Arthur Levenson
Encyclopedia
Arthur J. Levenson was a cryptographer, United States Army Officer and NSA Official who worked on J19
, the Japanese code and the German Enigma
.
. He did graduate work in mathematics at New York University
and Columbia University
. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. Mr. Levenson was a graduate of the National War College. Mr. Levenson was buried with full military honors on December 7, 2007, at Arlington National Cemetery.
to active duty from the Enlisted Reserve Corps. He was approved for Signal Corps Officer Candidate School at Fort Monmouth Levenson was selected by Major William P. Bundy to be a member of the 6811th Signal Company. The 6811th Signal joined the British wartime code breaking organization at Bletchley Park
in Britain.. At Bletchley Park, Levenson worked against both the ENIGMA
and TUNNY
German cipher machines in the famous Hut 6
. Levenson developed a friendship with British cryptanalysts Alan Turing
and Hugh Alexander
. After V-E Day, Levenson was sent with a group of British and American officers to Germany, assigned to track down German cipher equipment and to locate and interrogate German cryptanalysts. In his obituary in the Washington Post, an anecdote from his wartime service showed his operational contribution:
. He was a member and subsequently Chief of the Technical Consultants Group, the prestigious cryptanalytic organization where the most difficult problems were attacked. During that period he initiated the program for sending out selected NSA working mathematicians to participate in the recruitment of promising college math students-a program that greatly enhanced the quality of the growing NSA professional work force.
When the Office of Production in NSA was re-structured to better focus its attacks he was selected to organize and serve as the first Chief of ADVA, an organization dedicated to the exploitation of Soviet high-grade encryption systems. He led the design and implementation of the technical attack team. He took the lead in procuring high-level government support for the project from experts like William O. Baker
, head of the Bell Laboratories and longtime member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
. Levenson became chief of A Group, the major NSA organization devoted to analyzing Soviet Bloc communications. Under his leadership, A group was refocused to enhance the timeliness of its Signals Intelligence reporting to the intelligence community. Before he retired in December 1973, Levenson served as Chief of the Machine Processing Organization, responsible for the maintenance and operation of the large NSA facility which housed both commercial off- the-shelf computers and highly sophisticated special purpose machines. Levenson introduced computer management structure professionals from private industry opening up the organization to innovation from outside of the elite cryptologic workforce. Levenson retired with 32 years of Agency service.
in 2009.
J19
J19 may refer to :* County Route J19 , a County route in California* HMS Småland , a 1952 Swedish Navy Halland-class destroyer* MGWR Class J19, a Midland Great Western Railway Irish steam locomotive...
, the Japanese code and the German Enigma
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
.
Biography
Arthur J. Levenson was Born in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a B.S. in Mathematics from the City College of New YorkCity College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
. He did graduate work in mathematics at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army. Mr. Levenson was a graduate of the National War College. Mr. Levenson was buried with full military honors on December 7, 2007, at Arlington National Cemetery.
World War II Service
At the beginning of World War II, the Army called Mr. LevensonLevenson
Levenson is a surname, and may refer to:* Arthur Levenson, cryptographer who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II.* Barton Paul Levenson , American science fiction writer* Boris Levenson , Romanian composer...
to active duty from the Enlisted Reserve Corps. He was approved for Signal Corps Officer Candidate School at Fort Monmouth Levenson was selected by Major William P. Bundy to be a member of the 6811th Signal Company. The 6811th Signal joined the British wartime code breaking organization at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
in Britain.. At Bletchley Park, Levenson worked against both the ENIGMA
Enigma
An enigma is a type of riddle generally expressed in radical or allegorical language that requires ingenuity and careful thought for its solution.Enigma, aenigma, or enigmatic may also refer to:-Music:...
and TUNNY
Lorenz cipher
The Lorenz SZ40, SZ42A and SZ42B were German rotor cipher machines used by the German Army during World War II. They were developed by C. Lorenz AG in Berlin. They implemented a Vernam stream cipher...
German cipher machines in the famous Hut 6
Hut 6
Hut 6 was a wartime section of Bletchley Park tasked with the solution of German Army and Air Force Enigma machine ciphers. Hut 8, by contrast, attacked Naval Enigma...
. Levenson developed a friendship with British cryptanalysts Alan Turing
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
and Hugh Alexander
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, CMG, CBE was an Irish-born British cryptanalyst, chess player, and chess writer. He worked on the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during World War II, and was later the head of the cryptanalysis division at GCHQ for over 20 years...
. After V-E Day, Levenson was sent with a group of British and American officers to Germany, assigned to track down German cipher equipment and to locate and interrogate German cryptanalysts. In his obituary in the Washington Post, an anecdote from his wartime service showed his operational contribution:
"In a 1999 PBS documentary about the decoding project, Mr. Levenson said the team at Bletchley sometimes deciphered the German messages before German forces in the field could read them. "If it was something hot," he said, "it'd get out in the field before the German commander got his." In one case, Mr. Levenson said, the team decoded a message from German military leader Erwin Rommel and determined that German tanks were converging at a spot in Normandy where U.S. paratroopers were planning to jump. "They were going to drop one of the airborne divisions right on top of a German tank division," Mr. Levenson said in the documentary. "They would have been massacred." At the last moment, plans were changed, and the paratroopers averted disaster."
National Security Agency
After completing his service overseas, he remained in the cryptologic business as a civilian with the organizations that eventually evolved into the National Security AgencyNational Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
. He was a member and subsequently Chief of the Technical Consultants Group, the prestigious cryptanalytic organization where the most difficult problems were attacked. During that period he initiated the program for sending out selected NSA working mathematicians to participate in the recruitment of promising college math students-a program that greatly enhanced the quality of the growing NSA professional work force.
When the Office of Production in NSA was re-structured to better focus its attacks he was selected to organize and serve as the first Chief of ADVA, an organization dedicated to the exploitation of Soviet high-grade encryption systems. He led the design and implementation of the technical attack team. He took the lead in procuring high-level government support for the project from experts like William O. Baker
William O. Baker
William Oliver Baker was a former President of Bell Labs who had advised five Presidents on scientific matters. He received his degree from Washington College and went on to get a doctorate from Princeton University, studying under Charles Phelps Smyth...
, head of the Bell Laboratories and longtime member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
The President's Intelligence Advisory Board is an advisor to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. According to its self-description, it "...provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of...
. Levenson became chief of A Group, the major NSA organization devoted to analyzing Soviet Bloc communications. Under his leadership, A group was refocused to enhance the timeliness of its Signals Intelligence reporting to the intelligence community. Before he retired in December 1973, Levenson served as Chief of the Machine Processing Organization, responsible for the maintenance and operation of the large NSA facility which housed both commercial off- the-shelf computers and highly sophisticated special purpose machines. Levenson introduced computer management structure professionals from private industry opening up the organization to innovation from outside of the elite cryptologic workforce. Levenson retired with 32 years of Agency service.
Family
He was married for 62 years to Marjorie West Levenson of Washington. He had three children, David West Levenson of Warren, N.J., Sarah Stromeyer of Austin and Rebecca Levenson Smith of Silver Spring; and two grandchildren.Awards
Levenson was awarded the NSA Exceptional Civilian Service Award in 1969. and was indcuted to the NSA Hall of HonorNSA Hall of Honor
The Hall of Honor is a memorial at the National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. It honors individuals who rendered distinguished service to American cryptology.-The Hall of Honor:...
in 2009.