Information from Edward Drea

[Jim Root]

Edward Drea is a noted Historian and a contract employee for the Pentagons US Army Center of Military History . One of his areas of research has been Signals Intelligence during WWII. In recent communications with him I have been able to confirm that John J. McCloy was in fact one of the very few people with direct access to the "Magic/Ultra" intercepts from the beginning of our involvement in WWII.

Please read the following e-mail, which I received recently and allow me to make a few comments at the end:

Dear Mr. Root,

John J. McCloy was intimately involved with the intelligence regarding ULTRA and MAGIC. In early 1942, McCloy, as directed by Secretary of War Stimson, brought Colonel McCormick to Washington, D.C. to reorganize the Signals

Intelligence Service in the aftermath of the bungled handling of pre-Pearl

Harbor intelligence. McCloy was one of the principals involved in organizing the wartime system for the distribution of MAGIC/ULTRA to authorized recipients.

By mid-1945, the prewar Signals Intelligence System (SIS) had expanded into

a enormous bureaucracy. Friedman had suffered a nervous breakdown during the breaking of the Japanese diplomatic codes in 1940-41 and although he remained with the cryptanalysts he did not take the preeminent role.

As you probably know, the prewar SIS group was quite small, not more than a few hundred people even in late 1941. Because of SIS's size, it's likely that McCloy knew Friedman personally from the 1942 reorganization. He may also have known John Hurt, another prewar cryptanalyst working for Friedman. Hurt was a superb cryptanalyst with a genius for languages, Japanese being his specialty during the war years. I doubt Hurt provided McCloy with ULTRA/MAGIC directly, since the Army relied on couriers to perform this function. Of course the summaries may have contained Hurt's analyses and interpretations of the decrypted intercepts.

In any event, McCloy was certainly "in the loop" concerning ULTRA/MAGIC derived intelligence.

I trust this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Ed Drea

Colonel McCormick is actually Alfred McCormick (sometimes spelled MacCormack or McCormack) This former lawyer was brought into the War Department and established the "Special Branch" of M.I.S.

What I have found interesting is that during WWII, it seems, McCormack is associated with John J. McCloy, Allen Dulles (while Dulles was in Bern) and the same John B. Hurt that I have been researching. It appears he is involved in X2 (counter intelligence) and connected to "Fortitude" and later "Blowback" (more on those perhaps later).

Mr. Drea writes; "Of course the summaries may have contained Hurt's analyses and interpretations of the decrypted intercepts." I have seen copies of the "analyses and interpretations of the decrypted intercepts" done by Hurt. They actually were Hurts impressions about the way the Japanese language was used in the decrypted intercepts. In other words Hurt would take the words from a direct translation and would take the translation beyound those words. While this may sound strange Hurt was known for his ability to derive what a Japanese diplomat was thinking by how they put words together. Hurt would interpet, not just the words but the formation of the sentence structure that the person had used. McCloy had direct access to Hurt's "analyses" and used such in his meetings with Truman while the greatest decisions of World War II were being decided.

But it is this sentence from Mr Drea that most intrigues me: "Hurt was a superb cryptanalyst with a genius for languages, Japanese being his specialty during the war years." I speculate that from information I have gathered Hurt's "specialty" during the Cold War Years was Russian (VENONA).

I will repeat a belief that I shared in previous posts. It is my belief that John J. McCloy was America's "C." "C" was a British term used to discribe the person that was over and on top of ALL the intelligence agencies in England. I use the term America's "C" to describe a person who would be the absolute power over all intelligence agencies, in other words the person who would coordinate all these agencies. It is my belief that McCloy remained in this position beyound 1963. Very few people in the US or the World would know the identiy of America's "C," at least not in the capacity of "C" or Chief of Intelligence. Perhaps this is why FBI Director J Edgar Hoover was so surprised when McCloy was named to the Warren Commission and also why Hoover adheared to the company line so closely.

