For more than 30 years, the Vietnamese revolutionary movement successively fought Japan, France, South Vietnam, and the United States of America in its successful struggle to establish an independent and socialist Vietnam. Although many aspects of these wars have been described and analyzed by both the winners and losers, one significant topic has been almost entirely absent from the discussion - the Vietnamese development and use of cryptography to maintain their movement's communications security. "Essential Matters: A History of the Cryptographic Branch of the People's Army of Viet-Nam, 1945 - 1975," a translation of a 1990 Vietnamese government publication, tells the story of how Vietnamese cryptographers, through trial and error, developed an indigenous cryptography, supplemented by China-trained experts who introduced more sophisticated techniques to enhance their colleagues' efforts. Many of the these revolutionaries were more conversant with French because of that language's dominance in the colonial education system, so they were forced to subject their own language to the most basic analysis of structure, its specialized military and technical vocabulary, the frequencies of its letters and words, and its subsequent rendering for cryptographic and radio transmission purposes, all encouraged at the local level by the revolutionary leadership. The result was the employment of a multiplicity of similar cipher systems, which presented a major challenge to the movement's various military adversaries. "Essential Matters" records the names of the individuals who performed this arduous work under difficult conditions, describes their training, and portrays their hardships and suffering - approximately 500 Vietnamese cryptographers, nearly 10 percent of those on duty as of 1972, were killed in the course of their duties. This remarkable account, which includes a supplement drawn from "A History of the Cryptographic Branch of the Border Guard" that extends the coverage of Essential Matters by 14 years, into the cipher machine era, provides a unique portrait of a little-known part of the Vietnamese military and its contribution both to cryptography and the outcome of the Indochina wars.

For more than 30 years, the Vietnamese revolutionary movement successively fought Japan, France, South Vietnam, and the United States of America in its successful struggle to establish an independent and socialist Vietnam. Although many aspects of these wars have been described and analyzed by both the winners and losers, one significant topic has been almost entirely absent from the discussion - the Vietnamese development and use of cryptography to maintain their movement's communications security. "Essential Matters: A History of the Cryptographic Branch of the People's Army of Viet-Nam, 1945 - 1975," a translation of a 1990 Vietnamese government publication, tells the story of how Vietnamese cryptographers, through trial and error, developed an indigenous cryptography, supplemented by China-trained experts who introduced more sophisticated techniques to enhance their colleagues' efforts. Many of the these revolutionaries were more conversant with French because of that language's dominance in the colonial education system, so they were forced to subject their own language to the most basic analysis of structure, its specialized military and technical vocabulary, the frequencies of its letters and words, and its subsequent rendering for cryptographic and radio transmission purposes, all encouraged at the local level by the revolutionary leadership. The result was the employment of a multiplicity of similar cipher systems, which presented a major challenge to the movement's various military adversaries. "Essential Matters" records the names of the individuals who performed this arduous work under difficult conditions, describes their training, and portrays their hardships and suffering - approximately 500 Vietnamese cryptographers, nearly 10 percent of those on duty as of 1972, were killed in the course of their duties. This remarkable account, which includes a supplement drawn from "A History of the Cryptographic Branch of the Border Guard" that extends the coverage of Essential Matters by 14 years, into the cipher machine era, provides a unique portrait of a little-known part of the Vietnamese military and its contribution both to cryptography and the outcome of the Indochina wars.

The art and science of code-making and code-breaking is driven both by the risk inherent in an adversary's ability to read an intercepted communication and the technology available to mitigate that threat efficiently and cost-effectively. This is true both for today's computer-driven cryptography and cryptanalysis and the simpler, yet no less vital codes and ciphers used in the past.In "Masked Dispatches: Cryptograms and Cryptology in American History, 1775-1900," the beginnings of American cryptography are portrayed as rooted in the nation's origin in revolutionary conspiracy. Although the technology consisted of the use of messenger and hand-written correspondence or signals ("One if by land, two if by sea"), the risks of detection and betrayal of secrets was just as great as in the present day."Masked Dispatches" presents some of the Founding Fathers as active participants in spycraft. America's first espionage code was devised by Benjamin Tallmadge, General George Washington's director of secret service, for use by a spy ring set up in New York in 1778. Another chapter discusses Washington's supplying of invisible ink to Tallmadge. Not surprisingly, Thomas Jefferson's contribution to the world of codes and ciphers was a mechanical device - a wheel cylinder. Once America won its independence, it continued to rely on the devices and methods used in the Revolutionary period. During the Civil War, both sides employed ciphers which, although not much in advance of those used in the 18th century, generally succeeded in keeping their secrets. Spies in the field, such as the Union's Elizabeth Van Lew in Richmond, used simple yet effective substitution systems, while even Abraham Lincoln dabbled in primitive types of encryption.Whether recounting the cryptographic efforts of prominent Americans or the more mundane role of successive diplomatic codes in keeping State Department transactions confidential, "Masked Dispatches" provides both fascinating narrative details and extensive examples of encrypted dispatches and cipher systems. This unique view of America's early history will prove invaluable to diplomatic and military historians as well as anyone intrigued by spycraft, codes, and ciphers.