We.r 194~ 

French Army. 

Ita1ian Arm::;r. 

The German ADFGVX cipher system, used by the German High CQJ'01D8.1liJ during 

Warld War I. (First new •11Jtem used by them, Invented b;y' putting together two 

weU-knovn steps • ) 

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REF ID:A38456 

The PLAlFAIR Cipher. Thia cipher was used by the British and .Americsns 1 and 

was thought to be 'hot stuff'' in l.9l.4. Solution was described in Mauborgne'• 

"An advanced pt"Oblem in cryptography" • 

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• .. Cipher allegedly invented by Play.rair, but he did not do it -- rather Wheatstone. · 

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Wheatstone is credited with having inVented the electrical. bridge, but he d14 not 

do it -- rather Christy. 

Double transposition. 

Code systems at WWI. 

An example at a commercial code. Call. attention to 2-letter difference A All 

kinda, euited and specially conetructed 'for general. ar specific businesses and 

1Ildustries, auch as leather, steel, automotive, ahipp:f.n$1 etc. 

18 

- A highly apec1al1Bed "commercial code" Call attention to 3-letter ditterence: 

Chinese code. 

l'GATA -

l'GKRO - YGCIB - YGMAN -

COMA 

DELIRIUM TREMENS 

CONSTIPATION 

DIARRHEA 

12-22 

'l!actical codes in WWI. Friar to World War I and, in tact, tor the first two 

ytirl ot World War I code was thought to be impractical. tar military f'1el4 or 

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REF ID:A38456 

tactical. use. :But the Germans began to uae code late in 19161 am the Allies 

tollowed suit. Question at reproduction then as it ia today. 

Field codes in WW I - will ahow only one example in slides .... the German. 

type ot KRUSA code. Exhibits can be examined later. 

One at the German Arlq Field Codes 1 World Wer I. 

KRU 

KRUS 

KR USA 

French Army Code. 

676 x 3 1928 

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British Arrq Field Code, World War I. 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

An eB.'t'ly AEF Code in World Wa.r I. An indication ot hw poorly pre];l8J."ed we 

American Arm::r Code. River series - First Arur:rJ Lake series - Second Army .. 

Cryptanalytic work in World War I. American successes in erypt~ic 

work in tbe A'EI 1 World War I, were not remark.e."ble because ot cireumstancee ~ We 

were working on tr&f'tio f'rom. "quiet aectora 11 -- hence had 11 ttle but practice, 

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and that va.s largel.y in 2-pJ.rt cod.es. Fair success vi th cipher because traffic 

:rrom. all sources a.nd co1labarat1on with French and ::British. Best results were 

1n. connection with lower ecbel.cm 3-number codes, of'ten tactical.l.y usetul. information 

WB obtained after the 1ntroduc.tion ar tbe 3-number co4e. 

14.l 

- "Special Code Section Report" by G-21 A-6, GHQ, A'BF 20 Nov 1918. A crypt 

"bulletin" from the ADFGVX cipher. This f'arms & good example at S;e=ciaJ. Intelligence 

in World War I. 

ll· One or the earliest examples ot traffic aneJ.ysia and traffic intelligence ~ 

based on study ot trattic in ADFGVX messages • 

On traffic analysis. 11Tbe problem or tbe extent to which traffic anal)'Bia 

can be regarded as a reliable source ot intelligence ie an extremely tricky one. 

I teel that it wil1 always have its limitations, tba.t the 'first impressions• 

which it gives may otten be wrong, that it must rel.y heavily' on later confirmation 

tram cryptanalysis or col.lateral, 8lld that in :particul.81.' it i• regrettab~ 

vulnerable to deception act1vit7 by an ene'DJiY'." - Travis ill letter to Wenger 5 Jan 51 

Return to U .s. after tin.al report and &1'11 O.e.rnob1l1zed. Return to Riverballk 

and vrite brochure. Tr11ng tor Regular Army at G. Fabyan.'11 insiatence. Joining 

cso, 1921, January 1. 

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U.S. COMINT activities in 192f .. 29. 

1. Navy had RID but small. Ca.t!lf.r Just in 1nf'e.nc7. All work under 

Naval Communications • No at'ticia.l. relat10Il8 'bet•-een Arm::/ and Navy. 

2. .A:rrq ..,_ crypto1og1c vork under much divided authorit;yz 

Signal Corpa 1 G-2,, ~ AG vith MI having over-all responsibility 

tar security. 

3. WFF came to OCSigO on l January l.9291. 

4. H.O.Y. in New Yark, No relations .AllC with OCS1g0, AB. A» 

aolved J :meoeages 1n 1922 Disarma.mant Conf'erence 5-5-3 ration. 

5. A1bright studies situation. 

6. Closing ar A'BC - STIMSON .. 

7. BIB f'orma.lly established on paper in Apt"il 1929 by trane:rer of 

aolu.tion activity to OCSigO and little later tranat'er ~AG duties to OCS1g0 

alao - thus integrating al1 WCll"k under one head. But G-2 retained over-al.1 

responsibility 

8. Pu.bl.icat1on ar Yardley book and effects. 

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I begin compilation., revision ot codes and ciphers. Stud:r crypta.na:cys1a" 

Put out some brochures. 

~ 'l!he first of':f'ic1al text. W .D. Training J:mo.phlet l'fo.. 3. Elements ot 

Cryptanalysi& • TICOM souvenir. 

l.61 

Majo.r Owen 8. Albright. Rearganization ot c 8a C work. 

SIS Sta.ff - 1935. 

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