Fwd: [IP] WORTH READING Shawn Wylie, Bletchley Park

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From: David Farber Date: November 2, 2009 7:24:34 AM GMT-04:00 To: "ip" Subject: [IP] WORTH READING Shawn Wylie, Bletchley Park

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From: Doug Humphrey Date: November 1, 2009 9:17:13 PM EST To: dave@farber.net Cc: "ip" Subject: Re: [IP] Shawn Wylie, Bletchley Park

for IP

On this general topic, a story.

On one of my first companies (Digex) we used a law firm in DC and one of the lawyers we used there (I will not use names here - not important) had a mother who was at Bletchley Park, and the NSA Crypto Museum was relatively new, and very much "undiscovered" and of course had an Enigma that you could (and still can) touch and key - so we thought it would be great fun to have her up for a visit when she was in town. She loved the idea, I was told (having not at that point spoken directly with her)

Once she was there, and saw it there, in the open, where anyone could see it, she felt sick and disoriented and one of the docents got her into a little conference room there and got her some water and things returned to normal - she waited outside for everyone to finish their (somewhat truncated) tour and they headed back to DC.

she said that she just could not reconcile it being there where anyone could see it and know about it - so much was it drummed into them that this was Most Secret, the ultimate secret, the holy of holies, and never ever ever to be spoken of.

They were, quite possibly, saving the planet; and this was the secret, and they were the keepers. In this day of bragging in order to get ones 15 minutes of fame and fortune, we should feel fortunate that there were (and hopefully still are) those who can keep their secrets.

(oh, and Hi David ;-)

doug

On Nov 1, 2009, at 8:50 PM, David Farber wrote:

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "David Lesher" Date: November 1, 2009 8:20:37 PM EST To: dave@farber.net (David Farber) Subject: Shawn Wylie, Bletchley Park

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/27/shaun-wylie- obituary>

"Except for Turing, no one made a bigger contribution to the success of Hut 8 than Wylie; he was easily the best all-rounder in the section, astonishingly quick and resourceful."

The secrecy surrounding the code-breaking at Bletchley Park during the second world war was such that, when restrictions were lifted and the importance of the work became widely known decades later, many of those involved were rather put out by attempts from journalists and historians to pierce their silence. The mathematician and cryptanalyst Shaun Wylie, who has died aged 96, became a reluctant celebrity with his insider's perspective on Station X's achievements.

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