Operation Tinker Bell has Relocated to the Website!

Operation Tinkel Bell has moved to the Cipher Machines and Cryptology website. The move offers more flexibility for HTML and maintenance, and a broader audience. It's also easier to switch from the operation to the website for technical or historical research. If you love Cold War spy stories, secret operations and cryptology, then this is the perfect mix for many exciting hours.

The year is 1964 and Operation Tinker Bell takes place at the height of the Cold War. You have been assigned to the operation as COMSEC officer, and your task is to decrypt the message traffic between intelligence agencies, their stations abroad and agents in the field. All required crypto tools, keys and clear instructions are provided. You get the proper training to work with the TSEC/KL-7 crypto machine, intercept numbers stations broadcasts, and use one-time pad encryption.

You experience spy tradecraft, operations behind the Iron Curtain, illegal border crossings, fake passports and safe houses. CIA transmitter sites in West Germany provide support, and the dreaded East-German Stasi and Czech StB secret police are some of your opponents. British intelligence helps to arrange clandestine meetings, the U.S. Army Security Agency provides SIGINT support and some USMLM operations don't take the rules of engagement too seriously.

Click the banner and join the operation!

The Cold War at its best, with authentic details, many historical photos, and as real as it gets. If you successfully decrypt all messages, your name is engraved in the Wall of Honor. However, this operation is no walk in the park, and failure is not an option. Read up on the operation in the briefing room, and be prepared.

Podcast Nuggets Episode 11

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We're back with Podcast Nuggets, but this time only two podcasts due to some radio silence. You're nevertheless in for a treat. The first one is from Katerina Urban Richterova, the Slovak award-winning radio journalist and reporter who also worked for the New York Times, CNN, BBC, ARTE, and many more. She's well informed and a joy to listen to. Unlike usual, we don't suggest an episode, but recommend listening to her full podcast series. Somehow, I managed to miss the start of this series in 2020 but it's never too late to discover podcast gems. There's also a fascinating Spycraft 101 episode on Area 51.

The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance is a Cold War podcast series, but not about the usual main opponents, although they might be involved in some cases. If we talk about the Cold War, most people know the rivalry between the Unites States, Russia, and later China. However, many lesser known Asian, African and South American countries were also affected and, willingly or not, actively involved in the Cold War. Yet they are barely mentioned in the archives. Katarina interviews researchers about those unknown people and their stories. You can listen to the complete series, including bonus episodes, on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Katarina's podcast page, but make sure to go back to the Episode 1 introduction, and start with the first interviews of the series. Bonus episodes are also available, and it took a while, but Season 2 is underway...

SPYCRAFT 101 The Real Secrets of Area 51. Peter Merlin is an author, historian, freelance researcher, and writer. He also worked as historian and archivist at NASA for more than 30 years and has been researching and writing about Area 51 for many years and compiled all his knowledge in his book Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51, a massive 560 pages work with more than 700 images. In the podcast he talks about the early beginnings of the CIA's Area 51, the development of cutting-edge aircraft technology, and some of the most iconic airplanes ever built. Peter also debunks some of the conspiracy theories. He documented Area 51 from its early beginnings, when it was little more than a dry lakebed, through its growth as CIA facility to develop and test cutting-edge aircraft technology. Great interview with new insights and facts.

Ralph Simpson on Cracking the Enigma

Ralph Simpson was speaker of the month at the California Historical Radio Society where he gave a talk on the early development of encryption devices. He focused on the Enigma cipher machine, its inventors and patents, and its use by the German military during the Second World War. He also explains why the machine was considered unbreakable, but eventually proved to be the Achilles' heel of the German armed forces during the Second World War.

Ralph had a career in the computer industry but also developed a passion for old cipher machines and their history. He is a respected member of the cryptologic history community and runs a website with a wealth of historical crypto devices and equipment for secret communications, all accompanied by technical details and relevant historical information. Be sure to visit his website Cipher History.

