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American Cryptology during the Cold War - The Black Vault

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Ib) (1)<br />

Ib) (3) -50 USC 403<br />

Ib) (3) -18 USC 798<br />

(3) -P.L. 86-36<br />

As NSA struggled with <strong>the</strong><br />

problem, two camps formeq<br />

concerning <strong>the</strong> prospects for success. <strong>The</strong> first group felt/that <strong>the</strong> effort was hopeless and<br />

should not be funded. <strong>The</strong> 1957Baker Panel leaned toward this viewpoint. <strong>The</strong> committee.<br />

recommended that an effort be kept alivel<br />

I<br />

lOut it was pessif-m-l':""' s"':'tI':""' c-a"":b-o-u"":-t"":l-o-n-g--r-a-n-g-e-c":"h-a-n-c-e-s"::fo-r-s-u-c-c-e-ss-."l!' 6ir--+-<br />

A second group felt that <strong>the</strong> United States would never know whe<strong>the</strong>r it would be:<br />

possible or not because of inadequacies at NSA. /<strong>The</strong> organization was too skewed toward<br />

military manning, was not hirin <strong>the</strong> ri ht .k.inds of civilians, and did not have an<br />

adequate budget.<br />

This opinion was well entrenched at CIA/and was led by former NSAer Frank<br />

Rowlett. A variant on this interpretationwas offered by <strong>the</strong> Baker Panel, which suggested<br />

that <strong>the</strong> internal NSA structure could /hot cope with <strong>the</strong> complexities of high-grade<br />

systems. That job should be given/entirely ito a Los Alamos-style civilian research<br />

institute. 62<br />

"-------'<br />

But within NSA itself <strong>the</strong>re/was a strong undercurrent of disagreement with both<br />

camps. Representative of this view was <strong>the</strong> report ofa committee chaired in 1956 by Navy<br />

captain Jack Holtwick. Holtwick felt that a concentrated attack would yield enough<br />

lalone to justify <strong>the</strong> effort, and he recommended a<br />

massive computer attack. Such a super-high-speed computer would cost in <strong>the</strong><br />

neighborhood of$5 miIlio.h per year, a considerable sum in those days.<br />

NSA would<br />

~-:;====::::;7:7'==U-:=;~:":""L:'::":":"'7::-;::-::-:=-===-::;:;::'-=-=~=<br />

nee1<br />

~nd would probably have to have some of <strong>the</strong> work done at a private<br />

research organization (<strong>the</strong> Los Alamos option again)·1<br />

I<br />

I<br />

r<br />

I<br />

IIANBLFJ 'lb\ ~""LFJN~U:flYII6Ltl e6MIn'f e6U'fft6L ST[S'ftlMStf6IIffbY<br />

NOT REI Ii: Ai,) il:r..g 'l'Q F8aBI8N HA'f16H}[LS<br />

186

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