Arlington Hall
Encyclopedia
Arlington Hall was a former girl's school and the headquarters of the US Army
's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography
effort during World War II
. The site presently houses the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center
, and the United States National Guard Readiness Center. It is located on Arlington Boulevard (U.S. Route 50
) between S. Glebe Road (Virginia Route 120
) and S. George Mason Drive in Arlington, Virginia.
, which, by 1941, resided on a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) campus and had acquired the name "Arlington Hall Junior College for Women". The school suffered financial problems in the 1930s, and eventually became a non-profit institution in 1940. On June 10, 1942, the U.S. Army
took possession of the facility under the War Powers Act for use by its Signals Intelligence Service
.
During the War, Arlington Hall was in many respects similar to Bletchley Park
in England
, only one of two primary cryptography
operations in Washington
(the other was the Naval Communications Annex, also housed in a commandeered private girls' school). Arlington Hall concentrated its efforts on the Japan
ese systems (including PURPLE) while Bletchley Park concentrated on Europe
an combatants.
The Arlington Hall effort was comparable in influence to other Anglo-American WW II-era technological efforts, such as the cryptographic work at Bletchley Park, the Naval Communications Annex, development of sophisticated microwave radar
at MIT
's Radiation Lab, and the Manhattan Project
's development of nuclear weapon
s.
After World War II
, the "Russian Section" at Arlington Hall expanded. Work on diplomatic messages benefited from additional technical personnel and new analysts—among them Samuel Chew, who had focused on Japan, and linguist Meredith Gardner
, who had worked on both German and Japanese messages. Chew had considerable success at defining the underlying structure of the coded Russian texts. Gardner and his colleagues began analytically reconstructing the KGB codebooks. Late in 1946, Gardner broke the codebook's "spell table" for encoding English letters. With the solution of this spell table, SIS could read significant portions of messages that included English names and phrases. Gardner soon found himself reading a 1944 message listing prominent atomic scientists, including several with the Manhattan Project
. Efforts to decipher Soviet codes continued under the classified and caveated Venona project
.
Another problem soon arose—that of determining how and to whom to disseminate the extraordinary information Gardner was developing. SIS's reporting procedures did not seem appropriate because the decrypted messages could not even be paraphrased for Arlington Hall's regular intelligence customers without divulging their source. By 1946, SIS knew nothing about the federal grand jury impaneled in Manhattan to probe the espionage and disloyalty charges stemming from Elizabeth Bentley
's defection and other defectors from Soviet intelligence, so no one in the US Government was aware that evidence against the Soviets was suddenly developing on two adjacent tracks. In late August or early September 1947, the FBI was informed that the Army Security Agency had begun to break into Soviet espionage messages.
By 1945, the Soviets had penetrated Arlington Hall with the placement of Bill Weisband
who worked there for several years. The Government’s knowledge of his treason apparently was not revealed until its publication in a 1990 book co-authored by a high-level KGB defector.
Arlington Hall came under the aegis of the National Security Agency
after this agency was created in 1952. From 1945 to 1977, Arlington Hall served as the headquarters of the United States Army Security Agency
and, for a brief period in late 1948, the newly formed United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) until they relocated to Brooks AFB in San Antonio, Texas. When the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
(INSCOM) was commissioned at Arlington Hall on January 1, 1977, INSCOM absorbed the functions of the Army Security Agency into its operations. INSCOM remained at Arlington Hall until the summer of 1989, when INSCOM relocated to Fort Belvoir
, Virginia. Beginning in January 1963, Arlington Hall served as the premier facility of the newly created Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA). In 1984, DIA departed Arlington Hall for their new premier facility, the Defense Intelligence Agency Center (DIAC) on Bolling Air Force Base, a move that was complete by December 1984.
In 1989, the Department of Defense
transferred the eastern portion of Arlington Hall to the Department of State
. In October 1993, this portion of the site became the National Foreign Affairs Training Center
when the State Department's Foreign Service Institute
(FSI) moved there from its prior location in the Mayfair Building in Washington, D.C. The National Foreign Affairs Training Center was renamed as the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in a ceremony held on May 29, 2002.
