Chapter IEquipment for Cipher WorkSuccess in dealing with unknown ciphers is measured by these four things in the order named; perseverance, careful methods of analysis, intuition, luck. The ability at least to read the language of the original text is very desirable but not essential.Cipher work will have little permanent attraction for one who expects results at once, without labor, for there is a vast amount of purely routine labor in the preparation of frequency tables, the rearrangement of ciphers for examination, and the trial and fitting of letter to letter before the message begins to appear.The methods of analysis given in these notes cover only the simpler varieties of cipher and it is, of course, impossible to enumerate all the varieties of these. It is believed that the methods laid down are sound and several years of successful work along this line would seem to confirm this belief. For more advanced work there is no recourse but to study the European authorities whose writings are mostly in French, German, and Italian and, unfortunately, are rarely available in English translations.Under intuition must be included a knowledge of the general situation and, if possible, the special situation which led to the sending of the cipher message. The knowledge or guess that a certain ciphermessagecontains a particular word, often leads to its solution.As to luck, there is the old miner’s proverb: “Gold is where you find it.”The equipment for an office, where much cipher work is handled, will now be considered. The casual worker with ciphers can get along with much less, but the methods of filing and keeping a record of all messages studied should be followed wherever possible. The interchange of results between individuals and between offices should be encouraged and, in time of active operations, should be mandatory. An enemy may be using the same cipher in widely separated parts of the zone of operations and it is useless labor to have many cipher offices working on intercepted messages, all in the same cipher, when one office may have the solution that will apply to all of them.Cipher work requires concentration and quiet and often must proceed without regard to hours. The office should be chosen with these points in mind. A clerical force is desirable and even necessary if there is much work to do. The clerk or clerks can soon be trained to do the routine part of the analysis.It is believed that each Field Army should have such an office where all ciphers intercepted by forces under command of the Field Army Commander should be sent at once for examination. This work naturally falls to the Intelligence section of the General Staff at this headquarters. A special radio station, with receiving instruments only, should be an adjunct to this office and its function should be to copy all hostile radio messages whether in cipher or plain text. Such a radio station requires but a small antenna; one of the pack set type or any amateur’s antenna is sufficient, and the station instruments can be easily carried in a suit case. Three thoroughly competent operators should beprovided, so that the station can be “listening in” during the entire twenty-four hours.The office should be provided with tables of frequency of the language of the enemy, covering single letters and digraphs; a dictionary and grammar of that language; copies of the War Department Code, Western Union Code and any other available ones; types of apparatus or, at least, data on apparatus and cipher methods in use by the enemy; and a safe filing cabinet and card index for filing messages examined. A typewriter is also desirable.The office work on a cipher under examination should be done on paper of a standard and uniform size. Printed forms containing twenty-six ruled lines and a vertical alphabet are convenient and save time in preparation of frequency tables. Any new cipher methods which are found to be in use by the enemy should, when solved, be communicated to all similar offices in the Army for their information.Unless an enemy were exceedingly vigilant and changed keys and methods frequently, such an office would, in a few days, be in a position to disclose completely all intercepted cipher communications of the enemy with practically no delay.
