Dear CIA: Hire My Boy

I found this letter on the CREST database and thought it entertaining. It was written by Howard V. Fisher to the Director of Central Intelligence complaining that his son was not given a position with the Armed Forces Security Agency despite the qualifications that his father lays out in the letter. 

I am not familiar with the culture of the American Intelligence Community, but I cannot help but believe that having your daddy write a whining letter lobbying for you having a job can only kill your chances at employment, particularly an agency as secrecy-sensitive as the NSA precursor.

Howard V. Fisher Letter to Director of Central Intelligence by

Sixteen Trillion Transactions

Acxiom processed 16 trillion transactions last year and has petabites of information under management. It’s selling its services to the NSA

Acxiom ARC Entry 

"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

NSA History Rocks Blog Post on the Zodiac Killer by