Skilled cryptanalyst whose successful breakthrough enabled the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) to build an analog machine that solved the Japanese diplomatic system known as “Purple.” Exploitation of this system provided crucial intelligence in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II.
Computer network pioneer Hilda Faust Mathieu was an early advocate recognizing network vulnerabilities and one of the driving forces developing security controls for network protection at the NSA.
Anna “Nancy” Strong was a member of the Culper Spy Ring in Setauket NY during the American Revolution.
The first woman and first African-American in multiple Navy positions, including the first female Command Master Chief of an aircraft carrier and the first female Command Master Chief for recruit training.
Captain Rosemary Mariner was a pioneer female naval aviator.
A young college graduate who joined the military following the Pearl Harbor attack
Agnes Meyer Driscoll’s work as a navy cryptanalyst who broke a multitude of Japanese naval systems, as well as a developer of early machine systems, marks her as one of the true “originals” in American cryptology.
Ann Caracristi began her career with the Army’s cryptologic organization during World War II. After a brief civilian career immediately following the war, she joined one of NSA’s predecessor organizations as a cryptanalyst.
Worker at Pearl Harbor following the Japanese attack in World War II
Marie Meyer was a language scholar from Illinois with a Master’s Degree in Latin as well as knowledge of Greek German and Sanskrit hired as a cryptographer by the Signal Security Agency in 1943. She became the first person to receive NSA’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award.