Chapter IEquipment for Cipher WorkSuccess in dealing with unknown ciphers is measured by these four things in the order named; perseverance, careful methods of analysis, intuition, luck. The ability at least to read the language of the original text is very desirable but not essential.Cipher work will have little permanent attraction for one who expects results at once, without labor, for there is a vast amount of purely routine labor in the preparation of frequency tables, the rearrangement of ciphers for examination, and the trial and fitting of letter to letter before the message begins to appear.The methods of analysis given in these notes cover only the simpler varieties of cipher and it is, of course, impossible to enumerate all the varieties of these. It is believed that the methods laid down are sound and several years of successful work along this line would seem to confirm this belief. For more advanced work there is no recourse but to study the European authorities whose writings are mostly in French, German, and Italian and, unfortunately, are rarely available in English translations.Under intuition must be included a knowledge of the general situation and, if possible, the special situation which led to the sending of the cipher message. The knowledge or guess that a certain ciphermessagecontains a particular word, often leads to its solution.As to luck, there is the old miner’s proverb: “Gold is where you find it.”The equipment for an office, where much cipher work is handled, will now be considered. The casual worker with ciphers can get along with much less, but the methods of filing and keeping a record of all messages studied should be followed wherever possible. The interchange of results between individuals and between offices should be encouraged and, in time of active operations, should be mandatory. An enemy may be using the same cipher in widely separated parts of the zone of operations and it is useless labor to have many cipher offices working on intercepted messages, all in the same cipher, when one office may have the solution that will apply to all of them.Cipher work requires concentration and quiet and often must proceed without regard to hours. The office should be chosen with these points in mind. A clerical force is desirable and even necessary if there is much work to do. The clerk or clerks can soon be trained to do the routine part of the analysis.It is believed that each Field Army should have such an office where all ciphers intercepted by forces under command of the Field Army Commander should be sent at once for examination. This work naturally falls to the Intelligence section of the General Staff at this headquarters. A special radio station, with receiving instruments only, should be an adjunct to this office and its function should be to copy all hostile radio messages whether in cipher or plain text. Such a radio station requires but a small antenna; one of the pack set type or any amateur’s antenna is sufficient, and the station instruments can be easily carried in a suit case. Three thoroughly competent operators should beprovided, so that the station can be “listening in” during the entire twenty-four hours.The office should be provided with tables of frequency of the language of the enemy, covering single letters and digraphs; a dictionary and grammar of that language; copies of the War Department Code, Western Union Code and any other available ones; types of apparatus or, at least, data on apparatus and cipher methods in use by the enemy; and a safe filing cabinet and card index for filing messages examined. A typewriter is also desirable.The office work on a cipher under examination should be done on paper of a standard and uniform size. Printed forms containing twenty-six ruled lines and a vertical alphabet are convenient and save time in preparation of frequency tables. Any new cipher methods which are found to be in use by the enemy should, when solved, be communicated to all similar offices in the Army for their information.Unless an enemy were exceedingly vigilant and changed keys and methods frequently, such an office would, in a few days, be in a position to disclose completely all intercepted cipher communications of the enemy with practically no delay.
Chapter IEquipment for Cipher Work
Success in dealing with unknown ciphers is measured by these four things in the order named; perseverance, careful methods of analysis, intuition, luck. The ability at least to read the language of the original text is very desirable but not essential.Cipher work will have little permanent attraction for one who expects results at once, without labor, for there is a vast amount of purely routine labor in the preparation of frequency tables, the rearrangement of ciphers for examination, and the trial and fitting of letter to letter before the message begins to appear.The methods of analysis given in these notes cover only the simpler varieties of cipher and it is, of course, impossible to enumerate all the varieties of these. It is believed that the methods laid down are sound and several years of successful work along this line would seem to confirm this belief. For more advanced work there is no recourse but to study the European authorities whose writings are mostly in French, German, and Italian and, unfortunately, are rarely available in English translations.Under intuition must be included a knowledge of the general situation and, if possible, the special situation which led to the sending of the cipher message. The knowledge or guess that a certain ciphermessagecontains a particular word, often leads to its solution.As to luck, there is the old miner’s proverb: “Gold is where you find it.”The equipment for an office, where much cipher work is handled, will now be considered. The casual worker with ciphers can get along with much less, but the methods of filing and keeping a record of all messages studied should be followed wherever possible. The interchange of results between individuals and between offices should be encouraged and, in time of active operations, should be mandatory. An enemy may be using the same cipher in widely separated parts of the zone of operations and it is useless labor to have many cipher offices working on intercepted messages, all in the same cipher, when one office may have the solution that will apply to all of them.Cipher work requires concentration and quiet and often must proceed without regard to hours. The office should be chosen with these points in mind. A clerical force is desirable and even necessary if there is much work to do. The clerk or clerks can soon be trained to do the routine part of the analysis.It is believed that each Field Army should have such an office where all ciphers intercepted by forces under command of the Field Army Commander should be sent at once for examination. This work naturally falls to the Intelligence section of the General Staff at this headquarters. A special radio station, with receiving instruments only, should be an adjunct to this office and its function should be to copy all hostile radio messages whether in cipher or plain text. Such a radio station requires but a small antenna; one of the pack set type or any amateur’s antenna is sufficient, and the station instruments can be easily carried in a suit case. Three thoroughly competent operators should beprovided, so that the station can be “listening in” during the entire twenty-four hours.The office should be provided with tables of frequency of the language of the enemy, covering single letters and digraphs; a dictionary and grammar of that language; copies of the War Department Code, Western Union Code and any other available ones; types of apparatus or, at least, data on apparatus and cipher methods in use by the enemy; and a safe filing cabinet and card index for filing messages examined. A typewriter is also desirable.The office work on a cipher under examination should be done on paper of a standard and uniform size. Printed forms containing twenty-six ruled lines and a vertical alphabet are convenient and save time in preparation of frequency tables. Any new cipher methods which are found to be in use by the enemy should, when solved, be communicated to all similar offices in the Army for their information.Unless an enemy were exceedingly vigilant and changed keys and methods frequently, such an office would, in a few days, be in a position to disclose completely all intercepted cipher communications of the enemy with practically no delay.
