From Sixteenth-Century Cryptography to the New Millennium — The Last 500 Years - Codes: The Guide to Secrecy from Ancient to Modern Times - page 88

After World War II, Friedman continued in government signals intelligence
until 1949 when he became head of the code division of the new Armed Forces
Security Agency , which evolved into the National Security Agency (NSA). At
NSA he became the chief cryptologist. By the late 1960s his health faded.
He died in 1969 in Washington, D.C., and was buried at Arlington National
Cemetery. For all his accomplishments and pioneering efforts, he has been
dubbed America's greatest cryptologist .
Elizabeth Friedman largely worked on the civilian side. She gained some
initial fame when she broke the codes and ciphers of “rum runners” in the 1920s
during Prohibition. By 1927 she had been hired by the U.S. Coast Guard, and
broke thousands of codes for them. During World War II she joined the OQce of
Strategic Studies (OSS), where she was one of their outstanding cryptologists.
After her husband's death in 1969, she retired and lived until 1980. She is buried
with her husband at Arlington.
Herbert Yardley 2.12 (see Figure 2.15) was born on April 13, 1889 in Wor-
thington, Indiana. As a young man, he recognized his gift for cryptanalysis
when he was hired as a “code clerk” in the State Department at the age of
twenty-three.

After the declaration of war in April 1917
by the United States, Yardley was made head
of the newly established cryptology section of
the Military Intelligence Division, MI-8. In May
of 1919, he submitted his idea with a plan for
a permanent cryptology establishment, which
came to be known as the American Black Cham-
ber . Its operation was exceptional, cryptana-
lyzing more than 45 , 000 enciphered telegrams
from various countries. By 1929, however, the
Black Chamber was shut down by the Secretary
of State, Henry L. Stimson, who disapproved
of the Chamber saying “Gentlemen do not read
each other's mail”. In 1931, Yardley published
a topic entitled The American Black Chamber ,
which was an expose of the United States' weak,
if not defenseless, status in the arena of cryptol-
ogy. It caused a furor in many circles. In fact, when he tried to publish a second
topic, Japanese Diplomatic Secrets , it was suppressed by the U.S. government.
He involved himself in real estate speculations in the late 1930s, and served as
enforcement agent in the OQce of Price Administration during World War II.
He died of a stroke on August 7, 1958, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
After his service in the American Black Chamber, Friedman moved to the
Army's Signals Intelligence Service (SIS), and by 1935 was replaced by Ma-
jor Haskell Allison as head of SIS. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was employed as a

Figure 2.15: Herbert Yard-
ley.

2.12 Figure 2.15 is courtesy of the National Security Agency Hall of Honor . See:
http://www.nsa.gov/honor/index.html .