HEADQUARTERS 

ARMY SECURITY AGENCY 

WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 

WDGSS-85 15 May 1946 

SUBJECT: Work Load of the Maintenance Branch 

TO: Chief, Security Division 

1. The Repair Section of Maintenance Branch is .faced with an extremely heavy backlog of' work due to the large amounts of' cryptographic 

equipment returned from overseas for rehabilitation. Awaiting rehabilitation by the Repair Section is the followi~g list of equipment and the 

man hours estimated to complete the work required.: 

EQUIPMENT MAN HOURS REQUIRED TOTAL 

1808 SIGABA 36 65,088 

1182 SIGCUM 12 14,184 

300 SIGNIN 4 1,200 

2297 SIGIVI 4 9,188 

533 SIGAMUG 4, 2,132 

Total man hours 91,792 

These figures represent the number of equipments on hand as of 1 May 1946 

and will be continually increased by the arrival of additional equipment . from overseas. 

2. It is considered probable that the SIGABA will be modified along 

the lines proposed by the Navy. It is proposed that all SIGABA 1s be modified at this Headquarters before shipment is made to the field, thus increasing the work load as follows: 

EQUIPMENT 

3241 SIGABA 

MAN HOURS REQUIRED 

12 

The above figure of' twelve hours per machine is an estimate based on 

preliminary studies of' the proposed change. It may be possible to greatly 

reduce this total af'ter the changes have been f inaJ.ly agreed on by the .Army 

and the Navy, and time studies can be made under actual conditions. 

,3. In order to properly preserve these equipments while in extended 

storage, it is recommended that the proposals set .forth in a memorandum 

to the Chief, Security Division, 4 December 1945, subject "Preparation of 

Declassified and approved for release by NSA on 01-16-2014 pursuantto E .0. 1352a 

n ,I I I .. :>">· CONFIDENTIAL 
WDGSS-85 (15 May 1946) 

Cipher Machines for Extended Storage, 11 be approved. A copy or this memorandum is inclosed. Approval of this program will require an expenditure 

of approximately 7,500 man hours. 

4. The Converter M-325 (SIGFOY) has been declared obsolete. Before 

these items can be salvaged, it will be necessary to dismantle them to 

avoid disclosure or the cryptographic principles. It is estimated that 

one man hour per unit will be required. for this process which further increases the work load by 12,000 man hours. 

5. Recently it has been brought to the attention of the Army Security Agency that the Signal Corps has declared surplus and has taken steps 

to dispose of all 131B2 Subscriber Sets and 14AB Transmitter Distributors. 

Should these subscriber sets be disposed of, it would invalidate the rehabilitation program of the SIGCUM, inasmuch as the SIGCU.M would be useless 

without the associated subscriber set. It has been proposed that the Army 

Security Agency take steps to assure that proper rehabilitation and storage ,,r 

of these items are a£fected. Should the rehabilitation and storage be undertaken by this Agency, the additional burden of an estimated 75,000 man 

hours would be added to the present rehabilitation program. 

6. In addition to the rehabilitation program, the Repair Section is 

responsible for the maintenance or certain cryptographic equipment installations, both at Arlington Hall Station and in the vicinity ot Washington, 

D. C. A breakdown or the man hours expended during the past six months is 

tabulated belows 

a. On-post Maintenance: 

Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 

M-209 Key Generator 32 17 29 19 21 

SIGTar Randomizer 25 18 1.3 14 11 

Signal Center, AHS 8 14 4 17 4 

Methods Branch 0 2 5 1 0 

Machine Branch 0 l 4 0 1 

Rotor Wiring 7 2 8 1 0 

26-JO Check Equip 0 3 11 7 3 

Total. on-post maintenance 

b. Off-post Maintenances 

Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 

White House 64 69 110 48 8 

Code Center, Pentagon 16 240 46 6 12 

State Department 64 104 61 10 4 

2 

-OONFIDENTIAl 

Apr 

16 

5 

7 

2 

0 

0 

3 

Apr 

.30 

10 

0 

TOTAL 

1.34 

86 

54 

10 

6 

18 

27 

335 

TOTAL 

329 

330 

24.3 
WDGSS-85 (15 May 1946) 

A.AF, Bolling Field 16 0 0 J 0 0 19 

ATC, Gravelly Point 0 8 22 7 0 12 49 

SSU, Washington, D. C. 0 8 6 10 20 12 56 

Special Trips 264 256 J.M. 240 73 32 1,009 

Total off-post Maintenance 2,035 

7. Effective 1 June 1946, the contract for the maintenance of equipment in the Arlington Hall Signal Center by the Chesapeake and Potomac 

Telephone Compa~ will expire. The telephone company does not propose to 

renew this contract. Inasmuch as it is not desirable to have two maintenance·organizations on the post, Maintenance Branch will assume this maintenance on that date. Four men will be required to furnish twenty-fourhour maintenance seven days per week. 

8. The Repair Section is staffed by four officers and ten civilians 

with an available total of 2,912 man hours per month. The following tables 

indicate how this available total is expended and the time required to complete the rehabilitation program: 

a. Total man hours available per month; 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

{5) 

Two of'i'icers to be separated by l June 

(Lts. Foran and Gref'enstette) 

Administrative and Supervisory 

Absenteeism (annual and sick leave) 

Maintenance of Cryptographic Equipment 

(See paragraph 6) 

Maintenance of AHS Code and Signal Centers 

(6) Rehabilitation of Equipment 

Total man hours 

b. Man hours required for: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Rehabilitation o.f SIGABA, SIGCUM, etc. 

(paragraph 1) 

Modification of SIGABA 

(paragraph 2) 

Preparation for Storage 

{paragraph 3) 

"OONFIBENTIA~ 

4].6 

416 

85 

395 

960 

~ 

2,912 

91,792 

38,892 

7,500 
' I 

• 

WDGSS-85 (15 May 1946) 

(4) Dismantling SIGFOY 

(paragraph 4) 

(5) Rehabilitation 131B2 Subsets 

(paragraph 5) 

Total man hours 

12,000 

75.000 

225,184 

c. Based on the total man hours shown in paragraph Sb above and 

the availability of 640 man hours per month as shown in paragraph 8a{6) 

above, it would indicate that with the present personnel it would require 

352 months or 29 years to complete this rehabilitation program, 

9. In order to reduce this work load, it is recommended that the 

authorized civilian strength of Maintenance Branch be increased from 20 

cryptographic repairmen to 100. The grades involved should be increased 

as follows: 

CPC-10 ($2980.00 per annum) 

FROM 

4 

CPC-9 ($2650.00 per annum) 

16 

TO 

10 

74 

Present space can accommodate £if'ty repairmen and the repair section can 

be operated on a two-shift basis. Vacancies will exist for three officers 

in this section and it is imperative that these vacancies be filled as soon 

as possible. Present officers will all have been separated by 31 August 

1946. Applications are now on hand from former officers and enlisted men 

to bring the repair section up to its present authorized strength by 

15 June 1946. In order to increase the strength of this section to one 

hundred repairmen, it is proposed to request the Personnel and Training 

Branch to send letters to individuals who formerly were in this section, or 

who were trained by this section. An extensive file has been maintained 0£ 

all personnel who were trained by the Maintenance Branch. 

1 Incl 

Copy of memo, 4 Dec 45, subj 

"Preparation of Cipher Machines f""or Extended Storage" 

»~ }?,,.'-"l:L.. ~~~ GEORGE ti. SAMPSON 

Major, Signal Corps 

Chief", Maintenance Branch 

4 

CONFIDENTIAL