Journal of Strategic Security
Volume 10 | Number 3 Article 7
Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and
the Secret Intelligence War Against the
Soviet Union. By Stephen Budiansky.
New York, NY. Borzoi Book, Published
by Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Random
House, New York, 2016.
Ed Urie
Henley-Putnam University
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pp. 94-95
Recommended Citation
Urie, Ed. "Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the
Soviet Union. By Stephen Budiansky. New York, NY. Borzoi Book, Published by Alfred A.
Knopf, Penguin Random House, New York, 2016.." Journal of Strategic Security 10, no. 3
(2017): : 94-95.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.10.3.1641
Available at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol10/iss3/7
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in
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Urie: Book Review: Code Warriors
Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence
War Against the Soviet Union. By Stephen Budiansky. New
York, NY. Borzoi Book, Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin
Random House, New York, 2016. ISBN 978-0--385-35266-
6. Pictures. Graphs. Notes. Appendices. Index. Sources Cited.
Pp. xix, 310. $30.00.
By its title, and especially its subtitle, one would expect this book to be
primarily about the National Security Agency, an in-depth history of this
major element of the US Defense Department and
Intelligence Community. In fact, the largest portions of the book, and
possibly the most interesting, provide detailed information about codes and
ciphers, which might be expected, and the many factors, histories, and
environments of the Soviet Union, Russia, Vietnam, and both North and
South Korea during critical historic periods.
The focus on codes and ciphers, both in the text and in the series of
appendices, is detailed and extensive. These portions provide everything
from the basic to the most complex analyses of code and cipher technology,
ranging from the reasonably simple to the ultimate in complexity. Some of
the processes described are of the type that would make a reader want to
encrypt any personal financial or other sensitive documents using a described
process. Others are so complex that one would expect to have advanced
degrees in mathematics and extensive experience in alphabetic manipulation
to understand. In either case these descriptions clearly show the potential
effectiveness and complexity of the use of codes and ciphers to protect
information, as well as their potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
The discussions about various geographic areas, nations, and
political motivations are wide-ranging, clear, and perceptive. The
perspectives of Marxist-Leninist ideologies are clearly and pointedly,
described. The information about the order from the 1948 Soviet military
administration in Germany that effectively established the wall between East
and West Berlin is extremely interesting. The map and information about the
flight path of the US Navy PB4Y-2 electronic surveillance plane shot down by
the Soviets off the coast of Latvia on April 8, 1950, is especially interesting to
those concerned with military events. The author also provides a discussion
of events that followed the end of World War II resulting in the Korean
peninsula’s division into North and South Korea, and which ultimately led to
our involvement in the Korean War. Also discussed in good detail are the
events leading to and during the Vietnam conflict.
94
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Journal of Strategic Security, Vol. 10, No. 3
The author's somewhat detailed review of the emergence of the National
Security Agency following code and cipher activities of the World Wars is very
attention grabbing, although somewhat misleading. This discussion, and that
of NSA in the present time, is clearly based on unclassified, declassified, and
open source materials, to which there are frequent and numerous references
throughout the text. Most likely the author has never held the high security
clearances that would be needed to fully understand the NSA mission,
operations, failures, and successes, as he repeatedly makes somewhat false or
misleading comments about the objectives and the intentions of NSA
operations and people. For example, the author claims that at one period
many operations personnel were so disturbed by agency activities that they
moved from operations to the personnel organization. According to reliable,
fully cleared individuals, this simply did not happen. Such incorrect
statements are only representative of an obviously negative view of the
National Security Agency apparently inspired by lack of real information on
that subject that pervades the book. What is lost is the recognition that
keeping sensitive information from the public is a necessity in order
to prevent exposure of that information to our enemies.
In short, the book is both interesting and informative in the presentations
about codes, ciphers, and national political motivations in
history. Regarding the inherent nature of the National Security Agency,
though, it is totally incorrect and misleading.
Ed Urie, Henley-Putnam University
95
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DOI: http://doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.10.3.1641