McCloy was aware of John B. Hurt and his work and drew upon it repeatedly. Edwin Walker is associated with the same John B. Hurt. On at least two occassions Walker, it seems, did "special" assignments for McCloy during WWII. Did Walker continue to work for McCloy in the years that followed WWII? I have reason to believe that Walker may have continued to do work under the direction of McCloy in the years that followed.

Jim Root

Edited September 21, 2005 by Jim Root

[Jim Root]

Doug Long is a noted historian whose main area of research deals with the decision to drop the first Atomic Bomb on Heroshima. In a recent e-mail he provided this information:

Hello Jim -

Now that I'm back home I've been looking thru some of

my McCloy material. As far as a research methodology,

the primary sources would be essential. Hurt's

papers, if you can find them, might be helpful.

McCloy's papers are in the Amherst College archives in

Amherst, MA. I went thru them five years ago seeking

whatever I could find in relation to the a-bomb and

the end of the Pacific War. McCloy's diary, from May

12 thru June 18, 1945, makes no reference to Magic or

Hurt. But in McCloy's bio, "The Chairman" by Kai

Bird, McCloy is quoted as saying the Magic intercepts

"crossed my desk every morning". Given McCloy's close

working relationship to Stimson, that is credible.

As I read thru letters McCloy later wrote discussing

the June 18 meeting, he makes no mention of Magic or

Hurt but says he relied heavily on info from Acting

Sec. of State Joseph Grew. These include letters from

after Magic began to be declassified in the 1970s

(altho it's possible McCloy was unaware that Magic was

being declassified and therefore chose not to talk

about Magic). Grew was the highest ranking U.S.

expert on Japan, having been the U.S. Ambassador to

Tokyo before Pearl Harbor, and Grew had some good

Japan experts in the State Dept. who provided him

(Grew) with further info that he may have passed along

to McCloy.

It is interesting that McCloy, who had access to Magic

at the time, strongly felt Japan could be made to

surrender without using a-bombs, given that some later

writers, such as author Richard Frank, have tried to

use Magic as evidence that Japan would not have

surrendered without the a-bombings. I think McCloy

had it right.

I'm not aware of a direct connection between Hurt and

McCloy, but if Hurt were giving McCloy additional

input that was not contained in Magic, that would

certainly be significant.

Best Regards,

Doug Long

"Hiroshima: Was it Necessary?"

I can easily speculate on why McCloy would not wish to be associated with the "Magic" material that was being provided by John B. Hurt even after it was declassified in the 1970's. My speculation would center around one simple fact: If it became known that McCloy was aware of John B. Hurt and his "Magic" work, it also might become known that Lee Harvey Oswalsd had attempted to contact a John Hurt and if these two dots could be connected could it implicate McCloy in the assassination of JFK?

On the website: HistoryHappens.net (A web site edited by historians Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin) you will find this quote that deals with the "Magic intercepts of this period:

"The Magic summaries were deciphered intercepts of high-level foreign messages. Formerly classified Top Secret Ultra, these intercepts of Japanese communications were read daily by Truman and his top advisors."

Here is an example of the quality of information that was being provided by Hurt and his group to the President (via McCloy?).

No. 121S - 13 July 1945

"MAGIC" - DIPLOMATIC SUMMARY

I. Tokyo considers surrender on basis of Atlantic Charter: In a message of 25 July (of which the last part is missing) Foreign Minister Togo instructed Ambassador Sato as follows:

"I. The question of the Special Envoy is naturally related very closely to the course of the Big Three Conference. Since Churchill and Attlee are scheduled to return to England, it is said that the Conference will be adjourned for a short while. I would therefore like you to take advantage of this opportunity and, if necessary, to travel to a place of the Russians' choosing in order to obtain an interview with Molotov and explain to him the intentions of the Japanese Government. Even if it proves impossible for Molotov to arrange such a meeting, your request for an interview will at least go a long way in impressing upon him our determination in this matter."

