79TH CONGRESS } 

1st Session 

SENA'lB 

REF ID:A39915 

LNo.159 

{ 

Ru>unT 

No 161 

SAFEGUARDING MILITARY INFORMATION 

APRIL 1 (leg1slahve day, MARCH 16), 1945 -Ordered to \,e prmtcd 

Mr THO'IHS of Utah, from the Committt:'e on Mihtary Affairs, 

subnutted the followmg 

REPORT 

lTo acrompa.ny S 805] 

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was refe:i.Ted the bill 

(S 805) to insure furthe1 the m1ht11.ry se.<:ur1ty of the Un~ted States 

by preventing dISclosurcs of mformat1on sec.tned through official 

sowces, havmg cons1dc1cd the same, report favornbly throeon with 

an amendment and recommend that, n.s amended, the bill do pass 

A'W:ENDMI:NT 

On page 1, lme 4, af te1 the word "or" and before tho word "by", 

msert the words "by virtue of hIS employment by any person, .firm 

or corporation pNformmg services for the Urutcd States or" 

STATDMD:!l.T 

This bill has bu~u ougmateu by the War and Navy Departments 

to fill a suious gap m the legislation enactt.d to p1otcct the nu11tary 

security of the Umted Staks Bnefly, it mal'"es 1t a crime for any 

Govcrmneni employee or membe1 01 fo1mer membl'r of the rumt'd 

forces to disclose any mfo1mation he has obimnt'd m Ins official capacity concernmg the cryptograpluc or crypt'lnalvtic activitrns of ihe 

United States or any fo1c1gn government, e""Cccpt as he may be authonzcd to do so pursuant to regulations p1escnbcd by the Pies1dl'nt 

The terms "cryptogiapluc" and "cryptmalytic" arc defined m sect10n 

4 Broadly, "crypiogiaphic" means the use of codes and ciphers of 

our 0\\111 and "cryptanalytic" menns obtammg mformaiJ.on from the 

ervptog111pl11c commurucat10ns of other nat..ions 

Cryptograpluc security for classified commumcntious of the Government is vital durmg both war and pen<'e l\fost military operations 

and diplomatic plans require the use of 1(ld10 or cable commumcations 

which other governments or their nuhtn.ry forces can mtereept The 
REF ID:A39915 

2 • ' 

cnptograph1c methods by wh1ch the Army and Navy and State 

Departments nncl other governmental agencies attempt to prevent 

these commumcnhons fiom bcmg read by unauthorized pe1sons must 

be afforded absolute secrecy Law must exist t-0 ieqmrc this secrecy 

Everyone who by reason of lus offi.cutl status obtams any knowledge 

about those processes must be mfo1med that specific leg1slation fo1 bids 

the unauthorized disclosme to anyone of any mformat1on about them 

With iespect to cryptanalysis, au even greater degree of secrecy is 

reqmred Such activities, of vital importance m tune of war and also 

essential m tune of peace m order to be ready for war, requrre even a ~eater degree of security because the enemy 01 potential enemy has 

it w1thm lus absolute power to depnve us of a11y in:£01mJ.hon f10m 

this source i1 he suspects we aie gettmg it 1 

The War Department theielore ('Ons1deis tlus lcg1s1at1on ns vital 

to the present and futuie defense oi the Uruted States Its passage 

is part1<'ularly urgent now becauqe of the senous da.ngex that the def eat 

of Gertllany may result m a rela"'!:nhon of secunty standnrcls on this 

sub3ect by those lcavmg the armed forces This would senously interfere with the successful p1osecution of the wa1 agamst Jo.pan 

The letter of recommendnt1on, signed by the Secreta1y of War and 

the Actmg Secietary of the Navy, follows 

w AR DilPARTMENT1 

Washington, llfarcli 10, 1945 

Hon ELBERT D THOMAS, 

Chcurman, Commtttcc on llitlitary A:/Tmrs, 

Unitea States Senats 

DEAR SilNATOR THOMAS There 1s enclosed a draft of a lnll "To further lllsure 

the m1htar~ security of the United States bv preventing di<1closures of mfortnat1on 

secured through official sources" wlnch the \i\ar and Navv Dl"partments 1ecom• 

mend be ~nactcd mto law 

Certam commumcation act1v1hcs conducted by m1lttar' 'lnd c1vtl1an personnel afford them knowledge or possession of mfarmation "l11<'h V11ll be subJected to 

pos51ble post-war unauthorized cbsclosu1es 1J,1stmg statutes do not afford 

adequate protection against such conduct 

Eno.titment of the proposed legisla.t1on, which has received the approval of the 

Jolllt Chtcfs of Staff, IS conS1dcred essential in the mtcrests of n'ltional defense 

and security 

The War and Na'~ Departments constdcr tlns matter one of importance and 

urgency and request that 1t be presented to the Congress at the earliest practicable date 

'lhe Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no obJ_ect1on to the submission 

of this proposed legislation for the cons1de1abon of the Congress Smccrely yours, 

0 

lIIlNRY L STIMSON, 

Secretary of War 

H STRUVIl HENSEL, 

Acting Secretary of the Navy