He was a talented biology professor who abandoned that career to become a codebreaker. I didn’t know much about the NSA or where it came from, and whenever you read about the history of the NSA, you come across the name William Friedman - he’s considered to be the godfather of the agency, the one who started it all, 100 years ago, during World War I. Jason: In 2014, after the Edward Snowden story broke, I started reading about the NSA. Jim: How did you first hear about Elizabeth Smith Friedman? I wanted to ask Jason about how he came to write The Woman Who Smashed Codes. I also just realized he has an occasional podcast called Kill Fee, which I have just subscribed to. He has written for the New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Philadelphia Magazine, and The Atlantic, among others. I met Jason when he came out to West Chester Story Slam in 2015 with Chris McDougall, and Jason has become one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter ( Jason is also the author of a book about competitive eating, appropriately titled Horsemen of the Esophagus. Edgar Hoover never gave Elizebeth and the team the appropriate recognition and their work was classified for years, until now. Over three years, Jason dug into US and UK archives archives and discovered that Elizebeth trained and led a group of codebreakers for the FBI that “wrecked the Nazi spy rings.” J. She first started solving codes to break up liquor and heroin rings back in the 1920s and became briefly famous after testifying against gangsters of the era, but then faded from public view. She was married to William Friedman, considered the godfather of the NSA. Jason Fagone’s new book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies, tells the remarkable story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a Quaker poet who taught herself to be a codebreaker.

Originally Published on September 30th, 2017

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