The Navajo/Na Dene codetalkers (WW II) developed a real arcane jargon, so I was told. Maybe it was because the conditions of war were completely different than their language's environment so they were forced to invent words, or maybe they thought it was a good idea, or whatever. But I believe transcripts of their transmissions are often mostly unintelligible to native Navajo speakers who weren't in the know.
It is my understanding that the codetalkers invented very few new words, they simply combined the words they already had to create descriptions of things that the language was never meant for. One of the reasons they were so successful was that more than one phrase could mean the same thing. For example, both "A flock of eagles with fire in their bellies is coming from the rising sun" and "Many birds are flying from the east to rain fire on you" Could reliably be translated to "There are bombers coming from the east" Add some new words for specifics that you needed (like altitudes and compass directions) and the codetalkers presented the bad guys with a language that was completely unrelated to anything they had heard before. Also (I copied this from RSA) "The Navaho language is so difficult to learn and its linguistics are so complex that it is virtually impossible for a non-native speaker to counterfeit its sounds. Furthermore, Navaho seems to have no linguistic connections to any other Asian or European language. Consequently, at any given time, there are only a few thousand people capable of speaking the tongue. For these reasons, the U.S. military made extensive use of hundreds of Native American codetalkers . During World War II, Navaho codetalkers relayed operational orders in the Pacific theater with a level of security that was unattainable by current encryption algorithms. The Japanese signal corps task was further complicated by the codetalkers liberal mix-in of Navaho and military slang resulting in a communications network so secure that it was, in fact, never compromised by Axis powers." In my stone age level of Crypto understanding I would liken this to having a public key that was the Navajo culture and an algorithm to process it that only runs on the human brain. Makes me wonder when somebody will set two AI computers down and tell them to invent a code we can't break. dwl@hnc.com David Loysen 619-546-8877 x245
Is there any indication that the GRU or Chinese or Iranian intelligence (I think these are our only foes nowadays who have blue-water {to mix a metaphor} spook services) could do better than the Japanese did in sigint'ing against human speakers of Navajoe? Is the Navajo language still extent among draft-age men? Life in the Southwest has changed considerably since 1943.
Alan: On Sat, 30 Mar 1996, Alan Horowitz wrote:
Is there any indication that the GRU or Chinese or Iranian intelligence (I think these are our only foes nowadays who have blue-water {to mix a
What about the Allies, and alleged allies of the US. Canada, Britian, Israel? << Why assume that only non-allies will want to conduct any sort of sigint against human speakers of Navajo.
metaphor} spook services) could do better than the Japanese did in sigint'ing against human speakers of Navajoe?
Have the Chinese turned their thought towards cryptography, or cryptanalysis yet? If so, I suspect the answer is yes, If not, then the answer is a definate No. The Chinese Intelligence Service traditionally has not looked outward, preferring to ply its trade domestically. That said, the earliest extant text on espionage is Chinese.
Is the Navjo language still extent among draft-age men? Life in the Southwest has changed considerably since 1943.
I suspect more anglos can speak Navajo now, than during WW2 -- both numerically, and as a percentage of the population. << Some americans do think a second languages is useful, unlike some people on this list. Admittedly, the US still has a far way to catchup to the European idea of what a literate person is. >> xan jonathon grafolog@netcom.com
On Sat, 30 Mar 1996, Jonathon Blake wrote:
Alan:
On Sat, 30 Mar 1996, Alan Horowitz wrote:
metaphor} spook services) could do better than the Japanese did in sigint'ing against human speakers of Navajoe?
Have the Chinese turned their thought towards cryptography, or cryptanalysis yet? If so, I suspect the answer is yes, If not, then the answer is a definate No.
The Chinese Intelligence Service traditionally has not looked outward, preferring to ply its trade domestically. That said, the earliest extant text on espionage is Chinese.
This is not strictly true. The Chinese are widely reputed to have penetrated both Japanese and Russian services quite completely. Their industrial espionage has been far reaching (United States, U.K., Germany) and their political disruptive and fund raising activites have included fully funding arms dealers in California and all over the western United States. In the mid 80s several "former" Chinese intelligence officers appeared in California and opened gun shops. Their prices on Chinese made weapons were so low that compeditors couldn't figure out how it was done. Finally someone did some poking around and found that the Chinese government was literally giving the weapons to the agents, allowing them to keep something like 80% of the profits. Really quite a clever (and typically communist) scheme. "The capitalist pigs will destroy themselves with our guns and pay us for the favor. Muahahah!" 20/20 and Frontline both did pieces on the operation. Bottom line: The Chinese have often extended their intelligence operations beyond their borders, even boldly.
xan
jonathon grafolog@netcom.com
--- My preferred and soon to be permanent e-mail address:unicorn@schloss.li "In fact, had Bancroft not existed, potestas scientiae in usu est Franklin might have had to invent him." in nihilum nil posse reverti 00B9289C28DC0E55 E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information
Black Unicorn wrote: [..]
Bottom line: The Chinese have often extended their intelligence operations beyond their borders, even boldly.
I remember after Tiannamen Sq. many protests/meetings help by Chinese were semi-secret or they did their best to keep cameras out, or in many of the public ones people disquised themselves (from wigs and makeup to outright bandanas or bags over their faces) because of fear that the Chinese authorities would see them and persecute relatives who were still there. ObCPunk: Anonimity is important not just in the cybernetic aether.
participants (5)
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Alan Horowitz -
Black Unicorn -
David Loysen -
Jonathon Blake -
Mutant Rob