Success in dealing with unknown ciphers is measured by these four things in the order named; perseverance, careful methods of analysis, intuition, luck. The ability at least to read the language of the original text is very desirable but not essential.
Cipher work will have little permanent attraction for one who expects results at once, without labor, for there is a vast amount of purely routine labor in the preparation of frequency tables, the rearrangement of ciphers for examination, and the trial and fitting of letter to letter before the message begins to appear.
The methods of analysis given in these notes cover only the simpler varieties of cipher and it is, of course, impossible to enumerate all the varieties of these. It is believed that the methods laid down are sound and several years of successful work along this line would seem to confirm this belief. For more advanced work there is no recourse but to study the European authorities whose writings are mostly in French, German, and Italian and, unfortunately, are rarely available in English translations.
Under intuition must be included a knowledge of the general situation and, if possible, the special situation which led to the sending of the cipher message. The knowledge or guess that a certain ciphermessagecontains a particular word, often leads to its solution.
As to luck, there is the old miner’s proverb: “Gold is where you find it.”
The equipment for an office, where much cipher work is handled, will now be considered. The casual worker with ciphers can get along with much less, but the methods of filing and keeping a record of all messages studied should be followed wherever possible. The interchange of results between individuals and between offices should be encouraged and, in time of active operations, should be mandatory. An enemy may be using the same cipher in widely separated parts of the zone of operations and it is useless labor to have many cipher offices working on intercepted messages, all in the same cipher, when one office may have the solution that will apply to all of them.
Cipher work requires concentration and quiet and often must proceed without regard to hours. The office should be chosen with these points in mind. A clerical force is desirable and even necessary if there is much work to do. The clerk or clerks can soon be trained to do the routine part of the analysis.
It is believed that each Field Army should have such an office where all ciphers intercepted by forces under command of the Field Army Commander should be sent at once for examination. This work naturally falls to the Intelligence section of the General Staff at this headquarters. A special radio station, with receiving instruments only, should be an adjunct to this office and its function should be to copy all hostile radio messages whether in cipher or plain text. Such a radio station requires but a small antenna; one of the pack set type or any amateur’s antenna is sufficient, and the station instruments can be easily carried in a suit case. Three thoroughly competent operators should beprovided, so that the station can be “listening in” during the entire twenty-four hours.
The office should be provided with tables of frequency of the language of the enemy, covering single letters and digraphs; a dictionary and grammar of that language; copies of the War Department Code, Western Union Code and any other available ones; types of apparatus or, at least, data on apparatus and cipher methods in use by the enemy; and a safe filing cabinet and card index for filing messages examined. A typewriter is also desirable.
The office work on a cipher under examination should be done on paper of a standard and uniform size. Printed forms containing twenty-six ruled lines and a vertical alphabet are convenient and save time in preparation of frequency tables. Any new cipher methods which are found to be in use by the enemy should, when solved, be communicated to all similar offices in the Army for their information.
Unless an enemy were exceedingly vigilant and changed keys and methods frequently, such an office would, in a few days, be in a position to disclose completely all intercepted cipher communications of the enemy with practically no delay.