Technology and WWI: The Transformation of Codebreaking During the Great War | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Learn how the field of cryptography was transformed by codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman and her husband, William, and how the statistical methods they invented helped decode thousands of enemy messages during World War I, in this clip adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. This resource reveals why the Friedmans’ codebreaking work became the foundation for the nation’s first cipher bureau and eventually the National Security Agency (NSA).