Cryptography during the French and American wars in Vietnam (P.2)
In the Introduction we commented that a common view of the American war in Vietnam is that, despite overwhelming technological superiority, the Americans lost the war because the “hearts and minds” of the people were on the side of their opponents. In view of the assumed vast technological inferiority of the Vietnamese, it is somewhat surprising that in a crucial realm of military technology — communications security and signals intelligence — there was a type of symmetry between the two sides.
Cryptography during the French and American wars in Vietnam (P.1)
Does the history of cryptography during the French and American wars in Vietnam have any relevance to the concerns of people working in information security in the 21st century? The years 1945–1975 predate public key cryptography, predate DES, and hugely predate the internet. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why this story needs to be told in our time.