Category: Uncategorized

Best of her time – A cryptologist worthy of our considerable attention


One of the best cryptanalysts of her time, Agnes Meyer Driscoll, worked for the Navy as a civilian and was recruited into the Navy as a Yeoman Chief Petty Officer. Known to some as “Miss Aggie” and “Madame X”, she was a math and music teacher before joining the Navy in 1918. The Navy introduced her to her life’s work in cryptology.

Following World War I, except for a few years in the 1920s when she worked for another cryptographic pioneer, Edward Hebern, Agnes continued in cryptology with the Navy and other organizations (including NSA) for the rest of her career. She is credited with making breaks into most of the Japanese naval codes (JN25) that OP-20-G worked on. 

An interesting side note, she was responsible for training Joseph Rochefort and Laurence Stafford, who would lead the OP-20-G during World War II.

In the Navy, she was without peer as a cryptanalyst. Some of her pupils, like Ham Wright, were more able mathematicians but she had taught cryptanalysis to all of them, and none ever questioned her talent and determination in breaking and ciphers.

Among her uniformed naval colleagues, she was held in the highest esteem throughout her long career, which continued from the office of naval communication to the Armed Forces Security Agency, and then to the National Security Agency.

She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in 1971 beside her husband Michael Driscoll, a DC lawyer and veteran of WWI.

Imperfect boss

“Bosses who think they’re great, are the most frightening. It’s usually the strongest leaders who have the lowest tolerance for their bosses’ bungles. Strong leaders think, “I’d never treat MY team THAT way…which PROVES he’s a jerk.” The truth is, he’s just an imperfect human doing the best he can. Just like you.”

Karin Hurt
Multiplier of the Year
Selected by the Wiseman Group

From her book OVERCOMING AN IMPERFECT BOSS

VADM Jan E. Tighe – U.S. Fleet Cyber Command: Answering the Evolving Threat

While much is in the news about the national mission and U.S. Cyber Command, the military services’ roles in supporting CYBERCOM as well as their own forces is often less understood. Please join us for a discussion with VADM Tighe about the evolution of the Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command to support strategic and operational missions to overcome the challenges of increasingly advanced cyber threats. The discussion will cover a range of technical and organizational approaches being advanced, and how they aid in 10th Fleet’s broad mission as the Navy’s operational authority for cyber, networks, cryptologic/signals intelligence, information operations, electronic warfare, and space capabilities.

YouTube Video is HERE.

New Executive Officer at Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group – Deputy Commander of Task Force 1090

Commander Donovan Oubre recently relieved Captain (select) Boswyck Offord as the Executive Officer of NCWDG and Deputy Commander, Task Force TEN NINETY. Captain Offord will report to OPNAV N2N6F3 in the new year.
NCWDG (TF1090), as the Navy’s Center for Cyber Warfare innovation, is a command of about 210 Sailors and civilians directed by TENTHFLT/ FLTCYBERCOM to discover and exploit adversary vulnerabilities and deliver cyber tactics and capabilities to the Fleet.
Captain Andy Stewart is the Commanding Officer of NCWDG and Commander, Task Force TEN NINETY.
DISL Diane Gronewold (Captain, USN, retired) serves as the Executive Director of NCWDG.

Admiral Rickover mused…


“Today many of our naval leaders are actually “cheerleaders,”  making heroic attempts to keep the Navy together with endless exhortations and lectures on the value of leadership. Yet they, themselves, are not knowledgeable enough to instruct or to see that the work has been done properly. What we must recognize is that the purpose of the Navy is to defend the country, not to provide a place for comfortable careers. Because our officers are the cutting edge of our military strength, we can make no compromise with their ability or integrity.”