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1927: Elizebeth Friedman - cryptanalyst with Bureau of Prohibition

Friday, May 10, 2024

10 May 1927: Elizebeth S. Friedman was appointed as a cryptanalyst for the Bureau of Prohibition.

The national headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) named its auditorium for Elizebeth Smith Friedman on June 17, 2014. ATF honored Mrs. Friedman as America’s first federal law enforcement cryptologist and a pioneer in intelligence-led policing. Elizebeth Friedman was employed at various times by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Prohibition and Bureau of Customs, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and the International Monetary Fund. She served the nation as a cryptologist in both World Wars, and in the period between she won distinction for her work on international drug and liquor smuggling cases.

Excerpt below is from, "Cracking the Code," Published in March 2014 by "The Hillsdale Collegian."

During the interwar period and the Prohibition era, Elizebeth cracked rum runners’ codes and served as a government witness across the country, making her the most famous cryptographer in the United States.

The United States Coast Guard credits her with deciphering over 12,000 encoded radio missions and calls her “one of the most remarkable women to ever work for the U.S. Government.”

“Her testimony won these cases for the government,” said Barbara Osteika, a historian at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Once she talks through the codes, they’re like confessions.”

While reading through case files, Osteika often found comments from prosecutors that read something like, “If it was not for her testimony, this case would be lost,” she said.

Elizebeth was pivotal in the case against Consolidated Export Company (CONEXCO), “million dollar liquor ring” connected to Al Capone, as well as the famous “I’m Alone” case, in which the U.S. Coast Guard scuttled a ship sailing under a Canadian flag and launched an international incident. She was even loaned out to the Canadian government in the late 30s to help break a ring of opium smugglers.

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