Bernard Ardisana Brigadier General Bernard Ardisana ( born 1924 , died 1978 ) was the assistant deputy director for operations at the National Security Agency at Fort George G . Meade . During his tenure with the US Military he also commanded the USAF Security Service ’ s 6924th Security Squadron and went on to become the Vice Commander of the USAF Security Service . On January 14 , 1978 he would die from a heart attack at Kimbrough Army Hospital at Ft . Meade . Early Life and Schooling . Bernard Ardisana was born on October 27 , 1924 in Tampa Florida . Immediately after completion of High School in 1943 , he would enlist in the U . S . Army Signal Corps where he took up the position of radio engineer . He would only stay in the military for three years before returning to civilian life to go to school at the University of Illinois where he would graduate in 1949 with a bachelors of science degree in economics . In 1966 as an officer in the Air Force Reserve he would earn his master of arts degree in education from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio , Texas . Between April and September 1961 he would attend and then graduate the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base . In 1972 he attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base . Career . Bernard Ardisana would in his lifetime work for several U . S . military agencies including the Air Force , the NSA , and the Army Signal Corps . In March 1952 he was called to active duty to train at the Brooks Air Force Base as a student in traffic - analysis . Upon completion of his training in August he was transferred to Washington , DC to work as a language officer for the Armed Forces Security Agency . In 1956 he was transferred to Fort Meade where he developed new analysis techniques that are still in use today . In 1958 he would be transferred to Zweibrucken , Germany where he would develop an operations communications system still used by the cryptography community today . Between 1963 and 1965 he would serve as chief of the Operations Inspection team at Kelly Air Force Base , San Antonio , Texas . In 1966 he would become head of the Operations Systems Evaluation and Management Branch at the U . S . Air Force Security Service Directorate of Operations . Between 1967 and 1970 he would serve in Vietnam as the under various positions before being sent to Frankfurt , Germany to act as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations for the European Security Region . He returned to the United States in 1972 . In 1973 he was assigned to Ft . Meade to serve as part of the National Security Agency . He stayed there for two years before becoming Vice commander of the U . S . Air Force Security Service . He retained that position for two years as well before returning to the NSA as their Assistant Deputy Director for Operations . Death . Bernard Ardisana died on January 14 , 1978 at Kimbrough Army Hospital at Ft . Meade from a heart attack while serving as the NSA ' s Assistant Deputy Director for Operations . Legacy . Ardisana ' s expertise in cryptography allowed him to develop a number of important changes to USAF cryptologic operations and procedures . Much of his work in designing the Operations Communications remained the standard for 25 years within the US Air Force . His work was a " key concept " that allowed the development of the Critical Intelligence Communication System .