"To term this modest collection The Friedman Legacy requires both explanation and apologia. Of Friedman, as of Wren, it might well be said, “If you seek his monument, look around you” at the giant and far-flung corporate entity that represents American cryptology today. But a most tangible and rewarding form of his legacy for many of us has long been his “Lectures.” First published within NSA in 1963, after serialization in a journal five years earlier, they were republished two years later by his first recruit into government service and the first commandant of the National Cryptologic School, the eminent cryptologist Frank Rowlett. In his Foreword to that edition, Mr. Rowlett described the lectures as “. . . the history of Cryptology [as] recorded by the most prominent pioneer in the application of scientific principles to the field – one who, without question, laid the foundation for our modern concepts. It is hoped that both new and old employees may be inspired with a feeling of belonging to a profession that abounds in drama and fascination and that has had a profound impact on history.”

The sense of what one might term “the romance of cryptology” continues to adhere: Director Vice Admiral W.O. Studeman, introducing the 1990 Cryptologic History Symposium in NSA’s William F. Friedman Auditorium, referred affectionately and with a hint of awe to “this magical [MAGIC-al?] place.” That mystique, derived from an appreciation of the privilege of service to the nation in a largely anonymous but most rewarding profession, in company with a rare breed of men and women, must be rediscovered with each new generation. As tools and techniques become less personal, as individual accomplishment is more difficult to discern, it comes to depend increasingly on awareness of the past – the heritage, the traditions, the symbols, of the Friedman era, when a tiny unit of Army civilians and their uniformed Navy counterparts began a revolution – and the ability to find equally satisfactory modern equivalents, to become part of a continuum.

In making The Friedman Lectures again available to the professional community, several related papers have been included to give the newcomer a fuller appreciation of Friedman and his fellow cryptanalyst and lifemate, Elizebeth: the recollections of his colleague and amanuensis, Lambros Callimahos, Guru and Caudillo of the Dundee Society (parochial humor that must be separately explained to the newcomer), a tribute to Elizebeth on the occasion of her death, and an appreciation of the two from a fellow laborer in the vineyard – these, with the Lectures, we have been bold to style The Friedman Legacy."

"Protesters called it an act of war when the U.S. Coast Guard sank a Canadian-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Mexico in 1929. It took a cool-headed codebreaker solving a "trunk-full" of smugglers' encrypted messages to get Uncle Sam out of the mess: Elizebeth Smith Friedman's groundbreaking work helped prove the boat was owned by American gangsters. This book traces the career of a legendary U.S. law enforcement agent, from her work for the Allies during World War I through Prohibition, when she faced danger from mobsters while testifying in high profile trials. Friedman founded the cryptanalysis unit that provided evidence against American rum runners and Chinese drug smugglers. During World War II, her decryptions brought a Japanese spy to justice and her Coast Guard unit solved the Enigma ciphers of German spies. Friedman's "all source intelligence" model is still used today by law enforcement and counterterrorism agencies against 21st century threats."

"In 1916, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the U.S. government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code-breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the “Adam and Eve” of the NSA, Elizebeth’s story, a vital piece of women's history, incredibly, has never been told.

In The Woman Who Smashed Codes, Jason Fagone chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation’s espionage history for forty years. After World War I, Smith used her talents to catch gangsters and smugglers during Prohibition, then accepted a covert mission to discover and expose Nazi spy rings that were spreading like wildfire across South America, advancing ever closer to the United States. As World War II raged, Elizebeth fought a highly classified battle of wits against Hitler’s Reich, cracking multiple versions of the Enigma machine used by German spies. Meanwhile, inside an Army vault in Washington, William worked furiously to break Purple, the Japanese version of Enigma—and eventually succeeded, at a terrible cost to his personal life.

Fagone unveils America’s code-breaking history through the prism of Smith’s life, bringing into focus the unforgettable events and colorful personalities that would help shape modern intelligence. Blending the lively pace and compelling detail that are the hallmarks of Erik Larson’s bestsellers with the atmosphere and intensity of The Imitation Game, this historical biography is page-turning popular history at its finest.

This page-turning work of American history finally tells Elizebeth’s full story, revealing:

• Codebreaking Pioneer: Discover how Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a brilliant Shakespeare expert, was recruited into the secret world of cryptanalysis, becoming one of the founders of the modern science of spycraft.
• WWII Espionage: Follow Elizebeth’s classified battle of wits against the Third Reich as she unmasks Nazi spy rings in South America and cracks multiple versions of the formidable Enigma machine.
• The Husband and Wife Duo: Explore the unique partnership between Elizebeth and her husband, William Friedman, the brilliant pair who confronted the evils of their time and laid the groundwork for the NSA.
• A Classified Legacy: Learn why the story of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation’s history for forty years, was deliberately kept secret for decades."

