D-Day at Bletchley Park

Colossus ◽  
2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Flowers
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Alan Turing ◽  
Radio Broadcasting ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
The Government ◽  
British Telecom ◽  
German Navy ◽  
Work Done

Before the war in Europe started in 1939, I worked as an engineer in the Dollis Hill communications research laboratories of what was then the British Post Office and is now British Telecom. During the war I continued to work in the laboratories; luckily I was not conscripted into the armed forces. Early in 1942 I was directed to go to GCHQ, the Government Communications Headquarters, then at Bletchley Park. I was told that there I would be briefed concerning some top-secret work which they wanted our laboratories to do for them. At Bletchley Park I met Alan Turing. Turing was working on Enigma at that time, and it was he who wanted the top-secret work done—a machine to assist with decoding Enigma messages once the Bombe had produced the message settings. From then until the end of the war, I was a frequent visitor to GCHQ. In the early years of the war, Alan Turing had saved Britain from defeat by the U-boats, by breaking the Enigma code used by the German Navy to communicate by radio with their ships at sea. Radio broadcasting is the only possible way of maintaining contact with mobile units like ships, tanks, and troops, but it is not secret—the transmissions can be intercepted by anyone with a suitable radio receiver. Therefore the messages must be encrypted before transmission. Even then the transmissions are secure only so long as the code remains unbroken by the enemy. The Germans were very sure that their high-grade ciphers could not be broken! British intelligence services had many radio receiving stations at home and abroad, listening continuously to German military radio broadcasts. These stations sent the coded messages they intercepted to Bletchley Park. In 1940 Bletchley Park started to receive teleprinter messages in a code that they could not recognise. The Germans had invented a new coding machine specifically for teleprinter messages. Messages typed into this machine in plain language were automatically encoded before being transmitted. At the receiving end an identical machine automatically decoded the message and printed the plaintext on paper tape.

The Essential Turing

2004 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
National Physical Laboratory ◽  
Radio Communications ◽  
Alan Turing ◽  
The North ◽  
German Armed Forces ◽  
Physical Laboratory ◽  
The Government ◽  
German Navy

Alan Turing was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. In 1935, aged 22, he developed the mathematical theory upon which all subsequent stored-program digital computers are modeled. At the outbreak of hostilities with Germany in September 1939, he joined the Government Codebreaking team at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire and played a crucial role in deciphering Engima, the code used by the German armed forces to protect their radio communications. Turing's work on the version of Enigma used by the German navy was vital to the battle for supremacy in the North Atlantic. He also contributed to the attack on the cyphers known as "Fish," which were used by the German High Command for the encryption of signals during the latter part of the war. His contribution helped to shorten the war in Europe by an estimated two years. After the war, his theoretical work led to the development of Britain's first computers at the National Physical Laboratory and the Royal Society Computing Machine Laboratory at Manchester University. Turing was also a founding father of modern cognitive science, theorizing that the cortex at birth is an "unorganized machine" which through "training" becomes organized "into a universal machine or something like it." He went on to develop the use of computers to model biological growth, launching the discipline now referred to as Artificial Life. The papers in this book are the key works for understanding Turing's phenomenal contribution across all these fields. The collection includes Turing's declassified wartime "Treatise on the Enigma"; letters from Turing to Churchill and to codebreakers; lectures, papers, and broadcasts which opened up the concept of AI and its implications; and the paper which formed the genesis of the investigation of Artifical Life.

scholarly journals Humanitarian Assistance of Italy to Ukraine in 2014-2018 рр.

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Olga Sukhobokova
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
Italian Government ◽  
The Government