"2. In the interview, please try to get the Russians to adopt a positive attitude with respect to our proposal. Stress the fact that Japan has approached the Russians in the first instance with her request for mediation. Make clear that the sending of the Special Envoy would permit Stalin to acquire the reputation of an advocate of world peace and, further, that we are prepared to meet fully the Russian demands in the Far East (see the end of part I of my second message of 21 July*) Finally, inform them that, in the event that the Soviet Government remains indifferent to our request, we will have no choice but to consider other courses of action."

"3. Furthermore, as you are aware, various discussions are now taking place in England and especially in the United States with respect to the meaning of the demand for Japan's unconditional surrender. Judging from the speech F or "speeches"] of American 'spokesman' [word in English; plural was apparently intended] it would appear that although they are formally insisting to the end upon unconditional surrender they are actually prepared to mitigate the conditions if Japan surrenders quickly. For example, on the 19th, Navy Captain Zacharias (he is on the staff of the Office of War Information but he broadcast to Japan as a 'spokesman' of the United States Government) said that Japan has two alternatives: (i) to submit to a dictated peace after being destroyed; or (2) to surrender unconditionally and receive the attendant benefits stipulated in the Atlantic Charter. We believe that these statements should not be considered as purely strategic propaganda but that they are calculated to lead us on.

"The fact that the Americans alluded to the Atlantic Charter is particularly worthy of attention at this time. It is impossible for us to accept unconditional surrender, no matter in what guise, but it is our idea to inform them by some appropriate means that there is no objection to the restoration of peace on the basis of the Atlantic Charter."

"In all likelihood, the difficult point is the enemy's attitude of insisting on the form of an unconditional surrender. If America and England stick to this, the whole thing will inevitably break down over this one point. On the other hand, although the governments of Russia, England, and America may be cool toward our proposal of a Special Envoy on the ground that it may be a peace stratagem on our part, this-as I have stated repeatedly-is not merely a 'peace feeler' [words in English]."

2. Sato-Lozovsky meeting: Also on 25 July-but almost certainly before receiving the message noted above-Ambassador Sato sent to Tokyo two messages on the subject of an interview he had had that day with vice Commissioner Lozovsky. Only parts of the two items are available; the last part of the first message reads as follows:

"Lozovsky said: 'As soon as I receive the document [presumably described in the earlier portion of the message] from you, I shall report to my Government and inform you promptly of any instructions I may receive.

*Togo was apparently referring to the following passage in his 21 July message: "We hope to deal with the British and Americans after first (a) having Prince Konoye transmit to the Russians our concrete intentions as expressed by the Imperial Will and (h) holding conversations with the Russians in the light of their demands in regard to East Asia." (DS 22 July 45).

Source: Magic Diplomatic Summaries, Record Group 457, National Archives.

How much did McCloy know and when did he know it (in 1963 and in 1945)?

Jim Root

[James Richards]

Thanks, Jim. Fascinating stuff indeed.

James

[Jim Root]

James

Might point out that the monitoring of the diplomatic notes between Tokyo and Moscow during WWII led to the Venona Project. The breaking of Soviet Codes would be a major reason for the development of the NSA and would consume huge amounts of the US Intelligence budget for decades. The importance of this information can be summed up in one word, "survival."

I believe Hurt was involved in Venona from the beginning. I believe several of the other names we have discussed were involved as well. I also believe that the downing of Francis Gary Powers on May 1st 1960 may have been a planned event that involved the collection of sensitive intelligence.

Jim Root

[James Richards]

Indeed, Jim.

Another component here is that as you know, Meredith Gardner was the one whose initial work revealed the existence of Soviet espionage in the Manhattan Project. At this stage, Boris Pash was the security officer for the Manhattan Project.

Pash is certainly an interesting character. E. Howard Hunt claimed Pash was head of the CIA assassination unit.

James

[Jim Root]

James

In another twist of fate Meredith Gardner is the man who is credited with suggesting that the Soviet Codes be saved for further research as a result of the Tokyo - Moscow intercepts ( Hurt receives no official credit). It seems that he had a close association with Hurt at this point in time.

