Call for Papers: Cryptologic History Symposium
Call for Papers: Cryptologic History Symposium
The biennial Cryptologic History Symposium will be held
17-18 October 2013. Historians from the
Center, the Intelligence Community, the defense establishment, and the military
services, as well as distinguished scholars from American and foreign academic
institutions, veterans of the profession, graduate and undergraduate students,
and the interested public all will gather for two days of reflection and debate
on relevant and important topics from the cryptologic past.
Past symposia have featured scholarship that set out new
ways to consider out cryptologic heritage, and this one will be no
exception. The intended goal is to
foster discussion on how cryptology has impacted political, diplomatic,
economic, and military tactics, operations, strategy, planning, and command and
control throughout history. Any serious
researcher whose work touches upon the historical aspects of cryptology defined
in its broadest sense is encouraged to participate. The conference will provide many
opportunities for interaction with leading historians and other distinguished
experts. The mix of practitioners, scholars, and interested observes always
precipitates a lively debate promoting an enhanced appreciation for the context
of past events.
The theme for the upcoming conference will be
"Technological Change and
Cryptology: Meeting the Historical Challenges." The practice and application of cryptanalysis
and cryptography have been radically altered as the evolution of technology has
accelerated. Conference participants
will delve into the technical, scientific, methodological, political, and
industrial underpinnings of signals intelligence and information assurance as
presented throughout a broad swath of history.
While presenters may choose to focus on purely technological topics, the
theme is not meant to be exclusionary; the panels will include papers on a
broad range of related operational, organizational, counterintelligence,
policy, and international themes. The
audience will be particularly interested in new findings on the intersection of
technology and cryptology as signals systems evolved from manual to
machine-assisted to digital formats.
The Symposium will be held at the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory's Kossiakoff Center, in Laurel, Maryland, a location central
to the Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., areas. For more information on this conference,
contact Dr. Kent Sieg, the Symposium Executive Director, by telephone at
301-688-2336 or via email at kgsieg@nsa.gov<mailto:kgsieg@nsa.gov>.
The first round of consideration will begin with papers
received by mid-January.