“Codebreaking and Codemaking Down Under” – with John Blaxland and Clare Birgin

SpyCast

News, Education, History

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2024

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Summary John Blaxland (X, LinkedIn) and Clare Birgin (Wikipedia, LinkedIn) join Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss Australian codebreaking. John and Clare are coauthors of the new book Revealing Secrets. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The importance of SIGINT Codebreaking in Australian intelligence Australia’s role in WWII and the Cold War The advent and evolution of cyber Reflections Strategic defense and offense The power, and danger, of communication And much, much more … Quotes of the Week "What I've noticed with the Australians, and I think it's similar in the other the other Five Eyes countries, these people tend to be quite patriotic to do [Signals Intelligence]. They want to, they love their country, and it also seems to preserve very good qualities.” -Clare Birgin. Resources SURFACE SKIM *Spotlight Resource* Revealing Secrets: An unofficial history of Australian Signals intelligence and the advent of cyber, Clare Birgin and John Blaxland (University of New South Wales Press, 2023) *SpyCasts* I Helped Solve the Final Zodiac Killer Cipher with David Oranchak (2024) Australian National Day Special: Intelligence Down Under with John Blaxland (2024) My Father the Navajo Code-Talker with Laura Tohe (2023) CYBER AUGUST: “So, You Want to Be a Codebreaker?” with Elonka Dunin and Klaus Schmeh (2021) *Beginner Resources* Australia's Involvement in WWII, Australian Broadcasting Service, YouTube (2020) [4 min. video] A short history of cyber espionage, D. O’Brien, Medium (2017) [Short article] Signals Intelligence (SINGINT) Overview, National Security Agency (n.d.) [Short article] DEEPER DIVE Primary Sources WMD Report (2005) The ANZUS Treaty (1951) Role and effectiveness of Signals Intelligence in World War II (1945) The Atlantic Charter (1941) The Zimmerman Telegram (1917) Oral History by Ruby Boye Jones (n.d.) *Wildcard Resource* Here’s a challenge – For their 75th Anniversary in 2022, the Australian Signals Directorate released a limited edition coin with multiple layers of code to crack on both sides. Think you can solve it? Check out the link above and test your code-cracking skills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:57.0	My name is Aaron Dietrich and your host is Dr Andrew Hammond.
1:01.0	Each week we explore some aspect of the past, present, or future of intelligence and
1:06.8	espionage.
1:08.1	You can support the show for free by leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Coming up next on Spycast. It's like decades of
1:17.5	of research that is exposing the nest of spies in the UK, in the US, in a the
1:23.2	Supposing the nest of spies in the UK in the US in Australia
1:25.3	The Australian chapter of that is not as well known, but it is a significant part of the equation equation.
1:37.0	This week's guests are John Black'sland and Claire Bergen, co-authors of the new book,
1:44.8	Revealing Secrets, An Unofficial History of Australian Signals Intelligence and
1:49.4	The Advent of Cyber.
1:51.6	You may remember John from a previous episode of SpyCasts this year, he's a professor of
1:56.0	international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University.
2:00.8	Inclare, an ANU alumni, is a former Australian diplomat who served as ambassador in Serbia,
2:06.9	Hungary and Romania, among others.
2:09.9	In this episode, the TRIA discussed the importance of signals intelligence code-breaking
2:15.1	in Australian intelligence Australia's role in World War II in the Cold War and the
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