DOCID_4110872_SEALED_OK.PDF

Doc ID: 4110872                                      Doc Ref ID: A3619231
(U) Cryptologic Almanac soth Anniversary Series 
(U) POLYGLOT: The Meredith Gardner Story 
(U) The photograph may look "umeal" to today's viewers, but it, like many others taken 
during World War II at Arlington Hall Station, reflected wartime realities. The picture 
displays a spacious room with a large number of women sitting around tables, busily 
employed with their paperwork; in a comer of the room sits one male, wearing a dark suit, 
the only member of his sex in sight. 
(U) Reproduced in many recent books about co…

Doc ID: 4110872                                      Doc Ref ID: A3619231
to work on the Russian problem. In January 1946 he was assigned to work on what later 
came to be known as VEN ONA, and spent most of the next twenty-seven years on one 
aspect or another of this project. 
(U) The VENONA project actually began during World War II and continued into the 
postwar period. The United States, needing information about Moscow's diplomatic policy 
that the secretive Soviets would not share even with their wartime ally, began to analyze 
traffic that was believed to be diplomatic correspondence …

Doc ID: 4110872                                      Doc Ref ID: A3619231
Army Security Agency to proceed with the project and to take it to their seniors. 
(U) At the highest levels of the Army, a decision was made to clear some individuals at the 
FBI for the decrypted espionage messages. This was done, and, in addition to the higher-
ups, a working-level liaison officer was selected. 
(U) Gardner worked closely with the FBI liaison to Arlington Hall, Robert Lamphere. 
While VENONA decrypts were an invaluable tool for FBI investigations, this was a two-
way street -- FBI information on the p…

Doc ID: 4110872                                      Doc Ref ID: A3619231
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Last Modified: by nsr 
Last Reviewed: February 28, 2003 
Next Review: 365 days