Obituary
Thomas A. Prugh, 81, who was assistant director for science and technology at the National Security Agency when he retired in the 1970s, died of pneumonia April 14, 2002 at the Manor Care nursing facility in Silver Spring, MD.
Mr. Prugh worked for the NSA and its predecessor agencies from 1946 to 1975, except for a stint in the 1950s when he was a research scientist for the National Bureau of Standards. He subsequently was a consultant for the National Research Council and a researcher for the Institute for Defense Analyses from the late 1970s until retiring a second time in 1986.
Mr. Prugh, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati. He served as a captain in the Army Signal Corps during World War II. He moved to the Washington area in the 1940s and lived in Arlington before settling in Silver Spring in the 1950s. At the Bureau of Standards in the 1950s, he helped to develop microelectronics that were put to intelligence and military uses.
At the NSA, he designed digital electronic circuits for speech security and managed a research laboratory for high-speed computation. He served in the 1970s as commandant of the NSA’s super-secret National Cryptologic School. Mr. Prugh received the agency’s Exceptional Civilian Service Award in 1970 (see photo).
He was a member of the Phoenix Society, the Association of Foreign Intelligence Officers and the Institute of Electronic Engineers and was a volunteer historian at the National Cryptologic Museum. He also was a member of Argyle Country Club.
His wife Frances Prugh, whom he married in 1945, died in 1998. Survivors include a daughter, Amy Jo Prugh of Silver Spring; a brother; and a sister.
Excerpt from a 1970 NSA Newsletter article: Thomas A. Prugh Presented Award For Exceptional Civilian Service
Thomas A. Prugh, Assistant Director, NSA, for Science and Technology, was presented the Agency’s Exceptional Civilian Service Award by Vice Admiral Noel Gayler, USN, DIRNSA.
Mr. Prugh has served United States cryptology with distinction for twenty years. Early in his career he was personally responsible for developing new special equipment and for leading a group that conducted pioneering research.
While working for the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Labs, 1951-1958, Mr. Prugh and four associates were awarded $5,000 each by the government for a microelectronics research project that produced breakthroughs in electronic circuitry of far-reaching value to United States space exploration, to the military forces, and to the entire electronics industry. He also received two smaller awards from the U.S. Army.
Prugh conducted the planning, technical forecasting and coordination related to major technical programs. Mr. Prugh holds several patents for his inventions and has written a number of technical articles.
A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineers, Mr. Prugh also belongs to the Association of Computing Machinery, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Eta Kappa Nu.