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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 15d

Thanks, Mark

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 15d

I've had an article published in Diplomacy & Statecraft: 'Behind the Enigma: How GCHQ's Authorised History Appeared'.

The first 50 people to click on the link get a copy for free!

www.tandfonline.com/eprint/BCZTB...

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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 17d

It's (still!) hypothetical but I'd guess that the organisation would be fundamentally reformed from above leaving the ethical middle- and lower-level staff to accept the new reality or move on. Their ethical product wouldn't get through the new filter at the top.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 17d

I think if a country was democratically backsliding, a reasonably apolitical intelligence agency would be the first thing to be undemocratically backslid into following the party line.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 21d

I explore need-to-know again in a post at www.siginthistorian.blogspot.com looking at an Official Secrets Act case in which a clear Sigint connection was ignored because the investigators had no idea it existed.

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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 22d

No. 'The School', maybe, just as GCHQ people today talk about 'The Department ' or (perhaps older, retired, people) 'The Office'. You'll sometimes see complicated 'Golf, Cheese and Chess Society' formations, but I've never seen them in anything contemporary and they aren't things people say.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · 25d

I was surprised that it was written by a Norwegian.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Sep 5

Did Quex ever think he was subordinate to the Foreign Secretary?

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Aug 31

Thanks, Frode.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Aug 29

How good is 'I was there' as a guarantee of historical memory? Not, perhaps, as good as it might seem. A new post at siginthistorian.blogspot.com looks at records and memory.

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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Aug 21

Sid James's nephew.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Aug 16

How to sort out parking on busy roads: this is what our council has done.

To keep traffic flowing on a busy road in Cheltenham the council has marked approved parking spaces as half on the road and half on the pavement.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Aug 2

… there's an awful lot of creative writing: imagined conversations and a neatness you don't get in real life. Tiltman *was* a fan; Marks *did* write poem codes; the Dutch Resistance was shamefully treated.

But it's a 'must read', perhaps the perfect introduction to cryptology for 14+ teens. (2/2)

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Aug 2

I refuse to comment on that bl**dy pigeon: it blighted a couple of months of my life!

The Leo Marks book is an excellent read, and has brought more than one person to cryptanalysis as a career. It has a solid and historical foundation, but (you were expecting a 'but') ... (1/2)

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jul 26

It's easy to overclassify and it's easy to be nervous about release. An illustration of this point in a new post on siginthistorian.blogspot.com

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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jul 20

It's you he'll bother, over there. He'll have been watching Clarkson's farm.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jul 13

So it's just a £38 rosé?

National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility | Hacker News

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jul 3

A new post at siginthistorian.blogspot.com looks at what can happen when two opposing sides are using the same cryptosystems.

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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jun 25

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4437... shows the news that has provoked so much comment. Why it has happened is anybody's guess.

news.ycombinator.com

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jun 21

Lucky old Cumbria.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jun 17

RAF A400M ZM416 (c/s NAPER60) being used to teach pilots how to fly at 600 ft. I assume they have the aircon switched on!

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Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · Jun 1

Good description of Henry VIII but he is sadly not unique in terms of rufism and finiscampeism.

Tony Comer @tonycomer.bsky.social · May 25

… José Ramón Soler …