APPROVED FOR 1959
Unclasied RELEASE. DATE
OF a 20085 mp
Cracking the Courtyard Crypto
(ou)
(013)
[Editor's Note: nth late 1980s, under GSA program, the CIA commissioned Washington artis ames
Sanhom rete are of sulpres for CIA's new fleiquarers bling, Woah ae
to was on tort fom he Oice of Commancatons, Sarna eens ae ned
“Rope” (Greck fer hide) that was desteatd in 1990 and now esdee ihe ee
Ggutbard. The curving verdiais srl contains an 865-charater coded message that ere eo
from a petit trevand is located near a water-filled basin bordered by varios Wpesakecmoe ve he
following atte, ‘describes how he has desiphered most ofthe sectet meseage contained
within the sulprre:
‘Hooked downat the large number of yellow pages litring the top of des, obscoring its
dark ok ing Each page was covered i habe of alphabet ees that ahengi ee
“ppearedto be arranged randomly were realy carey ld out is col ate
one orth past wk or so, Fad been fling that Toc oe
iat 1 As abby, had solved many puts sce was ae and nad er hat
the most difiechaltonge nas conta dling wih he nega eo Bo
the wrong rack The wice ny head would wher. “Maybe Suh mien oe
‘fist part of th Keptos cade is realy not a polalphaben Vgeverc Tatler
ail-mae ia diferen type of code emir Or maybe ine Viger ek hits been
Alouble or ripe encaded-or maybe i was onoded hecbuans of eke
This ts the worst train of thought an amateur eryptanalys can have~it goes nowhere, and it
cn ane soo eta fe seminal int numberof ocean
and th ofr Sg Thad done dans times Ware [phe et thugs
aay and presed an. The thing todo, 1 told myself again ard agate wes spy ro
nha 1 knew tobe the fact, Let the encoded txt tse} guide me and keep spore coe
beard described as a "moment of larity" Al the doubts and speculations heck
‘howsands of posible alternate pats simply melted away and [clearly ak da se correct
sours laid out infront of me: Taking afresh shee of paper. I sowly an deliberonhac
‘ua nev colunn of eters, fallowed by another ad then another Iconic Go
ire suddenly i happened--1 was hit by that sweety ecstatic, rare experlence that Ihave |
several pages: ten comput mathematical whichrovs were mei! keyg soe oy the
srt ie leer nd crched fr oa commas bec ace ter |
{redo contain myexciement at! winssed the miracle eters tl orang ghee |
{nto words, one tr the ater. Within the nest few hows | Ra inher ce
seven pars encampassing some 400 hows of aboring ovr pies tnd PUES A pre ed
with gibberish Twas at last looking down a «paragraph of clear Euciod ae ek
eebroken out te frst part ofthe Kryptos code
A New CI
{dont remember te first time I saw, or even heart about, the Kryptos sculpture in the courtyard But
sich day as ] walked past the hug, curved copper plates, | would look a their mysteious portend
‘nscinone ite longer each ime unl gradaly Iwas led into an ltemptodectypt te. Like the
haractr of Imad rom Melville's Moby Dick I too, embark on journeys whenever nd moeete
‘rowing grim about the mouth” or find my soul becoming damp, dnezly November® Rather eg
putting to sea as Ismael would have done, however my travels ae Journeys ofthe aad. Be
‘undertaking new challenges, I explore the mysteries at hend
{he courtyard erypto. CIA phato.
| icy became fscinated with the thought of tha encoded message standing mutly inthe
Headsuartrs' ouryard year er yar, wordless taunting everyune tt) to ead i ddea messages
tide, the psc wat edo Agee aoe ee ee
intersted inal dierent pes of puzcies: ve spent wesks ungoupling sot twisted mead tee rae
‘ast has carefully coupled ve poured over enlesspermuttions of loge problems testa
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