A Call to Former KL-7 and KL-47 Operators

TSEC/KL-7 © Dirk Rijmenants

The TSEC/KL-7 crypto machine was developed by the Army Security Agency (ASA) and Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) under the name AFSAM-7, and introduced in 1953 by the National Security Agency (NSA) into the U.S. Army and Air Force, and later also into the CIA and FBI. The machine also served in all NATO forces, their embassies and some state departments. The U.S. Navy AFSAM-47B, later known as TSEC/KL-47, was compatible with the KL-7. The last machines  retired in the early 1980s. It's been little over 40 years ago that the last machines left the service and time is running out to document first-hand accounts on these machines.

If you are a retired signals veteran with experience on the KL-7 or KL-47 as operator or technician, a member of a signals association or organization, or worked in the communications section of a state department that used the KL-7, then contact us through our website to document your story. The KL-7 is fully declassified and we're not interested in classified information, we only want to preserve the cryptologic history of these Cold War icons.

Besides the United States, the KL-7 was also used by its NATO allies Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal and Turkey. Outside NATO, the KL-7 was also on loan to South Korea, South Vietnam and Taiwan. If you're a signals veteran from any of these countries, a state department or embassy in the 1950s to 1980s era, then contact us, or spread the word.

Unfortunately, time is running out to document first-hand accounts, as the people involved are age seventy or older, and memories fade. Please share this request with all signals communities that might have former KL-7 or KL-47 operators and technicians. Those who share their story retain full control over the content and how it is published.

Let's preserve cryptologic history!

Visit the U.S. TSEC/KL-7 ADONIS & POLLUX webpage to learn more about the KL-7, its development, technical details and full history, including some first-hand accounts, also shown below, to get an idea of the kind of stories we hope to document. You can contact us through the contact page on our website Cipher Machines and Cryptology.

• KL-7 in Vietnam - COMSEC Support at Air Base Saigon
• OTT Mixers and the KL-7 at NATO in West Germany
• The KL-7 on Merchant Ships during the Falklands War 
• History of the TSEC/KL-7 ADONIS & POLLUX (full history)
  

Enjoy reading!

Martin Gillow's Virtual Colossus and Other Machines

The Virtual Colossus
© Image Martin Gillow

The history of crypto equipment is quite fascinating, but diving into the archives, searching for historical publications, or collecting those old machines is not everyone’s cup of tea. Luckily, we have a community, dedicated to preserving the history of old crypto equipment, research the technical details, publish their history and operational use, and bring those old crypto machines back to life, either physically, which can be quite expensive, or virtually though software simulations.

Writing software that works exactly like the real crypto machine requires extensive study of the original machine, its mechanical and/or electrical properties, and many hours to write the software that reproduces the plaintext or ciphertext exactly like the original machine. However, you could take it one step further, and make a virtual three-dimensional machine where you can manipulate all components and encrypt, decrypt or break messages, just like the wartime operators.

Martin Gillow created a website with no less than ten 3D simulations. The virtual British Colossus machine is the first ever digital computer, developed in WW2 to break the German Lorenz SZ40/42 encrypted telex, of which he also created a virtual version. There’s also the virtual Enigma machine, and the Bombe that was used by the Bletchley Park codebreakers to decrypt the German Enigma messages.

Hagelin's U.S. M-209
© Image Martin Gillow

Also the British Typex machine and the U.S. M-209, developed by the renown Swedish engineer Boris Hagelin, have their 3D version. Moreover, the collection includes the ICT 1301 ”Flossie” second-generation computer, the E.R.N.I.E electronic random number generator, and the American crib dragging machine Dragon that helped to break the Lorenz messages.

Of course, the countless hours of work by Martin to research and study those machines, and write accurate 3D versions, is just enormous, and makes this 3D collection simply unaffordable… unless you just want to preserve and share the history of old crypto machines, and make the simulations available to everyone for free. A big Thank You to Martin for creating all those virtual machines, and for being part of that small community, dedicated to preserve cryptologic history.

Make sure to scroll all the way down his main page, to find all virtual 3D simulations and read the various tutorials on how to use them. Also click the relevant "find out more" buttons to learn about each machine and its history. Visit the Virtual Colossus website.

 

Highly recommended, and no better day than D-day to share Martin's work and commemorate all codebreakers.