In January 2008, construction workers discovered an unexploded World War II shell
underneath Arlington Hall. The shell had a length of one foot and a diameter of five inches. US Army explosive ordnance disposal technicians from Fort Belvoir
were brought in to dispose of the munition.
listed Arlington Hall on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1988. The historic main building of the former girls school now houses classrooms and administrative offices for components of the Foreign Service Institute
, on the campus of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center
. The western portion of Arlington Hall site presently houses the United States National Guard Readiness Center.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
effort during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The site presently houses the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center
National Foreign Affairs Training Center
The George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center is one of several locations that house the Foreign Service Institute , the United States government's training school for members of the U.S. foreign affairs community. It is located at Arlington Hall in Arlington, Virginia.-External...
, and the United States National Guard Readiness Center. It is located on Arlington Boulevard (U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50
U.S. Route 50 is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California. Until 1972, when it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of the Sacramento area, it extended to San Francisco, near...
) between S. Glebe Road (Virginia Route 120
Virginia State Route 120
Virginia State Route 120 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Glebe Road, the state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 in Crystal City north to SR 123 at the Chain Bridge...
) and S. George Mason Drive in Arlington, Virginia.
History
"Arlington Hall" was founded in 1927 as a private girls schoolSingle-sex education
Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools. The practice was predominant before the mid-twentieth century, particularly in secondary education and...
, which, by 1941, resided on a 100 acre (0.404686 km²) campus and had acquired the name "Arlington Hall Junior College for Women". The school suffered financial problems in the 1930s, and eventually became a non-profit institution in 1940. On June 10, 1942, the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
took possession of the facility under the War Powers Act for use by its Signals Intelligence Service
Signals Intelligence Service
The Signals Intelligence Service was the United States Army codebreaking division, headquartered at Arlington Hall. It was a part of the Signal Corps so secret that outside the office of the Chief Signal officer, it did not officially exist. William Friedman began the division with three "junior...
.
During the War, Arlington Hall was in many respects similar to 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 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, only one of two primary cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
operations in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(the other was the Naval Communications Annex, also housed in a commandeered private girls' school). Arlington Hall concentrated its efforts on the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese systems (including PURPLE) while Bletchley Park concentrated on Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an combatants.
The Arlington Hall effort was comparable in influence to other Anglo-American WW II-era technological efforts, such as the cryptographic work at Bletchley Park, the Naval Communications Annex, development of sophisticated microwave radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
's Radiation Lab, and the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
's development of nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the "Russian Section" at Arlington Hall expanded. Work on diplomatic messages benefited from additional technical personnel and new analysts—among them Samuel Chew, who had focused on Japan, and linguist Meredith Gardner
Meredith Gardner
Meredith Knox Gardner was an American linguist and codebreaker. Gardner worked in counter-intelligence, decoding Soviet intelligence traffic regarding espionage in the United States, in what came to be known as the Venona project.-Early life and career:Gardner was born in Okolona, Mississippi and...
, who had worked on both German and Japanese messages. Chew had considerable success at defining the underlying structure of the coded Russian texts. Gardner and his colleagues began analytically reconstructing the KGB codebooks. Late in 1946, Gardner broke the codebook's "spell table" for encoding English letters. With the solution of this spell table, SIS could read significant portions of messages that included English names and phrases. Gardner soon found himself reading a 1944 message listing prominent atomic scientists, including several with the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. Efforts to decipher Soviet codes continued under the classified and caveated Venona project
Venona project
The VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
.
Another problem soon arose—that of determining how and to whom to disseminate the extraordinary information Gardner was developing. SIS's reporting procedures did not seem appropriate because the decrypted messages could not even be paraphrased for Arlington Hall's regular intelligence customers without divulging their source. By 1946, SIS knew nothing about the federal grand jury impaneled in Manhattan to probe the espionage and disloyalty charges stemming from Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for...