I wonder if it continued.

Jim Root

[James Richards]

Jim,

Do you have a theory as to why Hurt seemed to travel just under the radar? His accolades were few and far between when he deserved so much more.

James

[Jim Root]

James

You know the picture with Harrod Miller that is missing John Hurt. I now know that that picture was taken just out side of "the vault" in the Old Munitions Building. Hurt liked to work in the vault, away from other people and preferred to be away from the noises associated with everyday life.

I have heard one silly story about him. He was walking accross a street and was hit by a car. As he was gettin up off the ground the driver of the car approached and asked, " Are you hurt?" John looked at him and replied, "Of course, John B." as he walked away.

He seems to have spent more time listening to music than associating with other people although I have read letters that he wrote to family members that are both sincere and genuine reflections of a caring man.

In total I believe that John B. Hurt was a man that was absorbed by his work and lived as a genius within an enclosed world surrounded by other geniuses. I have read one persons account that says if you met him today you would consider him a geek. Yet Hurt seems to have been a man that was sensitive to the Japanese people and culture even as he was part of the machine that was developed to defeat those same peole and that same culture in a total war.

You must remember that John B. Hurt did suffer a mental breakdown and did realize and accept his own physical limitations. He may have had TB and it has been related that he never was in very good health.

His name remained classified until after his death but I would like to believe he preferred his own anonymity and never sought fame.

Jim Root

[Jim Root]

Brought back for additional comments

Jim Root

[Robert Howard]

Brought back for additional comments

Jim Root

Jim, I seem to remember on an older thread that somehow John B Hurt was "implicated or linked" or "was made to appear as if he were implicated" in event's related to the assassination of Pres. Kennedy is that true or am I mistaken?

If there is an open secret to dissecting the corpus, it lies in the myriad of relationship's and unknown history that is not easily traced. The payoff is in possession of the truth, the negative is that once the facts are accumulated the wall between accepted history and the truth has to be climbed.

[Robert Howard]

If there is an open secret to dissecting the corpus, it lies in the myriad of relationship's and unknown history that is not easily traced. The payoff is in possession of the truth, the negative is that once the facts are accumulated the wall between accepted history and the truth has to be climbed.

Forum members might find it interesting to re-absorb what Jim Root has posted here, it is more than relevant to the assassination, than one might ever imagine.

There is also the caveat that William Harvey, he of the Berlin Tunnel and assorted contacts with the Kennedy's, knew Frank Rowlett....

See Flawed Patriot - Bayard Stockton

Going a little further.....

Due to the Secret Service's destruction of records since 1995, the world may never know just how many threats and plots took place during the administration of President John F. Kennedy.

But, it would not be inaccurate to say that at least one plot involved a cast of characters that had three areas of military service in common.

Those three areas were

ONI,

Army Signal Corps

Army G-2.....

cryptography is also the link that ties all three organizations together, and the plot that killed JFK is most likely to have originated with persons associated in this group:

Consider that Gordon Blake is associated not only with crypto operations in the early days but handled NSA's analysis of Oswald's excision of letters from "Questioning Eyes," as well as references to microdots........

But the kicker is the fact that William Harvey was responsible for cryptography within the CIA at the time of the assassination, according to Flawed Patriot.........

Also see Frank Rowlett's tribute to Bill Harvey pages 312-313 Flawed Patriot.....

Robert: The following excerpt is one of the most important documents I have ever come across, I will go out on a limb, here and state that it is very possible this document contains portions that are in code, possibly using the Grille Cypher. Due to the length of this document I will only be able to provide summaries of particular pages.

What is bedeviling about this document, is that many declassified documen go into a fairly generous amount of descriptive language which specifically state what it is your reading and the context given.....If I were to hazard a guess, I would say it is possibly a CIA Soviet Realities Dept., analysis of these documents. And raises many more questions than it answers.

