Venona Special Studies doc

 
- 169 - 
a 
 Or "father." 
b 
 Or "discontinue the work." 
c 
 Or "FISCHER." 
 
 

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- 170 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Special Study 
 
REVISED TRANSLATION OF TWO . . . MESSAGES ON 
CHANGES IN COVERNAMES 
 

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- 171 - 
TO     FROM    DATE   SUBJECT 
 Chief, 
 AS-90  AS-93 9 June48     Study of nnnnnnnn Messages 
 
      Attached are two studies of nnnnnnnn messages involving  
 covernames: "Revised Translation of Two nnn nnnnnMessages on Changes 
 on Covernames", and "The Covername 'KARAS' in nnnnnnnn Traffic". 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 Incls                              Hugh S. Erskine 
  as above                           HUGH S. ERSKINE 
                                     Lt. Col., Signal Corps 
                                     Chief, CSGAS-93 
 
  14 July 
AS-90 
I delivered the carbons  
of these reports 
 
 
                                  Col Hayes (Eyes only) 
                                     
                                     Another! 
 
                                       BL 
                                         AS-90 
 

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- 172 - 
 
           REVISED TRANSLATION OF TWO nnnnnnnn MESSAGES 
                     ON CHANGES IN COVERNAMES 
 
 
 
 
     1.  Nature of the report.  The present report presents 
a revised translation of the two nnnnnnnn messages, New York- 
Moscow 1251 [internal number 700] of 2 September 1944 and 
1403 [798] of 5 October 1944.  These messages have previously  
been presented in the supplement of the first of these reports. 
 
     2.  Reliability of the form assigned to the names.  The  
form that had been assigned to the various covernames is some- 
times completely confirmed and sometimes subject to various 
degrees of uncertainty. 
 
         a.  The most favorable case is that in which the  
name is spelled with elements occurring elsewhere (other than 
in covernames) as part of an intelligible context, or is 
represented by a single code group so occurring.  Examples: 
AI-DA, LI. 
 
         b.  Less favorable, but still fairly reliable, is 
the case in which the name is spelled with two or more elements, 
some of which do not occur elsewhere.  Since the code is one- 
part, there are thus several individual clues to the spelling 
of the word.  Examples:  KLE-MEN-S, TIU-L'-PAN.  But sometimes 
one element cannot be identified, even though all the others 
are known.  Example:  DO--?--SEN-D.  Here sometimes a garble 
is to blame. 
 
         c.  Least favorable is the case in which the name is  
represented by only one group not occurring except as a  
covername.  Although the code book is one-part, the limitation 
is usually not sufficient to make identification  certain.  If 
the name is repeated to enable the decoder to degarble, one 
may have two competing groups, neither of which can be given 
the preference--a garble having actually occurred.  Example:   
BL--?-- (or BO) of GE. 
 
             In this third case, the translator can either  
replace the uncertain part by a question mark (--?--) or 
suggest a form that experience with the code book and the 
traffic involved (and with related code books) render likely  
or possible.  In a few cases, such suggestions are given with  
only one question mark in the translation below; more often 
two question marks are used to emphasize the speculative 
nature of the form. 

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- 173 - 
         Sometimes the omission of question marks can be 
justified, because analogies guarantee the form adopted. 
Thus, the covername KARFAGEN (Carthage) for Washington, D.C.,  
although it normally would not be inserted into any code book,  
must be in the nnnnnnnhnbook, for its code group is in the  
right position for KARFAGEN, while New York is certainly TIR 
(Tyre) and London SIDON.  
 
         But analogy generally fails.  Covernames may be  
perfectly ordinary names, either Christian names or surnames  
(from any language), they may sound like ordinary nicknames 
(Kid, Captain), they may have a conspiratorial air (Signal,  
?Mist?), they may be trivial common nouns, stilted flower  
names or animal names, historical terms (GONETS 'express 
messenger'), literary allusions (SHPONKA; see below), and 
and so on into the most far-fetched and fantastic realms. 
Finally, they may be syllables of no particular meaning, 
any "interpretation" of which might mean taking them too  
seriously (MAR, ELL, ?GE?). 
 
         To take one example, a name falling alphabetically 
between AMI and AN might be AMUR 'Amour' or 'Cupid' (such a  
group might have been included primarily in reference to the  
Amur river), but it might equally well be AMPHIBIYA 'amphibian', 
which occurs in some codes, or indeed just AMO or AMP. 
 
         A word may be added about Russian-'type' surnames.   
In both the messages below, a name for which the form RUIBOLOV  
(or Rybolov) has been suggested occurs.  The translator failed  
To find such a name in available lists of surnames.  But 
Russian-sounding surnames are easy to invent, and it may be 
that the MGB does invent them, following the practice of  
Russian novelists, who have long steered clear of the libel  
laws by such invention.  For example, Tolstoy got the name  
of Prince BOLKONSKOY in War and Peace by a slight alteration 
of the name of Prince Volonsky. 
 
     3.  Procedure.  The names will be given in Russian first,  
in capital letters, and the "translation"  will follow in  
brackets, with only the initial capitalized.  Question marks 
are used only with the Russian to indicate doubtful identi- 
fication; with the "translation" they indicate doubtful  
meaning.  When the translation would have the same form  
as the Russian, it is omitted; with some names no "trans- 
lation" can be advanced. 
 
         In both messages, the older covername precedes the  
dash. 
 
 
 
 
                              2 
 

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