Alexander Foote - Handbook for Spies

Secondly, though the organisation may break down on occasion, the system on which the various networks are run and the security regulations that are enforced on all members make the Russian network as safe as any from penetration by agents or action by counterespionage authorities. The failure of the Swiss network was due to lack of security precautions in Switzerland and the insistence of Moscow that it should keep running against their own security rules. A network in peacetime, carefully built up, is likely to continue to work efficiently and undiscovered. The Canadian organisation, hurriedly and badly organised as it was, was uncovered only by accident, and defectors like Gouzenko are few and far between.

The obvious and important question is whether there is a Russian spy net at work in England and America at the present moment. On that point I have no factual evidence and if I had I obviously could not give it here. On the other hand it would be safe to say that the odds are definitely in favour of networks existing both in England and the United States. I should imagine that the director has managed by now to rebuild his organisation in the States, which had gone underground at the time of the Canadian affair, and also has set up several new networks, though perhaps my defection has reduced their number by one. As regards England there was obviously some sort of organisation in existence there before the war, because I was recruited by it. I should imagine that it had now been revived and working again. If the Soviet espionage rules are being observed one would imagine that it was being directed from abroad and that the resident director for the English network was probably in France or Belgium. That there is a network busily engaged in Europe is obvious. If anyone disbelieves me all he has to do is tune his wireless in to the short-wave band. He may not be able to recognise, but I can, the characteristics of a Russian secret transmitter and the characteristics of their control stations. I often tune in and listen to the meaningless dots and dashes and wonder which network is on the air and whether it perhaps contains some of my old colleagues.

As regards my colleagues I think it unlikely that many of them are active. Rado is dead, his wife probably still in Paris unless she has been lured back; Cissie discredited; Sonia in retirement. But Lucy may have moved and be exercising his undoubted talents in some new field, and some of the other agents, known to me only by cover names, may still be engaged in the same work. The Centre is not idle and the new espionage school at Sehjodnya is unlikely to be empty. Time alone will show the effectiveness and extent of the new networks. I can only hope that the time may never come.

The process of enciphering messages for the Centre was divided into two parts. The first stage is comparatively simple and can easily be carried in the head, and, as I have stated, I frequently made notes in this First Stage Cipher for ease and convenience. The second stage involves the "closing" of the first simple encipherment against the text of a code book. (In this case, a "code book" is any ordinary published book that may be selected.)

The first stage of encipherment is based on a key word, which must have six letters and which is changed at intervals by the Centre. In the example to follow the key word is PLAYER. This is written out horizontally, and below it- in line- the remainder of the alphabet is written out (in the case of PLAYER in groups of six) together with a symbol for "signal" (@) and Full Stop. "Signal" means that the message changes over from letters to numbers.

At this stage the "pattern" looks like this:

It is now necessary to assign a number to each letter, and for this purpose the numbers 1-9, 00-09, and 40-49 are used. (In the first set of numbers the figure 4 is omitted as it would lead to confusion with the double numbers beginning with 40.)

Those letters which are changed into single figures (1-9) are ASINTOER (arranged in this order for mnemonic purposes), the numbers being assigned to the relevant letters as they occur reading vertically and starting in the top left-hand corner of the diagram. With these numbers in place, the diagram now looks as follows:

To this pattern are now added the double numbers (00-09, 40-49), starting from the top left corner and going down the columns consecutively filling in the blanks.

With all the numbers inserted, the diagram now looks like this:

(This pattern is, of course, changed occasionally by the Centre by allocating a different "mnemonic" or by changing the code word, or both.)

A message enciphered in the first stage would look like this. (After a change from words to numerals, indicated by the symbol "signal," the numerals are each repeated three times.)

These figures are then split up into five-figure groups, the third and antepenultimate groups being left blank to take "recognition groups." At this stage the message begins to look like a ciphered message, but is still by no means secure and would present no difficulties to a cryptographer. Here it is with the blanks left for the recognition groups and the last group made up with noughts to complete a five-figure group.

At this point the first stage of encipherment is complete. It is now necessary to "close" the message by re-enciphering it against the selected portion of the "code book." In practice, I used a Swiss book of trade statistics, but not having that by me now, I think it might be appropriate to take a passage at random from the report of the Royal Commission on the Canadian spy case.

On page 77, line 14, is the following phrase: "that even if the adherent or member should refuse to engage in activities so clearly illegal and which constitute so clear a betrayal of his or her country."

The enciphering phrase can be taken from anywhere in the book, starting at any word in any line. In this case it starts at the fourth word of the line, i.e., "that."

From here on the key phrase is enciphered in exactly the same way as was the original message, and written out in five-figure groups, leaving here also the third and antepenultimate groups blank, as below:

These groups are then added to the groups of the original ciphered message, the tens being ignored, and the final result is this:

Now the message is complete save for the two recognition groups which enable the recipient to decipher the message. These are made up- in different ways - from the "code book group," the "fixed group," and the "message group."

The code book group is composed of the page number, line number, and word number of the key phrase. In this case, page 77, line 14, and word (from left) 4-77144.