TRANSLATIONS AND/OR SUMMARIES OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN US AND SOVIET INDIVIDUALS, C.1957 - 1966 [29 PAGES]

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...c.do?docId=6842

Page 1

59B16A0 To: HUMPHREY, George; School of Advanced International Studies

1 Feb 68 59 Washington, 9, D.C. /1906 Florida Ave., N.W./

English Russian Fr: GURITSKY, Yuriy P.; postal section Parakhino, Ovulosk

EM Novgorodskaya Oblast; (Ia). Radishoheva, 8/

Writer, in English, extends, “belated good wishes” to addressee; says he is “sorry” he

“could not meet” addresee on addressee’s visit ”here” (USSR) in Russia, writer

wishes addressee success in work and good health in 1959. writer signs (his wife

Faina’s name to this message.

59C17AD To: JOHNSON, James P.; Wichita, Kansas 2165 S. Old Manor

9 May 59

English Russian Fr: GURITSKY, Yuriy P.; postal section Parakhino, Novgorodskaya

EM Novgorodskaya Oblast; (Ia). Radishoheva, 8/

Writer says he did not cable addresses “the answer” because “yesterday”

at the post office he learned that with but one word “as communication” attached to

addressee’s address would cost writer “thirty roubles,” begs addressee to “excuse”

him; says yesterday he mailed a letter to addressee explaining “how the “matters

stand.” Writer remarks “yesterday evening” he made (developed) photos encloses one

of (his wife (Faina not reproduced, and a postcard from daughter “Tanya”’s/Ta-

tyana’s) “selection” which bears the verse “TEREMOK” A Small Tower From S. Ya-

Marshak’s Rhymes For Children. Writer indicates he works; extends best wishes

addressee and addresee’s family. Presumably? on back of wife Faina’s photo),

writer inscribes “To Colleen/addressee’s wife? from Faina.”

Page 2

61B16Y Houghton, David D. Gurskiy Yu P.

Seattle 5, Washington Parakinho, Novgorod

Allerlei House 4632 22nd Ave Oblast, Ia

(St. Radishehevo, 8)

AALC - 30 JAN 61 Writer mentions that he addressee’s letters, picture and two fiction

Writer discusses his personal life, mentions going to change his job and enter the radio and

Television field. Writer adds that Novgorod station for Leningrad T.V. Programs. Writer

reference to the change in rouble. Writer says that everything has been 10-1; proportion.

Now my salary is 90 Roubles Faina’s 75. The prices were cut in the same

Writer also mentions that he bought a new T.V. set 260 roubles

Page 5; 2 More letters

Houghton, David D.

Seattle 5, Washington

Allerlei House 4632 22nd Ave Oblast,

Gurskiy Yuriy P.

In one section mentioned by Gurskiy, states "will send addressee his tape of Soviet astronauts press conference."

Page 6

contains a letter

To: GOTTLIEB, HANS and Elenore...PO Box..illegible Carbondale, Colorado.

From: Houghton, DAVID, Drew and Barbara "in transit" Hotel Nushyana, Moscow V-313

Page 7

Newspaper Article

Evening Star 7 Apr 1958

Aides For Exhibit In Russia Picked

see notation written on sides of document

example Page 17 lists three letters

Two of them are David Houghton/Gurskiy Yu P. 26 Aug 1962

and a 21 Jan 1966 letter

To: Dr Akira Kasahawa National Center for Atmospheric Research

From: Houghton, David D./Khoton

Page 18 Assassination related newspaper articles

"AUTOPSY FINDS OSWALD'S BRAIN UNDAMAGED"

overlaps a letter

There is the date 29 August 1965

To: Vasilyhva, Nina

From: Konigsford, N)ataliya

Writer wife of former IBM employee William Konigsford

Pages 19 thru 23 are letters to Marina from persons in Russia circa early 1963

example Page 24 lists a letter 16, May 1963

To: Marina Oswald

From: Titovets, Erick

example Page 25 lists a letter

To: Miguel R. Torres

P.O. Box 207

Mayaquez, Puerto Rico

From: Ruberto Sagasti

This document goes on and on and on for 29 pages

example Page 28 lists 30 MAR 1966

Writer indicated thay had been in Mexico and El Salvador afore; says David is on a trip to Tashkent and Novosibirsk

viewing "meteorological units."