The article deals with the provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine by the government and society (citizens) of Italy during the period of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine (2014-2018). Among them are the efforts of the large Ukrainian community in Italy (according to official figures in Italy, there are more than 230 thousand Ukrainians registered). The directions, volumes and methods of relief assistance for Ukrainian military and population in war-affected areas in eastern Ukraine and settlers were analyzed. It was determined that government financial assistance (over 3 million euros was allocated for 2014-2018) during this period came through international humanitarian organizations, which deal with the civilian people affected by the armed conflict and the program of demining of ukrainian territories. The Ukrainian community in Italy provides individual assistance (from individuals) and from organizations (for example, the Congress of Ukrainians in Italy, “EuroMaydan-Rome” and others). Ukrainian communities of entire cities and regions may be involved in collecting a large sum (the most active are Ukrainians in Rome, Brescia, Milan, Naples).Mostly Ukrainians provided cars for units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and volunteer groups in the area of fighting, equipment, clothes and funds for the needs of Ukrainian defenders, as well as food and gifts for them to holidays, organized humanitarian cargoes for the victims of the war of the population. At the same time, the Ukrainian community in Italy tried to hold public information events in support of Ukraine in the early years of the Russian-Ukrainian War and inform the Italian society and authorities about the events in it.The third source of humanitarian aid for Ukraine in Italy is Italian voluntary associations such as “Italy-Ukraine-Maidan”, which independently delivers the largest humanitarian cargo to the east of Ukraine. Italy’s assistance to Ukraine is considered in the context of the socio-political processes and the foreign policy line of the Italian government. It is determined how the traditional strong ties between Italy and Russia affect for the attitude and assistance to Ukraine.

Defending the realm: Labour ministers, vetting and subversion1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. B. Lomas
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Security Service ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
Education Industry ◽  
The Government ◽  
First Time ◽  
At Home

Chapter Six focuses on the Government response to Communism at home. Shaped by their wartime experiences of intelligence and security, it argues that the popular perception that Ministers were suspicious of the intelligence services, particularly the Security Service, is unfounded, based largely upon Labour folklore. In fact, rather than viewing MI5 with distain, even alarm, Ministers in the new government were aware of the need for an internal security body; any changes in the security apparatus were the result of the recommendations made by Sir Findlater Stewart, whose report of November 1945 is examined here for the first time. The chapter also looks at the development of Whitehall security procedures using the minutes and memoranda of the Committee on Subversive Activities (GEN 183). It argues that, as in the field of British policy towards Russia, domestic countermeasures measures against Communists in the civil service were hidden until the spring of 1948 after attempts at Anglo-Soviet rapprochement finally broke down. Despite the introduction and later expansion of vetting, Ministers sought to balance anti-Communist measures alongside the need for freedom of speech and liberty. Nowhere is this clearer than in discussions for domestic anti-Communist propaganda. While the Labour Party and other organisations had participated in the distribution of such material, IRD had no specific mandate to conduct its activities at home. However, after the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, Ministers authorised a domestic campaign aimed at influential sections of the British public, with the study looking at the early development of this campaign, revealing IRD’s domestic activities in education, industry and the armed forces.

Swastika on a chevron: right-wing extremism in law-enforcement au-thorities and in the Bundeswehr of the FRG

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Belinsky ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
The Government ◽  
Right Wing Extremism

The police, the Bundeswehr and the intelligence services of the FRG have been recently drawn into a series of high-profile scandals provoked by right-wing extremism and growing xenophobic attitudes among the ranks of the armed forces and law enforcement officers. The article is an attempt to analyze the reasons for the spread of right-wing extremism in the power structures of Germany, its main forms and the level of the threat it poses to society and government. As for the far-right-wing potential, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution puts the estimate at about 1,400 representatives. Although this number seems to be less than 1% of the country’s total number of law-enforcement authorities, don’t let it confuse you. Even a small group of right-wing extremists who possess weapons, are specially trained and have access to classified information can become a big problem for the government. Moreover, consideration must be given to the clearly growing rates of nationalist and xenophobic attitudes. According to the author, there are various reasons for the situation, with the main of them being the shifts in public sentiment, as well as the specifics of the activities of the police and the army. The European migrant crisis of 2015 and the following societal divisions influenced the attitudes of the country’s security agencies, which did not approve the policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Additionally, constantly operating in criminal districts of large cities, mainly populated by Turks and Arabs, the police developed a negative attitude to all representatives of the migrant community. Furthermore, we should not forget that security agencies and the army are quite conservative by nature, and the crisis of state institutions inevitably pushes some «men of arms» to the far-right-wing camp, which promises to restore order. The article concludes with some recommendations on right-wing extremism prevention in the law enforcement system (spe-cial agencies performance improvement, adoption of education policy, etc.).

