Saturday, January 19, 2013

"The Murderous Cryptographer:" An NSA History of the Zodiac Killer


Despite an established tendency by law enforcement of the era to turn to NSA for cryptographic assistance, it appears that the NSA’s prowess were never brought to bear on the Zodiac Killer who from 1963-1975 murdered at least seven individuals and taunted law enforcement with a series of encrypted letters that contained details of his case and, allegedly, his identity.  In fact, this record is sole document released in response to a FOIA request seeking all NSA records pertaining to the Zodiac Killer.

As for the NSA’s blog post, it is a disappointment. Writing for a knowledgeable audience, it leaves cryptographic terms undefined.  Also, there is little NSA- specific knowledge in the article. It’s just a brief general history post that could have been written by anyone with a basic familiarity with the Zodiac Killer case.

(1) See James Bamford's The Puzzle Palace, pg. 470-474

2 comments:

  1. We've invited the clever Kai Nagata, the revolutionary canadian journalist onto the show. I felt that we'd need a journalist to figure out the nature of that which could not be seen but which clearly exists. titanium vs tungsten

    ReplyDelete
  2. This new crime suspense thriller novel advances fresh new heretofore un-investigated plausible LEADS(not far-fetched theories or outlandish suspects)in this case, check it out:

    http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/san-franciscos-finest-joseph-jr-covino/1112187069?ean=9780943283333

    ReplyDelete