The following story is about one of my professional heroes. It was published in my internal NSA blog in 2009, and approved for public release after I retired in 2012. The public release process removed last names, but it wouldn’t take much analysis to figure out who this was. Here’s a hint.
In those days NSA was a “closed society”, with a mission-driven technical culture, a very rich shared history, and a deep, common body of knowledge - with lots of internal heroes and and a few villains.
I wrote this note to remind my workforce that their work was part of a long and rich history, built on the shoulders of giants. It was also a reminder for me as a leader: in addition to growing the mission and science, a major part of my responsibility was to celebrate the history, traditions, and people.
—tony
Thank You, Jim
2009.12.29 - 11:00 am
A couple of months ago, I experienced a rare and special professional moment.
We live a fairly self-contained life here at NSA (for good and bad - a topic for another day). This leads to a very strong culture, as well as a strong sense of the history of the institution and its role in securing the Nation. And of course, we have had more than our share of legendary characters, ranging from heroic to less-than-heroic. Well, one of my professional heroes came by a few months ago to say goodbye.
Without exaggeration, Dr. Lowell K. "Jim" F. was a genuine pioneer and hero in this business that we now call Information Assurance. In many ways the basic model of how the IAD works, how we think about security, and our basic values (culture) all reflect his influence.
One of my first Intern assignments, and then my first “permanent” assignment, were in a place that is one of the historical ancestors to today’s office. Dr. F. was the Chief, and he was known and respected throughout the cryptomathematics community. If you said you worked for Jim, people nodded approvingly.
Like any good boss, he set the tone for the organization and its culture. Intellectual openness and candor were expected, and mentoring and teaching were simply a given in the workplace. I can still picture the numerous mentors who would stop by my desk just to see what I was working on, and to see if they could help: Will H, Howard M, Al M, John K, Bob M, and countless others. There was often “Tea Time”, an occasion for presentation and group discussion of some interesting analytic problem. A good technical paper would be considered both high art, as well as a contribution to the technical literature, even when we were drawing diagrams by hand into type-written pages. And fun was a big part of the workday too. Brilliantly satirical Monthly Activity Reports, Dickie’s Treasure Hunt, the Christmas Skit, pranks….. Some days, it felt like I was working in a math faculty, and on some days it felt like I was working in a frat house. And on many days, I could not tell the difference. Jim inspired intellectual rigor and mission excellence, combined with a collegial atmosphere.
Intellectually, many of our basic notions here and the IA Mission still reflect Jim’s thinking: the economic model behind cryptographic standards; TEMPEST as a discipline; the role of independent evaluation in the development of cryptographic devices, etc.
I clearly remember my first Project Review with Dr. F. I had been working on a crypto logic proposed for a particular application, and was presenting the work that I had done so far. There were just 2-3 of us at the table with Dr. F, very informal. As I started talking, he started doodling absent-mindedly. The more I talked, the more intense his doodling became. Eventually, he was hunched over scribbling furiously on some random lines and squiggles, and I was completely intimidated – I had no idea if he was listening or even interested. And then he looked up and quietly and politely asked several amazing questions. Not only was he listening, he was about three steps ahead of me in ideas, on a topic he had never seen before. Wow!
Dr. F retired many years ago and started a consulting company to stay active in the business. When he came to the office a couple of months ago, he was finally selling his company and really retiring to Florida for good. His son brought him in to say goodbye to old friends like Dickie and Bill J. M, and he also spent some time talking to Larry S, who was working on the IA History Timeline. Finally, I hosted a visit here. Dr. F’s son walked him through a couple of our labs, and we settled in our Conference room to talk and have lunch with some old friends (John S, Jim M). Dr. F’s gait is painful and slow, and his speech is halting. But his eyes still sparkle with intellectual intensity, especially when recalling some of the people and events in his career.
Perhaps my only clever addition to the conversation was to give Jim an old floor plan of our office, dated 20 May 1982. It showed the layout of the old spaces in Ops#3 (known as “the ‘L’”), with each little office marked with the last name and phone number of the occupants. Jim’s eyes lit up, and without hesitation he could run through each person’s name and what they did.
He then handed each of us a diagram he had created, with a very terse timeline listing the history of “Info Security Systems”. As always, he was the very picture of grace and humility, claiming that all he contributed to the mission was a couple of ideas and a little heart, and the many successes were due to the people in his workforce. At the bottom of his diagram was this message…
“I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and the top of my head” – Jim F
I will be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to work for such a man, and humbled that I have the honor of holding a leadership position in an organization that traces its roots back to him. And I will also be forever thankful that we had the chance to say goodbye and thank you to Jim for what will likely be the last time.
Here’s some old guy advice to you, my gentle readers. One of the most decent and human things you can do is to seek out and thank those who have inspired you in your life or career. Such people are rare, and especially as they approach the end of their careers, they are deeply conscious of their responsibility to leave something behind – usually in the form of the people they have touched in their careers. Such a precious gift should be acknowledged.
tony