DON HARDEN RUMOR

[glurk]

Mike-

Just to be clear on my part, it is just that I have heard that "The Hardens did what NO ONE else could do" story far too many times, and it annoys me more every time I hear it.

What you have said is absolutely correct, and I think you understand the crypto better than most. Once the Hardens got the toehold or the "wedge" of 'I LIKE KILLING' the rest of the cipher falls neatly into place.

So far as Don being ex-NSA, as I posted above, his obituary shows nothing about any military service, which is something that would normally be mentioned. So it seems unlikely to me. Also, I found a post by his daughter Leslie on Tom's board from 2007 that also has no mention of any military/NSA work. It is more about Bettye:

http://www.zodiackiller.com/discus/mess ... 1171642363

-glurk

[smithy]

Harden cross-dressed at weekends (I was told a while back from someone who told someone else), was addicted to lemons and swore in Dutch.
That stuff's for OPORD if you happen to be over there Mike, so they can ruminate.

[AK Wilks]

smithy-

There is some contingent of people out there who really want to believe that it is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING that a mere schoolteacher could solve Zodiac's INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT cipher and beat all of the best crypto minds out there, including the CIA, FBI, NSA, Naval Intelligence, etc. And that particular story makes for a good narrative, I suppose.

It isn't supported by any facts, though. There is no evidence whatsoever that any government agency even made any attempt to solve the 408, much less that they tried and failed. The story keeps getting repeated, though.

Fact is, this type of homophonic cipher is not really that difficult, as I am sure you well know. But I guess some people just refuse to let facts get in the way of a good story...

Nope, Harden's background doesn't mean anything. He and his wife solved the 408, released the solution, and it is correct. That's the end of the story for me.

-glurk

I agree with what you say except the part I bolded and italicized. I don't know about the military but the FBI fid make at least a cursory attempt to solve the 340. I posted some FBI files showing this fact. So I would assume a similar effort was made on the 408.

[Norse]

According to the files, no attempt was made to SOLVE the 408 by any agency. VPD sent it to the navy but it was NOT examined by cryptographers (so say the FBI files). There is no mention of the FBI having a go at it, or even receiving it prior to the Hardens solving it.

After the Hardens solved it, it was sent to the FBI for verification. Going by the known files and documents, this was the first time the FBI received the 408.

[AK Wilks]

Interesting. You may be right Norse. If true I wonder why it was not sent to the FBI? I will look at the FBI files on the 340 and see if they mention the 408.

But yes Mr. Harden was a teacher and he and wife Bettye solved the 408 by virtue of their intelligence, creativity and dogged persistence.

[Norse]

If true I wonder why it was not sent to the FBI?

No idea, AK - but I suppose this wasn't a matter of routine for the VPD (who didn't deal with ciphers and such on a regular basis). So, they had to make a call on who to send the thing to - and the first thing which sprang to mind was the crypto boys in the navy.

[AK Wilks]

If true I wonder why it was not sent to the FBI?

No idea, AK - but I suppose this wasn't a matter of routine for the VPD (who didn't deal with ciphers and such on a regular basis). So, they had to make a call on who to send the thing to - and the first thing which sprang to mind was the crypto boys in the navy.

That makes sense. Below is the excerpt from the FBI files in regards to the 340 and Fairfield ciphers. When I first posted this I was more interested in possible anagram use in the 340, but since then glurk, doranchak and up2something convinced me that wide anagrams create thousands of possibilities and thus it is near impossible to determine any one "correct" solution using wide anagrams. I still have some interest in very tight anagrams like LASTB for BLAST (which happens in the Raw Graysmith proposed solution). But anyway you can see some of the FBI effort here.

I think the reality of Don and Bettye Harden solving the 408 is a better story than Don being a former NSA agent. Plus it is real, and as such, an inspiration to all amateur code breakers.

OLD POST:

These are from the FBI Zodiac file, the FBI Crypto Unit attempt to decode the Zodiac 340 Code and the Zodiac 12/7/69 Fairfield Code.

You can see that they DID think some anagram use was possible if not probable and did try various anagram approaches.

I got this in 2009/2010 from the FBI website - now it appears it is gone! If anyone can find it let me know. IIRC there was not much more analysis than this, but there was a little bit more. I think doranchak might have it or it may be in the new material uncovered by Morf. But it was really not all that impressive. I don't think they made as much effort on this as we might have thought. I think the FBI now has done more.

[drew]

I wonder if this Don Harden in the NSA story could be an urban legend of sorts...remember the one about Fred Rogers?

http://navyseals.com/nsw/mister-rogers-military-sniper/

[doranchak]

According to the files, no attempt was made to SOLVE the 408 by any agency.

But there's this:

The Lake Berryessa report has an October 1, 1969 entry stating the cipher was broken independently by at least two different sources:



Any trained cryptologist worth her salt would have been able to crack the 408. It's just a more appealing narrative to say the Hardens did something the authorities could not have done.

For whatever that's worth.

[masootz]

thanks doranchak. i was going to post that as well. it does appear the fbi had cracked the 408.