G over n men t Code an d C y ph er S c ho ol (GC&CS) Du ring the F i r st W or ld W ar, the Un it ed King d oms A r my an d N a v y ha d se para te signals intelligence agencies, MI1b and NID25 (initially known as Room 40) respectively.[5][6] In 1919, the Cabinets Secret Service Committee, chaired by Lord Curzon, recommended that a peace-time codebreaking agency should be created, a task given to the then-Director of Naval Intelligence, Hugh Sinclair.[7] Sinclair merged staff from NID25 and MI1b into the new organisation, which initially consisted of around 25–30 officers and a similar number of clerical staff.[8] It was titled the Government Code and Cypher School, a cover-name chosen by Victor Forbes of the Foreign Office.[9] Alastair Denniston, who had been a member of NID25, was appointed as its operational head.[7] It was initially under the control of the Admiralty, and located in Watergate House, Adelphi, London.[7] Its public function was to advise as to the security of codes and cyphers used by all Government departments and to assist in their provision, but also had a secret directive to study the methods of cypher communications used by foreign powers.[10] GC&CS officially formed on 1 November 1919,[11] and produced its first decrypt on 19 October
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:40:04 +0000
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