Code Talkers

Encryption plays a major role in the flow of sensitive information on the Internet. Most of us are unaware of what encryption is or what role it plays in our everyday online existence. The next time you are sitting at your computer, on Google Chrome or Firefox browser, notice the tiny lock next the URL or the address of the site you are on. That lock means your connection is secure and encrypted. Unlike the words on this page, what is transmitted through the Internet looks more like this “WTq8zYcZfaWVvMncigHqwQ”, with differing encryption strengths and acronyms such as AES and RSA. What you type is encrypted when you press enter and is decrypted at your destination server back into English.

November is Native American Heritage Month. During World War I and primarily during World War II, Native American soldiers fluent in both English and tribal languages were enlisted as Code Talkers. Code talking is a form of encryption, used before computers took over to transmit secret messages. Code talkers were assigned in pairs, one at each end of the conversation, using Native American words to essentially encrypt secret messages and keep them out of the hands of the enemy. Initially a Native language word was used for each letter of the English Alphabet, for example the letter A would be encrypted as “wo-la-chee” in Navajo. Later sophistication combined direct translation of English words into Native words. The code they developed remained unbroken through the end of WWII.

Code talkers from at least 14 Native nations such as Navajo, Choktaw, Cherokee, Lakota and Cree were enlisted by different branches of the military. They had to keep their work secret and didn’t receive recognition of their contribution to the war effort until information was declassified in 1968. Among several recognition ceremonies in the years since, the original 29 World War II Navajo code talkers were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2000.

Submidtted by: Zareh Marselian