"This book is a detailed biography of Elizabeth Smith Friedman, a pioneering woman in modern cryptography in the United States. Covering her life from 1892 to 1980, it explores her significant contributions to codebreaking and intelligence. Her husband, William Friedman, is also featured, known for leading the U.S. Army's efforts to decode Japanese diplomatic ciphers, including the Purple cipher. The narrative delves into her work at the Riverbank Laboratories, her involvement in uncovering secret plots during Prohibition, and her role in monitoring Nazi spy networks in South America during World War II. Based on letters, diaries, declassified documents, and interviews, the book reveals many previously unknown achievements. Notable figures such as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Alan Turing, and Ian Fleming also appear, adding depth to the story. This acclaimed biography was recognized as the best book of the year by NPR and served as the basis for a PBS documentary. The author, Jason Fagone, is a respected American journalist specializing in science, technology, and culture. The translator, Akie Onogi, is a professional translator based in Osaka. This is a compelling read for those interested in cryptography, history, and espionage.

Elizabeth Smith Friedman, a woman who laid the foundation for modern cryptography in the United States, is a masterpiece review that approaches the unknown life of Elizabeth Smith Friedman. NPR's Best Book of the Year.

A masterpiece review of the life of Elizabeth Smith Friedman (1892-1980), a woman who laid the foundation for modern cryptography in the United States. Her husband, William, is also known as the legendary cryptographer who led the deciphering of the Japanese diplomatic code (commonly known as the purple) in the U.S. Army.

Based on the strange Shakespearean research at the Riverbank Institute founded by the strange man Faybian, his encounter with William, his encounter with William, the cooperation of gangsters who plan to smuggle alcohol under Prohibition, and the monitoring and tracking of the Nazi spy network in South America during World War II - carefully follow the unknown achievements based on letters, diaries, declassified historical materials, and interviews with stakeholders. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Alan Turing, who cracked the Enigma code, and Ian Fleming, the creator of 007, also appear and add to the shadows."

"Elizebeth Smith Friedman had a rare talent for spotting patterns and solving puzzles. These skills led her to become one of the top cryptanalysts in America during both World War I and World War II.

She originally came to code breaking through her love for Shakespeare when she was hired by an eccentric millionaire to prove that Shakespeare's plays had secret messages in them. Within a year, she had learned so much about code breaking that she was a star in the making. She went on to play a major role decoding messages during WWI and WWII and also for the Coast Guard's war against smugglers.

Elizebeth and her husband, William, became the top code-breaking team in the US, and she did it all at a time when most women weren't welcome in the workforce.

Amy Butler Greenfield is an award-winning historian and novelist who aims to shed light on this female pioneer of the STEM community."

"Elizebeth Friedman was one of America's greatest cryptographers in the early- to mid-1900s. She worked during the Prohibition era for the Department of the Treasury and the Coast Guard and, at various times during World War I and World War II, for the War Department. This monograph concerns her personal life and professional work for the Coast Guard on liquor and narcotics smuggling, up to the late 1930s."

"To further elevate the Intelligence Section’s status as a valuable aid to the interdiction effort, in the summer of 1925, the Intelligence Section was designated Section “C” and placed directly under the Chief of Operations at Coast Guard Headquarters.¹² Following this pattern of growth, now Commander (CDR) Root was given an assistant. Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Clifford D. Feak, in early 1927.¹³ As part of his introduction to intelligence work, LTJG Feak was instructed in cipher fundamentals under the guidance of the legendary Major William F. Friedman, of the War Department’s Signal Corps.¹⁴ The year 1927 also brought two new civilian personnel to the Intelligence Section: Major Friedman’s wife, Mrs. Elizebeth S. Friedman, and Anna A. Wolf, both hired by the Prohibition Bureau and detailed to the Coast Guard to assist in cryptanalysis.<sup>15

12</sup> U.S. Coast Guard, “Proposed Re-organization Chart of U.S. Coast Guard at, and Outside Washington, DC," chart (Washington, DC: USCG. 31 July 1925).
¹³ Charles S. Root, CDR, USCG, Intelligence Officer, memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between CDR Root, Coast Guard Headquarters and MAJ Friedman, War Department, Signal Corps, 10:25 a.m., 24 January 1927, no subject, n.d.
¹⁴ Charles S. Root, memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between CDR Root, Coast Guard Headquarters and MAJ Friedman, War Department.
¹⁵ Elizebeth Friedman was hired as a Cryptanalyst at a starting salary of $2,400 annually. She was employed by the Federal Prohibition Bureau, but detailed to the Coast Guard's Intelligence Section. Roy A. Haines, Federal Prohibition Commissioner, letter to Civil Service Commission, no subject, 27 April 1927. Anna Wolf, a Junior Stenographer, was also employed by the Federal Prohibition Bureau and loaned to the Coast Guard to assist Mrs. Friedman. B. M. Chiswell, CAPT. USCG, letter to J. M. Doran, Commissioner of Prohibition, no subject, 24 February 1928.