later

David Houghton appears as staff member of the "Dynamical Aspects of Atmospheric Circulation"

example Page 29 lists

Dr. KOKJ to DeMohrenschildt

George and Jeanne deMohrenschildt as Zhanna and Zhorra

For further reading see Office of Scientific Research and Development

and

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.assassi...84fba168a62370a

With special thanks to Jim Olmstead.

My days of posting on the Forum, are basically over, because of the general habit of my posts being ignored....

Best of luck to those here, that aren't in love with bashing other researchers, and are actually still doing research....such as

Edited February 19, 2010 by Robert Howard

[Jim Root]

Robert

Thank you for the kind words. I just realized yesterday that I am in my 19th year of this stuff but is has been the last couple that have born the greatest fruit from the seeds planted so long ago.

Since you brought up Gordon Aylesworth Blake I thought I would add a few bits of info I gathered in the past. Blake was a member of the West Point class of 1931, same as Edwin Walker and during those four years at West Point shared an instructor named Maxwell Taylor (later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Kennedy). After graduation from West Point both Walker and Blake were given the same assignment and continued to work togerther for most of their first year after graduation. Their paths would then part, Blake going Army Air Corp and Walker being assigned to Artillery but they would periodically come together throughout their careers.

In 1934 William Friedman's Team of Cryptologists began their first expansion by training military officers at Ft. Monmouth, N,J. Both Walker and Blake would be there. In 1939 Blake would be sent to TH (Territory of Hawaii) and Walker would be as well. Although officially on different bases a look at a map shows the two were stationed close with Walker being assigned to the base where America's "Magic" listening post was located. The two would attend consecutive Army Air War College clases at Maxwell Air Force Base in the late 1940's. Both men were on the fast track and it seems that both were guided in their respective careers by their former instructor, Maxwell Taylor.

Blake would serve in the Pacific during WWII winning the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster and a Silver Star and obtained the rank of Colonel during the War, same as Edwin Walker. Blake would become a Major General, the same rank held by Walker when he left the Military, in 1963, several years after Walker. Balke would retire in 1965 and as was the practice at that time was promoted to the Rank of Lt. General upon retirement.

I do find it interesting that of these two West Point classmates, Walker climbed the latter of Rank much faster than Blake and while Blake became the Director of the NSA in 1962 we can only imagine where Walker would have gone next (I do have some ideas) if it had not been for the Overseas Weekly article that doomed his career.

One more caveat. the position of Director of the NSA would have been, in 1962, approved if not made by, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maxwell Taylor.

Jim Root

[William Kelly]

Robert

Thank you for the kind words. I just realized yesterday that I am in my 19th year of this stuff but is has been the last couple that have born the greatest fruit from the seeds planted so long ago.

Since you brought up Gordon Aylesworth Blake I thought I would add a few bits of info I gathered in the past. Blake was a member of the West Point class of 1931, same as Edwin Walker and during those four years at West Point shared an instructor named Maxwell Taylor (later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Kennedy). After graduation from West Point both Walker and Blake were given the same assignment and continued to work togerther for most of their first year after graduation. Their paths would then part, Blake going Army Air Corp and Walker being assigned to Artillery but they would periodically come together throughout their careers.

In 1934 William Friedman's Team of Cryptologists began their first expansion by training military officers at Ft. Monmouth, N,J. Both Walker and Blake would be there. In 1939 Blake would be sent to TH (Territory of Hawaii) and Walker would be as well. Although officially on different bases a look at a map shows the two were stationed close with Walker being assigned to the base where America's "Magic" listening post was located. The two would attend consecutive Army Air War College clases at Maxwell Air Force Base in the late 1940's. Both men were on the fast track and it seems that both were guided in their respective careers by their former instructor, Maxwell Taylor.

