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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 ee broken 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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