...

The use of radio among rum runners was still rare in the early days of Prohibition, but became more prevalent as the rum runners organized and looked for easier and securer ways to communicate with their land-based offices. In late 1925, LCDR Root joined forces with Mr. R. J. Iverson of the New York Times to set up a small intercept station in New York City.⁵³ For several years, this crude intercept station supplied the Coast Guard with the identification of amateur shore stations and radio-equipped vessels involved in the rum trade.⁵⁴ By 1927, the use of codes and ciphers among runt-running vessels was commonplace and with the help of the War Department’s Signal Corps, the Coast Guard was developing a cryptologic capability of its own, under the Intelligence Section at Headquarters.⁵⁵ One of the first steps CDR Root took to resolve the backlog of encrypted messages piling up at Headquarters was to elicit the assistance of the renowned cryptanalyst. Mrs. Elisabeth Friedman.⁵⁶ Although Mrs. Friedman was not officially hired until 1927, she was temporarily employed under the direction of the Intelligence Section for several months in 1926 and had donated her services in solving enemy cryptograms on numerous occasions in the interim.⁵⁷ CDR Root also gained the assistance of the War Department and the Coast Guard Repair Depot in manufacturing a wooden deciphering machine to facilitate Mrs. Friedman’s work.<sup>58

53</sup>With an HF receiver, an Underwood typewriter, and a $500 advance, Mr. Iverson set up a listening post in New York City, staffed by an unnamed civilian intercept operator who drew an annual salary of $2,800 from the Coast Guard. R. J. Iverson, letter to CDR C. S. Root. USCG, no subject, 13 October 1925. Also see, R. J. Iverson, letter to CDR C. S. Root, USCG, no subject, 14 October 1925.
⁵⁴ Clifford D. Feak, LTJG, USCG, letter to R. J. Iverson, no subject, 1 February 1928.
⁵⁵ Charles S. Root, 24 January 1927.
⁵⁶ Mrs. Friedman began her career in cryptology in 1916 at Riverbank Laboratories, Illinois, where she developed code-making methods for the U.S. military. During parts of 1922 and 1923, she served with the Code and Signal Section of the U.S. Navy. She also served as a cryptanalyst for the U.S. Army. Together with her husband, William F. Friedman, the Friedmans gained a reputation as the “foremost [authorities] in the science of cryptanalysis in the United States.” Charles S. Root, CDR. USCG. Intelligence Officer, memorandum for Major Hamlin, subject: "Mrs. Elizebeth Smith Friedman,” 22 April 1927.
⁵⁷ Charles S. Root, 22 April 1927.
⁵⁸ Charles S. Root, CDR, USCG, Intelligence Officer, letter to CAPT Randolph Ridgely, USCG. no subject, 4 February 1927.

...

The proliferation of encoded and encrypted illicit radio traffic was in full flower by 1927, and the Coast Guard gained the assistance of the Prohibition Bureau in collecting the traffic needed for successful cryptanalysis. On the California Coast alone, agents of the Prohibition Bureau had compiled over 1,000 coded messages turned over to them by the commercial wireless services beginning in 1924.⁷⁰ Relying on the expertise of the Coast Guard’s cryptanalysis unit, the Prohibition Bureau forwarded the intercepts to Washington for decoding.⁷¹ This relationship proved very profitable for both the Coast Guard and the Prohibition Bureau with one exception — the time delay in having the cryptanalysis done in Washington created several missed opportunities for interdiction.⁷² To mitigate this problem, in July 1928, the Coast Guard sent Mrs. Friedman to San Francisco to instruct selected Prohibition agents in the means of cryptanalysis.⁷³ At about the same time, the rum syndicates ceased their use of wireless services in favor of direct communications between rum ships and amateur radio stations ashore.<sup>74

70</sup> C. A. Housel, Special Agent, letter to Ralph R. Reed, Supervising Agent, no subject, 16 December 1927.
⁷¹ C. A. Housel, 16 December 1927.
⁷² C. A. Housel, Special Agent, letter to Ralph R. Reed, Supervising Agent, no subject. 11 September 1928.
⁷³ C. A. Housel, 11 September 1928.
⁷⁴ C. A. Housel, 16 December 1927.

