Station HYPO

Featured image: Captian Laurance Safford, USN
This five-part series is Captain Laurance Safford’s version of pre-Pearl Harbor communication intelligence history.  This paper was prepared between 21 and 27 March, 1952.

One of the first U.S. Naval Officers to specialize in the new field of cryptology, CAPT Safford headed the newly‑established Cryptographic Research Desk in the (OPNAV) Code and Signal Section from 1924‑1925. His efforts to improve U.S. communications security aided substantially in the development of machine ciphers. During World War II he served as Assistant Director of Naval Communications for Cryptologic Research. From 1949 through 1951 was Special Assistant to the Director, Armed Forces Security Agency. In 1958 Congress awarded him $100,000 for his wartime inventions in lieu of patents. He is remembered as one of the pioneers of naval cryptology.

CTO1 John Ball
August 31, 1950 – December 3, 1979 (Aged 29)

CTO1 John Ball, a communications supervisor and bus driver for the Navy while serving at NSGA Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico was killed by gunfire when terrorists attacked a bus  he was driving.  RM3 Emil White seated directly behind him was also killed and several other sailors on board the bus were injured. 

The ES-3A Shadow variant of the basic S-3 Viking airframe was a short-lived but immensely valuable and capable platform optimized for signals capture and analysis.

Chen Yixin, the Chinese minister of state security who has alarmed the West with his large-scale espionage offensive, promised his Cuban counterpart to increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation during a meeting in Beijing.