“Codebreaking and Codemaking Down Under” – with John Blaxland and Clare Birgin

Summary

John Blaxland (X, LinkedIn) and Clare Birgin (Wikipedia, LinkedIn) join Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss Australian codebreaking. John and Clare are coauthors of the new book Revealing Secrets. 

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• The importance of SIGINT
• Codebreaking in Australian intelligence
• Australia’s role in WWII and the Cold War
• The advent and evolution of cyber 

Reflections

• Strategic defense and offense 
• The power, and danger, of communication

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

"What I've noticed with the Australians, and I think it's similar in the other the other Five Eyes countries, these people tend to be quite patriotic to do [Signals Intelligence]. They want to, they love their country, and it also seems to preserve very good qualities.” -Clare Birgin.

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*Spotlight Resource* 

• Revealing Secrets: An unofficial history of Australian Signals intelligence and the advent of cyber, Clare Birgin and John Blaxland (University of New South Wales Press, 2023) 

*SpyCasts*

• I Helped Solve the Final Zodiac Killer Cipher with David Oranchak (2024)
• Australian National Day Special: Intelligence Down Under with John Blaxland (2024)
• My Father the Navajo Code-Talker with Laura Tohe (2023) 
• CYBER AUGUST: “So, You Want to Be a Codebreaker?” with Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh (2021) 

*Beginner Resources*

• Australia's Involvement in WWII, Australian Broadcasting Service, YouTube (2020) [4 min. video]
• A short history of cyber espionage, D. O’Brien, Medium (2017) [Short article]
• Signals Intelligence (SINGINT) Overview, National Security Agency (n.d.) [Short article]

DEEPER DIVE

Primary Sources 

• WMD Report (2005) 
• The ANZUS Treaty (1951)
• Role and effectiveness of Signals Intelligence in World War II (1945)
• The Atlantic Charter (1941)
• The Zimmerman Telegram (1917)
• Oral History by Ruby Boye Jones (n.d.)

*Wildcard Resource*

• Here’s a challenge – For their 75th Anniversary in 2022, the Australian Signals Directorate released a limited edition coin with multiple layers of code to crack on both sides. 
• Think you can solve it? Check out the link above and test your code-cracking skills.