...

As sophisticated as these systems were, however, they were no match for the skilled cryptanalysis of Mrs. Friedman. In the first three years working for the Coast Guard, Mrs. Friedman solved over 12,000 cryptograms, some of which were of a “complexity never even attempted by any government for its most secret communications.”⁷⁸ Mrs. Friedman’s work was so successful in infiltrating the rum gangs on the West Coast that it inspired Mr. Ralph R. Read, Supervising Agent for the Prohibition Bureau in San Francisco, to write “it is my opinion that [cryptanalysis] is the means which will enable this office eventually to entirely suppress commercial smuggling by sea upon the Pacific Coast.”<sup>79

78</sup> Kahn. 804-806.
⁷⁹ Ralph R. Read. Supervising Agent, letter to Commissioner of Prohibition, no subject, 12 September 1928.

...

In September of 1930, after several unsuccessful Coast Guard appeals to bring Major William F. Friedman⁸⁷ to active duty with that service,⁸⁸ the War Department released Major Friedman for two weeks to board CG-210 and conduct code-breaking experiments on the Coast Guard’s new “floating cryptanalytic crime-detection laboratory.”⁸⁹ While operating off the coast of New York, Major Friedman devised a system for breaking down the various codes used by blacks operating in and around New York Harbor.⁹⁰ He then read the decoded operating orders back to the rum ships, which had the effect of halting delivery of all alcohol along the New York coastline for several days.⁹¹ In awe of this success. LCDR Gorman remarked that “the resulting confusion to this group of rum ships was more than all the efforts of the destroyer force and the other units combined have been able to effect in months.”<sup>92

87</sup> William F. Friedman graduated from Cornell University with a degree in genetics in 1912. He then worked at Riverbank Laboratories, Illinois, where he met and married Elizebeth Smith. During WWI. Friedman trained Army cryptologists at Riverbank. After the War, he was invited to take over the War Department Signal Corps' Code and Cipher Section, an offer he readily accepted. While with the Army, Friedman coined the term “cryptanalysis," as die science of code-breaking. In 1929, Friedman became the Chief of the Army’s Signal Intelligence Service. In addition to his assisting the Coast Guard with cryptanalysis during Prohibition, Friedman is credited with breaking the Japanese "Purple Code” during WWII. Ladislas Farago. The Broken Seal: Operation Magic and the Secret Road to Pearl Harbor (New York: Random House. 1967), 61-63.
⁸⁸ Secretary of War, letter to Secretary of the Treasury, no subject, 9 September 1930.
⁸⁹ Kahn, 806.
⁹⁰ Frank M. Meals. LT, USCG, letter to Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, subject: “Major William F. Friedman, U.S. A.; Services Rendered by,” 30 September 1930.
⁹¹ Kahn, 806.
⁹² Kahn. 806.

This statement, made by an unidentified newspaper reporter at about the time the Coast Guard effectively disbanded Rum Row, was in reaction to the reporter’s attempts to learn about the secret communications systems in development for use by the Coast Guard. Correctly identifying the benefits in protecting its own communications in early 1924, the Coast Guard made attempts to devise a suitable code for anti-smuggling operations.¹⁷ Proposed codes were submitted to the War Department’s Chief Signal Officer, Major William F. Friedman, for comment before being employed by operational Coast Guard forces. Unfortunately, none of the Coast Guard-developed codes provided a “degree of security [sic] ... sufficient to warrant [their] use for communication which must remain secret for a period of six or more hours.”¹⁸ As a result, the Coast Guard asked the War Department for permission to use the Army’s M-94 cipher devices to provide operational Coast Guard forces a sufficient level of protection in secret communications.¹⁹ Permission was granted²⁰ and in late Spring 1924, the Coast Guard placed its first order for 150 M-94 cipher devices and 1,000 cipher disks.²¹ They arrived in June and were subsequently installed onboard designated Coast Guard cutters and at various shore stations for use in passing operational Coast Guard radio traffic.²² To ensure the codes remained secret, the Commandant strictly prohibited the use of codes or ciphers and plain text in the same dispatch.²³ This was owing to the fact that much of the Coast Guard’s own success in solving enemy codes was due to poor security measures on the part of the rum syndicates in mixing old codes with new ones and occasionally combining plain text with code when sending radio traffic.²⁴

This same trial-and-error scenario was repealed in 1927 by the Prohibition Bureau as it began attempts at developing its own code for secure communications. This time the codes were submitted to the Coast Guard’s Intelligence Section for comment and returned by Mrs. Friedman indicating they could be solved in nine minutes and were “not sufficiently secure for any important use.”<sup>25

