-

Serial: 249 

TO: DIRNSA 

REF ID:A67372 

GONFIBEIM'fi:Afl 

SUBJECT: Report of Demonstration of an Invention 

FROM: CHNSAEUR DATE: 23 Oct 54 

1. Attached is a report prepared by Mr. Joseph E. Richard. 

2. The suggestion made in paragraph 7 of Mr. Richard's report will be used 

wherever practicable in the handling of future such cases. 

Incl: 

a/s (in dup) 

/s/ HARRY L. CLARK 

Chier 

Declassified and approved for release by NSA on 06-03-2014 pursuantto E.O. 1352a 
JI REF ID:A67372 

GO~CD\EMT~ ~L!= 22 October 1954 

MEMORANDUM FOR ?ffi. CLARK AND LT. COL. HORTON 

SUBJECT: Visit to SIGUS4REUR COMZ, Orleans, at the Request of Col. ~larch 

to Witness the Demonstration of an Invention of a French Civilian 

who Works for the French Police Telegraph Office 

l. Arrived in Orleans SIGUSAREUil Office at 1330 hours 20 October. ~vas informed by the American civilian interpreter handling the contact 

with the French inventor that the inventor had stated some hitch had 

developed in the operation of the machine and he would be unable to demonstrate it in operation but would bring in a circuit diagram. 

2. Further discussion developed the fact that no one in the signal 

office had as yet done more than talk with the man and that in his conversations he had avoided giving them any precise information about the operation or his invention. 

3. At 1430 hours the man arrived with diagrams and parts of his 

machine. The ensuing discussion soon showed that it was in no sense a 

cipher device. He had reversed the action of a telegraph key and added 

a circuit breaker to it so that it sent nothing when depressed and a 

series of dots when up. On the receive end he had a buzzer continuously 

producing a noise except when a dot was received. The result was long or 

short buzzes in accordance with the morse keyed on the sending key, except 

that an extra dash length buzz would be present for every pause between 

letters. As these extra buzzes would be difficult to distinguish from 

regular infonnation conveying dash buzzes, it is doubtful if any message, 

plain text or otherwise, sent over the device would be intelligible at 

the receiving end. 

4. Col. March was not present and his policies for dealing with the 

French were unknown to the NSAEUR representative so the inventor was told 

that the Colonel would give him an answer concerning the~device within a 

week. 

5. The inventor wished to leave his diagrams and parts and since the 

SIGUSAREUR Office people expressed a wish to examine them further (it ~ras 

expected that Col. March would also wish to look at them) they were left a~er the interpreter pad made it' clear to the inventor that no obligation 

or responsibility on the part of the USA was involved. 

6. A short memo was left for Col. ~larch suggesting reasons he 

mght use in turning the inventor du.m politely without disturbing USAFrench relations. 

7. It is suggested that in the .f'Uture when telegraphic requests 

for a visit by an NSAEUR or ASi\E expert for the purpose of evaluating an 
CONPIBRN'i'IAL 

inventor's cipher device are received that the requesting office be asked to 

conduct as complete a prel:inu.nary inveBtigation as possible concerm.ng the 

components and mode of operation of the invention and forward a detailed 

written report of this prellJilJ.nary investigation before the visit is 

approved. If this is done, the requesting office may find that they have 

underestimated their own analytical resources and that they are a~er all 

fu.l.4r capable of determining the value of the invention subJill.tted to them, 

and if a visit by an expert is necessary he will be better prepared for it 

by the information from the preliminary report. 

2 

/s/ JOSEPH E. RICHARD 

NSAEUR