's defection and other defectors from Soviet intelligence, so no one in the US Government was aware that evidence against the Soviets was suddenly developing on two adjacent tracks. In late August or early September 1947, the FBI was informed that the Army Security Agency had begun to break into Soviet espionage messages.
By 1945, the Soviets had penetrated Arlington Hall with the placement of Bill Weisband
Bill Weisband
William Weisband, Sr. was an American cryptanalyst and NKVD agent , best known for his role in revealing U.S. decryptions of Soviet diplomatic and intelligence codes to Soviet intelligence....
who worked there for several years. The Government’s knowledge of his treason apparently was not revealed until its publication in a 1990 book co-authored by a high-level KGB defector.
Arlington Hall came under the aegis of the National Security Agency
National 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...
after this agency was created in 1952. From 1945 to 1977, Arlington Hall served as the headquarters of the United States Army Security Agency
United States Army Security Agency
The United States Army Security Agency was the United States Army's signal intelligence branch. Its motto was "Vigilant Always." The Agency existed between 1945 and 1976 and was the successor to Army signal intelligence operations dating back to World War I...
and, for a brief period in late 1948, the newly formed United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) until they relocated to Brooks AFB in San Antonio, Texas. When the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
United States Army Intelligence and Security Command
The United States Army Intelligence and Security Command is a direct reporting unit that conducts intelligence, security, and information operations for U.S. Army commanders and national decision makers. INSCOM is both an organization within the United States Army and the National Security Agency,...
(INSCOM) was commissioned at Arlington Hall on January 1, 1977, INSCOM absorbed the functions of the Army Security Agency into its operations. INSCOM remained at Arlington Hall until the summer of 1989, when INSCOM relocated to Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...
, Virginia. Beginning in January 1963, Arlington Hall served as the premier facility of the newly created Defense Intelligence Agency
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...
(DIA). In 1984, DIA departed Arlington Hall for their new premier facility, the Defense Intelligence Agency Center (DIAC) on Bolling Air Force Base, a move that was complete by December 1984.
In 1989, the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
transferred the eastern portion of Arlington Hall to the Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
. In October 1993, this portion of the site became the National Foreign Affairs Training Center
National Foreign Affairs Training Center
The George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center is one of several locations that house the Foreign Service Institute , the United States government's training school for members of the U.S. foreign affairs community. It is located at Arlington Hall in Arlington, Virginia.-External...
when the State Department's Foreign Service Institute
Foreign Service Institute
The Foreign Service Institute is the United States Federal Government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats and other professionals to advance U.S. foreign affairs interests overseas and in Washington...
(FSI) moved there from its prior location in the Mayfair Building in Washington, D.C. The National Foreign Affairs Training Center was renamed as the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in a ceremony held on May 29, 2002.
In January 2008, construction workers discovered an unexploded World War II shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
underneath Arlington Hall. The shell had a length of one foot and a diameter of five inches. US Army explosive ordnance disposal technicians from Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir
Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Originally, it was the site of the Belvoir plantation. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations...
were brought in to dispose of the munition.
Current uses
The National Park ServiceNational Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
listed Arlington Hall on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1988. The historic main building of the former girls school now houses classrooms and administrative offices for components of the Foreign Service Institute
Foreign Service Institute
The Foreign Service Institute is the United States Federal Government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats and other professionals to advance U.S. foreign affairs interests overseas and in Washington...
, on the campus of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center
National Foreign Affairs Training Center
The George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center is one of several locations that house the Foreign Service Institute , the United States government's training school for members of the U.S. foreign affairs community. It is located at Arlington Hall in Arlington, Virginia.-External...
. The western portion of Arlington Hall site presently houses the United States National Guard Readiness Center.
External links
- NSA - Introductory History of VENONA
- Moynihan Commission Report on Government Secrecy, Appendix A, The Cold War (1997)
- http://www.afisr.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-101206-040.pdf
Further reading
- Christopher Andrew and Oleg Gordievsky, KGB: The Inside Story (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 373- 74.