17</sup> Alvin C. Voris, LTC, USA Signal Corps, letter to Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, subject: "Code System," 14 June 1924.
¹⁸ Alvin C. Voris. 14 June 1924.
¹⁹ L. C. Andrews, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, letter to Secretary of War, no subject, 27 March 1924.
²⁰ Secretary of War, letter to Secretary of the Treasury, no subject, 8 April 1924.
²¹ The M-94 cipher devices acquired from the Army were marked “C.G.” on the outer face and given serial numbers from 1 to 150. Cipher disks were expendable discs placed inside the M-94 to encrypt plain text communications. Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, letter to Chief Signal Officer, U.S. Army, subject: “Cipher Devices.” 12 April 1924. The first shipment of 1,000 cipher discs cost the Coast Guard a total of $62.40, $60 for the discs and $2.40 for shipping charges. U.S. Army Signal Corps, shipping ticket for 1000 cipher discs delivered to CDR Charles S. Root, USCG, 24 April 1924.
²² U.S. Army Signal Corps, 24 April 1924.
²³ Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, letter to Commanders, Southern Division, Northern Division, and Gulf Division, subject: “Intelligence,” 23 March 1925.
²⁴ Willoughby, 1 13.
²⁵ Charles S. Root, CDR. USCG, Intelligence Officer, letter to Philip Hamlin, no subject, 3 June 1927.

"In May 1917, William and Elizebeth Friedman were asked by the U.S. Army to begin training officers in cryptanalysis and to decrypt intercepted German diplomatic and military communications. In June 1917, Herbert Yardley convinced the new head of the Army’s Military Intelligence Division to create a code and cipher section for the Army with himself as its head.

These two seminal events were the beginning of modern American cryptology, the growth of which culminated 35 years later with the creation of the National Security Agency. Each running their own cryptologic agencies in the 1920s, the Friedman-Yardley relationship was shattered after Yardley published a tell-all book about his time in military intelligence. Yet in the end, the work they all started in 1917 led directly to the modern American intelligence community. As they got older, they became increasingly irrelevant in the burgeoning American cryptologic fraternity."

"The Mob Code reveals the story of one of history's greatest code breakers: Suburban mom, Elizabeth Friedman. Against the odds she cracks the codes which bring down the Mob, saves countless lives in WW2 - armed with just a pencil and paper."

"Based on the book The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies, The Codebreaker reveals the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst whose painstaking work to decode thousands of messages for the U.S. government would send infamous gangsters to prison in the 1930s and bring down a massive, near-invisible Nazi spy ring in WWII. Her remarkable contributions would come to light decades after her death, when secret government files were unsealed. But together with her husband, the legendary cryptologist William Friedman, Elizebeth helped develop the methods that led to the creation of the powerful new science of cryptology and laid the foundation for modern codebreaking today."

You can watch the episode (narrated in German with English commentary) at this archived website. And also this documentary in French.

"As late as August 1917, MI forwarded an encrypted telegram—intercepted at Nogales—to Fabyan in Chicago. Fabyan was asked to furnish a copy of the deciphered message with the key and keyword, if any. Presumably, Fabyan further delegated the task to William and Elizebeth Friedman, two civilian cryptologists at Riverbank.”

As the army prepared to deploy troops overseas for the great war in Europe, Riverbank Laboratories endeavored to train selected members of the Army Signal Corps in compiling cryptosystems for its own use and solving those of others. The training was conducted by the Friedmans. William was shortly to accept a commission and leave for France to support the AEF with his cryptanalytic skills."

"William and Elizebeth Friedman were roped into an odd profession by a wealthy eccentric and became America's premier cryptologists.

Toward the end of World War I, the British Army began manufacturing thousands of small cipher machines, "Pletts Cryptographs," for use by the Allied forces. The British asked the American forces to use them as well. No one in the French, British, or American military had been able to break the ciphers; the machine had a mechanism that regularly altered the ciphering scheme, so the first a might be turned into an f and next a into an r.

Just to be sure that it was safe from enemy codebreakers, the American military passed it on to a remarkable husband-and-wife team in Illinois for testing. William and Elizebeth Friedman received a package with five telegram-length messages. It took all of three hours to break the lot, after with they returned them to London, solved. The first of the messages read: "This cipher is absolutely undecipherable.

