Cryptologic Dates in History Calendar

"On This Date in Cryptologic History" Calendar

Learn about a wide variety of historical events related to cryptology, computers, math, cybersecurity, Intelligence, and more.

January 2026

This Month

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28	29	30	Dec 31	Jan 1	2	3
				1599: Birth date of Antoine Rossignol	1980: NSA Office of Policy mandated use of term "Service Cryptologic Element."	1977: NARA assigned Record Group 457 to declassified NSA records.
				1921: William Friedman began 6 month contract with Army Signal Corps		1962: Marine cryptologists in Vietnam.
				1962: Lt Gen Gordon A. Blake, USAF, became DIRNSA.
				1977: U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command established.

4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1957: MG Gordon Blake named Commander, AF Security Service	1924: Laurance Safford named OIC, Navy Cryptographic Branch.	1838: Alfred Vail uses dots & dashes			1942: Jerzy Różycki, Polish Cipher Bureau mathematician, died.	1996: Louis Tordella, long-time D/DIRNSA died.

11	12	13	14	15	16	17
		2003: First "History Today" article on NSA Daily Page.	1944: BRUSA Agreement	1977: 56-bit Data Encryption Standard published.	1898: Publication of a new War Department Telegraphic Code was authorized.	1917: Zimmermann Telegram
			1978: Brig Gen Ardisana Died on this Date			1991: Operation DESERT STORM began.

18	19	20	21	22	23	24
1859: Alfred Vail, co-inventor of the telegraph, died.	1944: 9th Infantry Division of the Australian Army captured Japanese cryptographic library.	1981: Iran released U.S. hostages.		1988: DIRNSA and OPSEC training.	1941: Eligible readers of "Magic" intercept are established.	1918: Arthur Scherbius received patent for ENIGMA.
1918: German spy Lothar Witzke was arrested carrying a coded message.	1998: U.S. cryptologic pioneer Abraham Sinkov died.				1968: North Koreans captured USS Pueblo.	1915: Battle Of Dogger Bank

25	26	27	28	29	30	Jan 31
1987: Navy EA-3B recon aircraft crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.		1973: Paris Peace Accords signed.	28 Jan 1986: Remembering the Challenger and her Crew	1943: New Zealand corvettes disable Japanese submarine and seize codebooks.	1968: Tet offensive in Vietnam began.	1992: 'The Federal Register' published details for the Secure Hash Standard (SHA).
		1975: Church Committee began investigation of U.S. Intelligence Community.

1980: NSA Office of Policy mandated use of term "Service Cryptologic Element."

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1957: MG Gordon Blake named Commander, AF Security Service

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1924: Laurance Safford named OIC, Navy Cryptographic Branch.

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1838: Alfred Vail uses dots & dashes

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1942: Jerzy Różycki, Polish Cipher Bureau mathematician, died.

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1996: Louis Tordella, long-time D/DIRNSA died.

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2003: First "History Today" article on NSA Daily Page.

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1977: 56-bit Data Encryption Standard published.

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1898: Publication of a new War Department Telegraphic Code was authorized.

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1981: Iran released U.S. hostages.

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1988: DIRNSA and OPSEC training.

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1987: Navy EA-3B recon aircraft crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.

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28 Jan 1986: Remembering the Challenger and her Crew

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1943: New Zealand corvettes disable Japanese submarine and seize codebooks.

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1968: Tet offensive in Vietnam began.

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1992: 'The Federal Register' published details for the Secure Hash Standard (SHA).

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