REF ID:A275591 

WILLIAM F FRIEDMAN 

As from 010 SEooND ST SE WASHINGTON 3, D c 

MaJor General GaITison B. Coverdale, USA, 

Chief of Starr, 

National Security Agency, 

Fort George G. Meade, Maryland ) 

Dear General Coverdale: 

ll Jt.J.y 1958 

Receipt of your letter, Serial N. 29hO, dated 27 June 1958, is 

acknowledged. During the past hO years I have always observed, and I 

expect to continue to observe, the strict letter as well as th'e spirit of 

the official regulations pertaining to the handling of classified matter. 

After such lengthy experience, th~refore, to find nvself J.r1 the position 

of having officially requested something which, as your letter clearly 

implies, contravenes the regulations, greatly embarrasses and troubles me. 

At the moment I feel that there must be some misunderstanding about the 

meaning or interpretation of the DOD D:Lrect:J..ve of 8 July 1957 as regards 

its applicability to cryptologic infonnation in general, and, if so, that 

is something which I think it woulc. be most advisable to correct WJ. thout 

delay. 

Ever since the classi.fication RESTRICTED was elJJIP natea by :5:> ecutive 

Order ifo. 10503, effective 15 December 1953, I have relJ.eo upon the 

guidance of the Director, National Security Agency, in all ma~t€.rS r~uarding the handling and protection of classified documents which hac oce~ in 

the RESTRICTED category. I have agam carefully studied WL Direct-1..ve 

5200.1, considering it particularly in the light of your let~er, anr I now 

recall that When that airective came to the attention of the "l2ti0 ..... :::il 

Security Agency the wording or intent of the chreciive was constru~0 not 

to be applicable to generalized cryptolo[J.C infonnation suer as is Jn the 

public domain, or to such documents wh:Lch are of an official character and 

which pertained to cryptologic information of the eras before d.nc during 

Worlc \lar I. The documents which accompaniea my letter to the Chief 

Signal Officer haa been, to the best of rrry knowledge and b~lJ~f, cn~irely 

declassifiec. by the proper officials of the National Security A~e~c:r when 

Executive Order No. 10503 became effective, and I was cruly infonned, but 

not in writing, that their classification status was not altered When 

DOD Directive 5200.1 came into effect. I have upon more than one occasion 

since July 1957 sought confirmation of ray unaerstandJ.ng that thos£. documents 

are in fact currently still unclassified, despite IX>D Directive 5200.1, and 

received such oral assurance that I was left in no doubt Whatsoever on this 

score. 

@'pp roved for Release by NSA on 05-16-2014 pursuantto E .0. 1352a 
... • REF ID:A275591 

MaJor General Garriaon B. Coveraale 

I would be gratef'ul for official and prompt clarifica~iop of this 

matter, and respectfully suggest that the Director of Traim.ng be consulted 

to substantiate the statements maae in the preceding oaragraph. I hope they 

will e.."Cplain why I did not hesitate to request what I did of the Chief 

Signal Officer, being desirous of receiving in writing an official statement 

as to the current classification of the documents which I wrote a gooa many 

years ago but wl11ch were printed during the period of my employment in 'Ii.is 

office. 

I find it aifficult to believe that it was the intent of those who, 

like Il\Y"Self, participated in seela.ng and gaining the protect:Lon afforaed by 

Title 18, u.s.c., Section 798 {as added by Subsection 24(a) Act of 

31October1951 (65 Stat. 719]) to prohibit or to prevent the aissenn.nation 

of all infonnation concerning cryptographic systems of days long gone by, 

or of crJPtologic infonnation which has long been in the public domain. 

Executive Order No. 10503 became effective on 15 December 1953, 

DOD Ih.rective .5200.l became effective on 8 July 1957. It is fair to ascmme 

that in t'li.e interval between these two dates many (retroactive) "violations 

of security" occurred in reeard to documents identical with or s1I1D.lar to 

those subnn.tted with my letter to the Chief Signal Officer. :t therefore 

roay be a ll.ttle late to ao very much in the way of applymg security 

measures for the protection of copies in the possession of all military 

por::onnel, reservists, and eY-reservists who are resident all over this 

country, or arc temporarily statiom:d aoroad, since I do not belie.Ye that 

records were kept of the recipien~s or holders of these aocumcnts either 

before or after Executive Oraer ~o. 10503 went into ef feet. However, as 

regards the copies in my possession, I ahall, of course, comply with tho 

directive contained in the last sentence of your letter ana the docunents 

will be stored in the 3-combination government safe at my homo on loan for 

the storage of clas~ified material. 

FinaJ.ly, I wish to thank you for your letter and for helm.rt; , penc.J.ng 

my retum to Washington, the now regraaed documents which accompam.ed my 

letter to the Chief Signal Officer and which I hope I will be permittea to 

collect and store WJ.th the other sJJnilar documents now in my possession 

Sincerely, 

)l' I -~-~ L '-~ lA..> , ~l ~ - t 

I William F. Frieaman 

cc: C Sig 0