Few ciphers were indecipherable to the Friedmans. By the end of his life, William Friedman was recognized as the greatest maker and breaker of codes and ciphers. Repeatedly, he accepted challenges to solve "unbreakable" ciphers, and succeeded. The paprs he wrote brought cryptology, an ancient skill as obscure as witchcraft, into the scientific age. The team he trained and supervised broke into Japan's highest diplomatic cipher just before World War II; not only did the group penetrate the secret, it built a deciphering machine that worked as well as Japan's cipher machine. Elizebeth Friedman provided exceptional assistance to the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy, unraveling secret messages from rumrunners during Prohibition, narcotics traffickers during the 1930's and enemy agents during wartime. True to the shadowy world of intelligence work, th epair shunned publicity and avoided discussing their work - even with each other."

"SHE learned about ciphers from Shakespeare. In her position as chief Crypt-analytic Section of U.S. Coast Guard, trim, smart young Elizebeth Friedman has "cracked" (solved, to us) more secret messages of criminal rings than any other woman in this country. Dope smugglers, jewel thieves, rum runners - enemies of the Government - tremble before her agile brain. A cryptic wireless message, intercepted, is brought to her. Studies it. Translates it - and Federal agents are on the trail. At a recent trial in New Orleans, where she was Uncle Sam's expert witness, nine lawyers tried to confound her. She won - and another gang of dope peddlers went to jail. Seldom, if ever, finds a message too complicated to unravel. uses many methods, including higher mathematics. Became interested in analyses of cryptograms by working on the old controversy as to whether or not Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays and concealed his message in cipher. First real work began with spy codes during the World War. Mrs. Friedman is the mother of two children, and accomplished musician, club woman, ardent bicyclist. Married to Major William Friedman, Chief of the Signal Intelligence Service of the War Department. Together they have represented the United States at international conferences. Last year, while in Spain, they received cryptic messages from their nine-year-old daughter. It seems it runs in the family."

"There is no royal road to crime detection: for evry gaudy break there are 99 fruitless leads.

And there is no better illustration of this than in the story, now available for the first time, of the search for the operations of the rumrunner "I'm Alone", sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Gulf of Mexico on March 23rd, 1929.

Government agents spent thousands of hours in patient investigation on the case without getting a single clew; success rested on a bit of bureaucratic zeal on the part of a minor railway employe (sic), on the chance examination of an old library book picked up in a great swamp, and, above all, on the intelligence of a young woman examining a truckload of papers for another purpose.

Although the "I'm Alone"had never done a legal day's work in her life she was a comparatively unimportant member of the rum fleet until she went down flying the Canadian flag. When the Canadian government demanded heavy reparations for her sinking it became imperative to find her owners."

"Praised for her accessible blend of narrative nonfiction with graphic novel-style chapter openers in The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner, Marissa Moss’s Spying on Spies: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Broke the Nazis’ Secret Codes is another fascinating story of a groundbreaking woman in STEM.

One of the founders of US cryptology who would eventually become one of the world’s greatest code breakers, Elizebeth Smith Friedman (1892–1980) was a brilliant mind behind many important battles throughout the 20th century, saving many lives through her intelligence and heroism.

Whip-smart and determined, Elizebeth displayed a remarkable aptitude for language and recognizing patterns from a young age. After getting her start by looking for linguistic clues to the true authorship of Shakespeare’s writings, she and her husband, William Friedman, were tasked with heading up the first government code-breaking unit in America, training teams and building their own sophisticated code systems during the lead-up to World War I.

Elizebeth’s solo career was even more impressive. She became the Treasury Department’s and Coast Guard’s first female codebreaker and created her own top-notch codebreaking unit, where she trained and led many male colleagues. During Prohibition in the 1920s, her work solving and intercepting coded messages from mobsters and criminal gangs lead to hundreds of high-profile criminal prosecutions, including members of Al Capone’s gang. Her crowning achievement came during World War II, when Elizebeth uncovered an intricate network of Nazi spies operating in South America, a feat that neither law enforcement nor intelligence agencies had been able to accomplish.

Despite her unparalleled accomplishments, Elizebeth was largely written out of history books and overshadowed by her husband. Only in very recent years has her name begun to receive the attention it deserves, including the US Coast Guard naming a ship in her honor and the US Senate passing a 2019 resolution to honor her life and legacy."

"A Fascinating Account of the American Cryptanalyst and Author who Decrypted Enemy Codes in both World Wars and Solved Smuggling Cases in the Prohibition Era.

Elizebeth Smith Friedman (1892-1980) was an innovative American codebreaker and cryptanalyst. She played a crucial role in deciphering a wide range of intricate codes and ciphers from the early to mid-20th century. Elizebeth's journey began at Riverbank Laboratories, where she unraveled enigmatic meanings concealed within Shakespeare's writings. Later, she formed a formidable alliance with her equally esteemed spouse who was known as the father of the National Security Agency, William Friedman. Elizebeth's story is characterized by her exceptional intelligence, unwavering resolve, and unwavering fortitude. Collectively, they confronted the obstacles presented by World War I, unraveling intricate codes that determined the destiny of entire nations.

