The symposium is presented every two years by the National Security Agency's Center for Cryptologic History (CCH). The historians of the CCH will be joined by historians from other branches of the U.S. government and from distinguished academic institutions in the U.S. and from abroad. The theme of this year's symposium will be "The Cold War and Cryptology." One entire day will be devoted to exploring VENONA, the American cryptologic effort that uncovered Soviet espionage efforts against the U.S. during World War II. Historians from NSA, the FBI, the Library of Congress, and several academic institutions will present new insights into this fascinating triumph of American cryptology, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the declassification of VENONA documents.
The second day of the symposium will explore a variety of topics, including how Presidents Truman and Eisenhower viewed and used signals intelligence. We will also look at a number of other espionage cases that involved cryptology, and will gain the unique perspective of "hearing from the other side" as a Dutch historian discusses the perspective of Holland on one case, using recently declassified documents from the Netherlands. The less traditional side of historical research will also be represented, with a presentation from a professional game developer and a look into the cryptologic aspects of "From Russia with Love"
This year the conference will be at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. I wonder if I'll get to tour anything interesting . . .
