Hilda Faust Mathieu

Computer network pioneer Hilda Faust Mathieu was an early advocate recognizing network vulnerabilities and one of the driving forces developing security controls for network protection at the NSA.

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Agnes Meyer Driscoll

Agnes Meyer Driscoll’s work as a navy cryptanalyst who broke a multitude of Japanese naval systems, as well as a developer of early machine systems, marks her as one of the true “originals” in American cryptology.

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Ann Z Caracristi

Ann Caracristi began her career with the Army’s cryptologic organization during World War II. After a brief civilian career immediately following the war, she joined one of NSA’s predecessor organizations as a cryptanalyst.

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Marie Meyer

Marie Meyer was a language scholar from Illinois with a Master’s Degree in Latin as well as knowledge of Greek German and Sanskrit hired as a cryptographer by the Signal Security Agency in 1943. She became the first person to receive NSA’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

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Mary Budenbach

Mary Budenbach, a graduate of Smith College and known to all as “Polly,” joined the Navy’s cryptologic organization, OP-20-G, in 1943. Trained as a cryptanalyst, she worked against Japanese naval ciphers during World War II.

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Elizabeth Van Lew

She joined with other Richmond Unionists to create an underground network to hinder the Confederate war effort and give aid and comfort to captured Union soldiers during the United States’ Civil War.

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