During the era of Prohibition in the United States, Elizebeth shifted her focus to the realm of organized crime, deciphering encrypted messages that protected the illicit activities of the underground economy and ensuring that the principles of fairness and justice were upheld. She displayed exceptional intelligence and made significant contributions during World War II by deciphering the enigmatic messages of Axis spies working in South America.

Elizebeth Smith Friedman made notable accomplishments in an area that was traditionally male dominated. Her work not only significantly influenced national security, but also served as a catalyst for the advancement of women in the field of cryptanalysis and codebreaking for future generation."

"How the amazing cryptanalyst Uncle Sam has ready to tell him what foreign are putting into their secret messages does her work.

BACK of arrests in the great nationwide campaign of agents of the United States Government against foreign espionage in this country is an untold story of the activities of a small and little known group of men an done woman, professional puzzle-solvers, who have become indispensable to the law enforcement and intelligence branches of the government.

This group is composed of the cryptographers who do their work in the modern equivalents of the famed "Black Chamber" of World War days Whereas in the early stages of the last conflict Uncle Sam was poorly equipped with code and cipher crackers capable of coping the the ingenuity of spies and sabreuers (sic) operating in this country, it today has one of the finest corps of cryptographers in the world."

"She wasn't a mathematician. She was a poet. But she turned out to be a genius at solving these very difficult puzzles, and her solutions changed the 20th century. She caught gangsters and organized-crime kingpins during Prohibition. She hunted Nazi spies during World War II.

She also helped to invent the modern science of secret writing—cryptology—that lies at the base of everything from government institutions like the NSA to the fluctuations of our daily online lives. Not bad for a Quaker girl from a small Indiana town! "

"Listening to the Rumrunners - Most Americans are aware of the era of lawlessness in this country that began with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1919. The institution of Prohibition brought with it major law enforcement problems, whose effects continue to be felt today. Few people, however, are aware of the major role played by communications intelligence in the enforcement of the Prohibition laws. The files of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including the files of the Radio Division of the Department of Commerce, show that radio was used on a large scale in connection with rum-running activities. The radio operations of the rum-running organizations were, in fact, comparable in size, technical skill, and organization with the radio operation that would be conducted by enemy agents in World War II.

Cryptology, Elizebeth Friedman and the United States Coast Guard Thwart the Rumrunners - On land, the task of enforcing Prohibition fell to several federal agencies, but on the high seas, the responsibility belonged to the United States Coast Guard (USCG). This new responsibility would severely tax the Coast Guard's resources. They would have to police 12,000 miles of U.S. coastline with a total of 4,140 personnel and 75 vessels, the majority of which were not designed for law enforcement operations. Despite the difficulties presented by the mission, the Coast Guard accepted the challenge. The service's attitude was best expressed in a 25 April 1924 letter by RADM Frederick C. Billard, the USCG Commandant at the time, "The Coast Guard.. .will not fail in its performance of this... task. You men are the last line of defense..." However, in order to prevail in this effort they would need ingenuity, perseverance, and "a new kind of detective work," namely the art and science of cryptology."

"The lives of Herbert O.Yardley, William F. Friedman, Captain Laurance F. Safford, Rear Admiral Joseph N. Wenger, Frank 6. Rowlett, Elizebeth Smith Friedman, and Agnes Meyer Driscoll."

I have scanned the three pages concerning Elizebeth Friedman:

1. Page 18;
2. Page 19;
3. Page 20.

"This volume contains four articles written by personnel of the National Security Agency (NSA) about the Voynich manuscript from 1965 to 1978.

The first essay, by Brigadier John Tiltman, is entitled "The Voynich Manuscript: The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World" and was presented to the Baltimore Bibliophiles in 1967. It provides a basic summary of facts about the manuscript and its provenance and adds a survey of proposed solutions, most of which it dispenses with quite quickly. I found it interesting to discover that Tiltman was first introduced to the Voynich ms. by William Friedman, founder of the NSA, in 1947 (!) I was also intrigued that Tiltman's scholarly research into the history of medieval herbalism included consultations with leading English academics, no doubt during visits on "Five Eyes" business.

The second essay, originally classifed Top Secret Umbra, is "An Application of PTAH to the Voynich Manuscript" by Mary D'Imperio - the title itself was unclassified. A few pages in, I came to a full stop when I encountered this:

"PTAH (named for the Egyptian god of wisdom), is a general statistical method developed at IDA (Institute for Defense Analyses), Princeton University. PTAH got its name when a programmer. Mr.Gerry Mitchell, was listening to the opera "Aida" while working on his program. He was struck by the passage "immenso Ptah noi invociam," and named his program after the Egyptian god. The name was ultimately extended from this program, implementing a particular application of the method, to the method and its mathematical theory as well..."

