Navajo Code Talkers: WWII's Unbreakable Cipher

Introduction

The technology and tools of war — and the communications infrastructure that supports it — have developed and changed greatly over the years. However, prior to the era of sophisticated encryptions and intricate digital ciphers, many military communications had to occur over the air via radio. This made it quite easy for unintended listeners, including enemy forces and their sympathizers, to intercept everything being said in real time. As a result, it was critically important to communicate in a language or cipher that could not be easily interpreted or cracked, even by trained enemy analysts.

One such language that paid enormous dividends for the United States during World War II and beyond was the Navajo language. While its use as a wartime communication cipher was eventually discontinued in the early stages of the Vietnam War, the Navajo code was never broken and provided immeasurable benefit to the United States military and its war efforts.

Origins of the Navajo Code Talker Program

The person who first suggested using the Navajo language as a wartime communication method was not a Navajo himself, but rather the son of a missionary who had lived among the Navajo during his childhood. That man, Phillip Johnston, was a civil engineer based in California. He proposed to the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in the early stages of World War II that the Navajo language could be used to send and receive military messages and that those messages would remain unbroken even if intercepted — in part or in full — by enemy forces or analysts.

Johnston's idea was sound. The number of people outside of native Navajo speakers who knew the language was probably fewer than three dozen, and the language had never been written down. It existed entirely in the memory of the Navajo people themselves and the handful of non-Navajo individuals who had managed to learn it through direct exposure (NCT, 2014). The Navajo people were largely confined to the southwestern United States and were practically unknown elsewhere. It remains true to this day that no one without extensive training and immersion in the language could come close to mastering it — which is precisely why it was never cracked as a military code.

References

Erickson, M. (2012, November 7). Navajo Code Talker to receive degree from KU 60 years after departure. LJWorld.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/nov/07/navajo-code-talker-recieve-honorary-degree-ku/

IMDb. (2014, July 2). Windtalkers. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245562/

NCT. (2014, July 2). Navajo Code Talkers: Interviews, videos & more. Navajo Code Talkers. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://navajocodetalkers.org/

Navy. (2014, June 29). Navajo Code Talkers cryptology. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from

Parker, R. (2014, June 4). Chester Nez, 93, was last of the original Navajo code talkers. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-last-navajo-code-talkers-has-died-20140604-story.html