Blake would serve in the Pacific during WWII winning the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster and a Silver Star and obtained the rank of Colonel during the War, same as Edwin Walker. Blake would become a Major General, the same rank held by Walker when he left the Military, in 1963, several years after Walker. Balke would retire in 1965 and as was the practice at that time was promoted to the Rank of Lt. General upon retirement.

I do find it interesting that of these two West Point classmates, Walker climbed the latter of Rank much faster than Blake and while Blake became the Director of the NSA in 1962 we can only imagine where Walker would have gone next (I do have some ideas) if it had not been for the Overseas Weekly article that doomed his career.

One more caveat. the position of Director of the NSA would have been, in 1962, approved if not made by, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maxwell Taylor.

Jim Root

"A special unit called A5 was created in 1961 to mount an all-out assault on Soviet codes, headed by one of NSA's best cryptanalysts, William Lutwiniak, who in his spare time was also the editor of the Wasington Post crossword puzzle. He had been hired by the legendary William Friedman in February 1941 and worked on Japanese codes during the war. After that, he turned his attention to Russian ciphers, including some groundbreaking work on the solution of the Verona material. He would head A5 for the next twelve years..." (p. 131 The Secret Sentry - The Untold Story of the National Security Agency, Mathew M. Aid)

Friedman is so legendary, that is the only reference to him in the book.

Edited February 28, 2010 by William Kelly

[Jim Root]

William

Matthew Aid has been very helpful in my research!! I appreciate his work.

Jim Root

[Guest Tom Scully]

Posted originally on David Von Pein's "Discussing The Mindset Of Conspiracy Theorists" thread.:

I'm posting this here, for the first time, anywhere, as a symbolic, thumb in the eye, of those hobbled by an inability to do anything other than read and parrot official line. The "line" is officially intended to keep any of us from going to places like this, ever! :

http://www.google.com/search?q=phillip+joachim&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=newspapers#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&tbs=bks:1&q=%22*Safford+solved+this+by+designing+a+typewriter+which+he+called+a+special+code+machine.33%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&psj=1&bav=on.1,or.&fp=1b516791715d36a5

Betrayal at Pearl Harbor: how Churchill lured Roosevelt into World ...

James Rusbridger, Eric Nave - 1991 - 302 pages - Snippet view

... was that they only had two radio operators capable of receiving and transcribing kana texts from Morse code transmissions. Safford solved this by designing a typewriter which he called a special code machine.33 On 26 November 1924, he sent details to John T. Underwood of the Underwood Typewriter Company, who examined Safford's specifications with his chief designer, Charles A. Joerissen. Two weeks later, on 10 December, they offered to build Safford four such machines for $645. The makers called them the Underwood Code Machine, ...

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=kata+kana+joerissen&btnG=Search+Books#hl=en&safe=off&q=Stickney%20joerissen&psj=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=nws:1,bks:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=np&psj=1&bav=on.1,or.&fp=748ccb14d716bc92

Congressional serial set - Page 508

United States. Government Printing Office - 1905 - Free Google eBook - Read

(See Joerissen, Carl A., assignor.) Underwood Typewriter Company. (SeeKavle. Oscar C. assignor.) Underwood Typewriter Company. ... (See Stickney. Burnham С assignor.) Union \Vater Meter Company. (See Kelly. John P., assignor. ...

books.google.com - More editions

Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents - Page 508

United States. Patent Office - 1905 - Free Google eBook - Read

(See Helmond, William F.. assignor.) (See Howell, Charles W., Jr., assignor.) (See Joerissen ... (See Stickney. Burnham C, assignor.) (See Kelly, John P., assignor.) Union Typewriter Company. Union Typewriter Company. ...

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_patent_number:1600494

Patented Sept. 21, 1926.

1,600,494.

United States Patent Office.

Burnham C. Stickney, of Rutherford, New Jersey, assignor to Underwood Typewriter Company, of New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware.

Typewriting machine.

