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HEADQUA~TERS 

ARMY SECURITY AGENCY 

WASHINGTON 25, D C 

GJ.S~ 41.3 .46 DEC 2 9 1954 

' I 

·SUBJECT: Transmittal of Correspondence on Converter M-209 

TO: Dl.rector 

.National Security Agency 

'Washington 25, D. c. - Attn: Mr. W. F. Friedman 

The in.closed copies of correspondence concerning the M-209, ,. 

and possible release to the Indian Government, are provided in 

accordan~e WJ.th recent telephone request by llr. Friedman of your . . , 

office. 

FOR rr:E CHIEF, ARMY SECURITY AGnrcf 

~-(!.A...:.~ .. 

.3 Incls 

\ 

1. Cy msg from 

~OS, 25 Feb 46 

2.. Cy msg from CG, 

;,US~ Forces India, ~-4 Feb 46 

3. Cy lle:ioo tor the Record, f" $ubJ : Disposal of Excess ... 4Jonv ¥-209, 20 Feb 46 -"' -

., . 

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c. .... 

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~\'M C BR'DGES v -- •_A0 Tt1N AGC A~ST ADJ 1..EN 

' 

~ peclassified and aooroved for release by NSA on 06-10-2014 

~=~ 

pursuant to E .o. 1352a 

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CG USFCT Shanghai China 

CG USFIBT New Delhia India 

CG USFMI'O Caserta Italy 

From WARCOS 

REF ID:A66635 

COPY 

25 February 1946 

Converter M-209 is classified hereby- as military type I. Desire 

all class A and B stocks be returned to United States. All class 0 

stocks and any class A and B stocks not returned will be destroyed. 

For security reasons none should be declared surplus to any disposal 

agency. 

I 

. . 

End 

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CONFIDENTIAL' 

COPY 

~ -eeNFHIENT:rAL" 

FROM: CG US ARMY FORCE'.$ INDIA BURMA THEATER HQ NEW DELHI INDIA 

TO: ARMY SECURITY AGENCY 

MSG NR: DN-1039 

WDGSS-80 SISIB 

040625Z FEBRUARY 46 

REPORrING FOR YOUR INFORMATION THAT UNDER PRESENT WAR DEPART-

:MENT DIRECTIW.S CONVERTERS M 209 ARE BEING DECLARED SURPLUS 

BY THIS THEATER. IF PRESENT NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN INDIAN GOV.:.. 

ERNMENT AND FEDERAL LIQUIDATION COMMISSION ARE CONSUMMATED 

!NDIAN GOVERNMENT WILL RECEIVE ALL SURPLUS SUBJECT CONVERTERS 

ARNO 

AS CM-IN NR: 2286 (04 FEBRUARY 46) ACTION: WDGSS"!fSO 

INFO: WDGSS-00 

w.ooss-10 

CRYPTO SECURITY IDES NOT APPLY. HANDLE AS CORRESPONDENCE 

OF THE SA.ME CLASSIFICATION PER PARAGRAPHS 44g and ,5.'la ('2) AR.380-5, 15 MARCH 1944 ~ ,., I 

... 
COPY 

WDGSS-24 20 February 1946 

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD 

SUBJECT: Disposal of Excess Convertor M-209 

1. Arter V-E Day this Agency attempted to block sale of Converter 

M-209 on the open market as surplus property. These attempts were not 

successful because it was claimed that the ma.chine is unclassified and 

can be obtained from the Hagelin Company by anyone. On the other hand, 

the feeling in Army Security Agency is that the sale of the ma.chine would 

not materially benefit the civilian economy, while its availability in 

large quantities at a low price would otter aid to any clandestine 

operators, would benefit cryptographers of some foreign governments, 

and would raise the level of cryptographic lmowledge throughout the 

world. This belief' was accentuated by the fact that several. of the 

smaller foreign governments are lmown to be interested in obtaining 

some of the models being offered for sale in overseas theaters as 

surplus property. 

2. As a result of growing alarm over the situation, Colonel Jones 

of Security Division on 19 Februa17 1946 called Procurement and Distribution Service, vCSigO, to determine the action necessBl"Y' to block the 

sale of this device. Mr. Montgomery of that office told Colonel Jones 

that all theaters had been directed over the signature of Urder Secretary 

of War Royall to sell as surplus any excess civi.lian items, but to return 

to the Z/I any- repairable military items and to mutilate or destroy nonrepairable ml.litary items before disposing of them as scrap. The instructions left. to the Theater Command.er the authority to classify supplies 

as military or civilian. Mr. Montgomery stated that instructions are 

enroute to Z/I Signal Depots designating the M-209 as a military item 

and that on 20 February 1946, a command channel radiogram would be 

sent to all theaters directing them to class the M-209 as a military 

item. ASA will receive an information copy of this radiogram. 

-

·-"' 

/s&t/ VERN R. HATCH 

Major, Signal Corps 

CONFIDENTIAL