The technical meaning of PTAH remains classified, although Google helped me find a journal article that suggests PTAH must be some sort of Hidden Markov Model. (Math. Comput. Appl. 2019, 24, 14; doi:10.3390/mca24010014)

D'Imperio used PTAH to analyze the Voynich manuscript and similar works and concluded that "I find the above comparisions quite convincing support for a view that the Voynich text, regarded as a string of single letters, does not 'act like' natural language. Instead, it exhibits a clear positional regularity or characters within words. I believe that these findings strengthen the theory of Friedman and Tiltman that an artificial language may underlie the Voynich text."

Government interest dating back to 1947 ... pharmacology unknown to modern man ... artificial languages ... the movie "ARRIVAL" based on Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" ... hmmm ...

The third essay, also by D'Imperio, is "An Application of Cluster Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling to the Question of 'Hands' and 'Languages' in the Voynich Manuscript." She uses cluster analytic techniques to examine findings by Captain Prescott Currier, who suggested that the manuscript's pages can be clustered into groups of multiple authors and styles. D'Imperio's discussion includes warnings that are still sound today: " The interpretation of cluster analysis results is unavoidably circular; we propose a certain structure in the group of objects under study, we perform the computation, and we are happy if we see what we expected, or at least something that makes sense in terms of our original hypothesis, however revised."

"Decode the story of Elizebeth Friedman, the cryptologist who took down gangsters and Nazi spies in Code Breaker, Spy Hunter, a picture book biography from award-winning authorLaurie Wallmarkand illustratorBrooke Smart.

“An engaging introduction to a unique woman in a fascinating field” (School Library Journal), young readers will learn all about Elizebeth Friedman (1892–1980), a brilliant American code breaker who smashed Nazi spy rings, took down gangsters, and created the CIA’s first cryptology unit. Her story came to light when her secret papers were finally declassified in 2015.

From thwarting notorious rumrunners with only paper and pencil to “counter-spying into the minds and activities of” Nazis, Elizebeth held a pivotal role in the early days of US cryptology. No code was too challenging for her to crack, and Elizebeth’s work undoubtedly saved thousands of lives.

Extensive back matter includes explanations of codes and ciphers, further information on cryptology, a bibliography, a timeline of Elizebeth’s life, plus secret messages for young readers to decode."

"In the third book in the Asha and Baz series, readers learn about secret codes and how to break them from World War II codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman!

A secret code and a mysterious prize up for grabs at school prompts Asha and Baz to once more use their magic stick to travel to the past. This time they land in 1942, where they meet Elizebeth Friedman, a codebreaker working with the US Navy.

She’s the perfect person to help the kids with their codebreaking challenge, but she’s hard at work decoding secret messages from Nazi spies!

With a navy officer pressuring Elizebeth to work quickly and the Allied war efforts at risk, the kids could be in for more than they expected in Asha and Baz Meet Elizebeth Friedman!"

"An inspiring graphic novel about Elizebeth Friedman, a codebreaking pioneer who changed the course of World War II. Nazi spy rings! No-good gangsters! Shakespearian lies! Discover the courageous woman who cracked all these cases and more—with only a pencil and paper. The youngest of ten siblings, Elizebeth Friedman stood out from an early age with brilliant language skills and a passion for English literature. Eventually, these talents led to a new opportunity: codebreaking. Using ciphers and other trailblazing techniques, Friedman solved coded messages to take down some of the most notorious gangsters in the United States, including the infamous Al Capone. During World War II, as German forces stormed across Europe, she took her skills to the frontlines, thwarting Nazi spies and helping lead Allied forces to victory. In this action-packed, full-color graphic novel, learn more about this daring woman who took risks, defied expectations, and confronted the enemies of World War II."

"The stories of some of the individuals who have shaped cryptography are engagingly told in this narrative. Readers consider Polybius and his cipher (the Polybius square), Julius Caesar and his secret military ciphers, diplomat Blaise de Vigenère and his polyalphabetic cipher, Antoine Rossignol, the "Black Chamber," and the Great Cipher he developed for Louis XIV, Anson Stager and Civil War cryptography, and cryptanalyst Agnes Meyer Driscoll, codenamed Madame X, who decrypted radio codes for the US government during both world wars. Elizebeth Friedman, Alan Turing, Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, and Ralph Merkle and their cryptographic methods are also examined."