Application filed December 4, 1924. Serial No. 753,802.

This invention relates to a keyboard for typing the Japanese katakana alphabet. This application is in part a continuation of my application No. 617,912, filed February 9, 1923...

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4544276.html

Method and apparatus for typing Japanese text using multiple ...

by RA Horodeck - 1985 - Cited by 39 - Related articles

Oct 1, 1985 ... 1549622 and 1600494 to Stickney disclose katakana keyboards which are designed for rapid operation and a division of labor equally between ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=recognized%20that%20his%20organization%20needed%20outside%20help%20on%20Purple.&um=1&ned=us&hl=en&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=np

Combined fleet decoded: the secret history of American ...

John Prados - 1995 - 832 pages

...Moreover, the British analysts who solved Enigma had the benefit of previous important breakthroughs by

French and Polish experts and could even examine early versions of the machine, commercially available.

Americans solved Purple all by themselves. This is not to say the solution occurred in a vacuum, however.

It was OP-20-G that had solved Red, predecessor to the new diplomatic system, and Commander Safford

recognized that his organization needed outside help on Purple. He went to his Army counterpart, the Signal Intelligence Service (SIS), which formed part of the Signal Corps; there, senior cryptana- lyst William F. Friedman was an expert on machine-based encipherment systems.

Under Friedman, chief of the team attacking the B Machine would be Frank B. Rowlett. Other SIS

cryptanalysts, an electronics engineer, accounting-machine experts, and Japanese linguists formed the rest of the group. Friedman, too often given credit as the man who "broke" Purple, made only sporadic contributions amid other duties. His main role came in selecting members of Rowlett's team, with an assist on diagnosis and analysis of the system.

Robert O. Ferner was Rowlett's second, with cryptanalysts Genevieve Grotjan, Albert W. Small, and Samuel S. Snyder plus cryptographic specialists Glenn S. Landig, Kenneth D. Miller, and Cyrus C. Sturgis, Jr. The top Japanese linguist was John B. Hurt, a Virginian like Rowlett himself. Work proceeded over a period of about eighteen months.

http://www.idahoquad.com/how_sigaba.html

...Friedman's associate, Frank Rowlett, then came up with a different way to advance the rotors, using another set of rotors. This is not as trivial as it may seem. The Enigma takes one input signal (power from a battery) and creates one output signal, but in this case the rotors needed to be constructed such that between one and five output signals were generated, advancing one or more of the rotors.

There was little money for encryption development before the war in the US, so Friedman and Rowlett built a series of "add on" devices called the SIGGOO (or M-229) that were used with the existing M-134s in place of the paper tape reader. These were external boxes containing a three rotor setup where five of the inputs were live, as if someone had pressed five keys at the same time on an Enigma, and the outputs were "gathered up" into five groups as well – that is all the letters from A to E would be wired together for instance. That way the five signals on the input side would be randomized through the rotors, and come out the far side with power in one of five lines. Now the movement of the rotors could be controlled with a day code, and the paper tape was eliminated. They referred to the combination of machines as the M-134-C.

In 1935 they showed their work to a US Navy cryptologist, Wenger. He found little interest for it in the Navy until early 1937, when he showed it to Cmdr. Laurence Safford, Friedman's counterpart in the Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence. He immediately saw the potential of the machine, and he and Cmdr. Seiler then added a number of features to make the machine easier to build, resulting in the Electric Code Machine Mark II (or ECM Mark II), which the Navy then produced as the CSP-889 (or 888).

Oddly the Army was unaware of either the changes or the mass production of the system, but were "let in" on the secret in early 1940. In 1941 the Army and Navy joined in a joint cryptographic system, based on the machine. The Army then started using it as the SIGABA.

Description

SIGABA was similar to the Enigma in basic theory, in that it used a series of rotors to encipher every character of the plaintext into a different character of cipher text. Unlike Enigma's three rotors however, the SIGABA included no less than fifteen....

Edited February 26, 2011 by Tom Scully