Development and destruction of the liberal prison system in Spain: a general framework for studying the topic

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 424
Author(s):  
Luis Gargallo Vaamonde
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Social Harmony ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual

During the Restoration and the Second Republic, up until the outbreak of the Civil War, the prison system that was developed in Spain had a markedly liberal character. This system had begun to acquire robustness and institutional credibility from the first dec- ade of the 20th Century onwards, reaching a peak in the early years of the government of the Second Republic. This process resulted in the establishment of a penitentiary sys- tem based on the widespread and predominant values of liberalism. That liberal belief system espoused the defence of social harmony, property and the individual, and penal practices were constructed on the basis of those principles. Subsequently, the Civil War and the accompanying militarist culture altered the prison system, transforming it into an instrument at the service of the conflict, thereby wiping out the liberal agenda that had been nurtured since the mid-19th Century.

scholarly journals The effects of armed conflict on forest cover changes across temporal and spatial scales in the Colombian Amazon

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar V. Bautista-Cespedes ◽  
Louise Willemen ◽  
Augusto Castro-Nunez ◽  
Thomas A. Groen
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Forest Cover Changes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Colombian Amazon

AbstractThe Amazon rainforest covers roughly 40% of Colombia’s territory and has important global ecological functions. For more than 50 years, an internal war in the country has shaped this region. Peace negotiations between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) initiated in 2012 resulted in a progressive de-escalation of violence and a complete ceasefire in 2016. This study explores the role of different deforestation drivers including armed conflict variables, in explaining deforestation for three periods between 2001 and 2015. Iterative regression analyses were carried out for two spatial extents: the entire Colombian Amazon and a subset area which was most affected by deforestation. The results show that conflict variables have positive relationships with deforestation; yet, they are not among the main variables explaining deforestation. Accessibility and biophysical variables explain more variation. Nevertheless, conflict variables show divergent influence on deforestation depending on the period and scale of analysis. Based on these results, we develop deforestation risk maps to inform the design of forest conservation efforts in the post-conflict period.

No umbrella for the rain: Canadian implications following the global revolution in reconnaissance–strike technologies

2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Marc Kieley
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Ballistic Missiles ◽  
Defence Policy ◽  
Revolution In Military Affairs ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada

Global conflicts in 2020 have highlighted the unexpected employment of advanced ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles by developing military powers. The development of ballistic missiles by Iran, or the export of advanced drones by Turkey, are ultimately the result of the American-led revolution in military affairs that, during the Gulf War, established the potential of precision guided weapons and reconnaissance systems. In response, America’s competitors have adapted their military doctrines and developed weapons designed to both counter and copy the West’s technological advantages. As the Government of Canada implements its defence policy—Strong, Secure, and Engaged—it has promised to procure a ground-based air defence system for the Canadian Armed Forces. Careful consideration and analysis are required, however, to ensure that Canada procures the best possible solution given limited funding and a wide array of potential threats.

Civil–Military Relations and Russia’s Post-Soviet Military Culture: A Belief System Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2110629
Author(s):  
Kirill Shamiev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Military Culture ◽  
Institutional Autonomy ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

This article studies the role of military culture in defense policymaking. It focuses on Russia’s post-Soviet civil–military relations and military reform attempts. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s armed forces were in a state of despair. Despite having relative institutional autonomy, the military neither made itself more effective before minister Serdyukov nor tried to overthrow the government. The paper uses the advocacy coalition framework’s belief system approach to analyze data from military memoirs, parliamentary speeches, and 15 interviews. The research shows that the military’s support for institutional autonomy, combined with its elites’ self-serving bias, critically contributed to what I term an “imperfect equilibrium” in Russian civil–military relations: the military could not reform itself and fought back against radical, though necessary, changes imposed by civilian leadership.

Testing times

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 14-16
Author(s):  
Sue Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Early Years ◽  
Home Testing ◽  
The Government

Early years sector organisations have campaigned hard for providers to have access to Covid home testing to give them parity with maintained settings. While the Government has now promised to deliver this by 22 March – the next battle is to ensure that childminders are included in the frame.

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