Japans Purple Machine Essay -- Codes Communications Papers

Japan's Purple Machine Codes and ciphers have played many crucial roles in the past 3000 years, protecting the secrets of caesars and laymen. In World War II numerous nations used cryptographic systems to conceal their secret intentions and plans from the spying eyes of enemies everywhere. Cryptanalysts, however, undeterred by the complexity of the crypto-systems, worked diligently, trying to find any sort of weakness that would allow a break into the cipher and expose the secrets contained within. During the late 1930s two nations, Japan and the United States, were in a state of intense negotiations regarding various political conflicts. The US trying to indirectly help the Allies set numerous conditions for Japan that prevented her from receiving crucial resources and embarking on its agreed upon mission with its European friends. In the midst of this, a machine cipher, codenamed Purple was performing a vital role in the war making policies for both Japan and the United States. A rarely told story a bout a secret operation in the US involved in breaking Japan's most secure crypto-system reveals a truly remarkable set of events that not only shaped the outcome of WWII, but also spearheaded the launch of numerous intelligence agencies for protecting the citizens of its nations and preventing surprise attacks such as the one on Pearl Harbor. Japan's New Cipher Machine In the early 1930s, the Japanese Navy purchased a commercial version of the German Enigma and proceeded to modify it by adding features which enhanced its security (Kahn 6). The system that evolved was one of the most secure cryptographic machines in the world. The machine was codenamed "Red" by the US government and was used to encrypt the highest level ... ...ng. March 01, 2004. http://www.faircount.com/web04/pearlharbor/pdfs/codebreakers.pdf Hatch, A. David. Enigma and Purple: How the Allies Broke German and Japanese Codes During the War. March 06, 2004. http://cadigweb.ew.usna.edu/Lwdj/papers/cryptoday/hatch j,urple.ps Kahn, David. The Codebreakers. New York: Scribner, 1996. Kurzeja, Karen. Pearl Harbor & Ciphering Methods. March 1, 2004. http://raphael.math.uic.edu/Jeremy/crypt/contrib/kurzeja.html Momsen, Bill. Codebreaking and Secret Weapons in World War II. March 07, 2004. http://home.earthlink.net/–nbrassl/3enigma.htm Perloff, James. Pearl Harbor. The New American. December 8, 1986. http://www.thenewamerican.com/departments/feature/l 999/070499.htm Young, Frank Pierce. Flame & Blame at Pearl Harbor. The Responsibility Question. March 01, 2004. http://www.microworks.net/pacific/special/flamel.htm