Registered: Feb 2012
Posts: 1

The NSA has recently declassified some letters written to them by Dr. John Nash in the 1950's, detailing a design for a cryptological device.

http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/pres...h_exhibit.shtml

in reading the letters, it seems the NSA rejected the design because they thought they had to build a physical machine, but Dr. Nash was in fact describing an electronic one, and a quite simple one at that. The simplicity of the protocol would, if it works, allow for unbreakable communication to be added to any device for a few cents in additional components, or adding a few hundred gates to an IC.

There is one detail, in that Dr. Nash neglected to label one of the state transitions, and while possibly an oversight, it may have been his way of detecting whether the NSA had tried building his device, as they would have asked him about that unlabeled function. It appears from the record that they did not.

Here is a diagram of Dr. Nash's design, using a cellular automaton. A '?' marks the unlabeled function.

http://www.tag.md/public/ca_nash.png

Last edited by M Knight on 02-27-2012 at 04:18 PM

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