Born: 21 February 1924, United States
Died: October 1980
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Dorothy Toplitzky
The following is republished from the National Security Agency. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Dorothy Toplitzky Blum significantly changed the way NSA did cryptanalysis. She was a pioneer in the use of computers to manipulate and process data automatically. As a manager, she showed empathy for her subordinates and worked to enhance the careers of everyone in her organization. Those who recall Dottie Blum usually rate her interest in people even higher than her technical gifts.
Ms. Blum was born in New York City in 1924. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, she joined the Army’s cryptologic organization in 1944. After World War II, she moved to the Armed Forces Security Agency and later to NSA.
In the 1950s, Ms. Blum’s professional interests had expanded from traditional cryptanalysis into cryptanalytic applications of computer technology to NSA’s mission. She was a member of the Agency organization tasked to “keep abreast of the latest advances in the field of computing.”
Ms. Blum was one of the pioneers in writing computer software at NSA. She led the effort to recruit Agency employees to learn how to program cryptanalytic techniques. She was aware of and taking advantage of the computer language FORTRAN at least three years before it became publicly available in 1957.
For the rest of her career at NSA, Ms. Blum significantly shaped the architecture of computer systems and automation of processes at the Agency. She was appointed chief of the Computer Operations Organization in 1972; at that time she was the only woman in the entire CO management chain. From 1977 until her death in 1980, she was Chief of Plans and Project Development in the Telecommunications and Computer Services Organization.
Dorothy Blum was also a leader in the WIN organization, at the time called Women In NSA. In 1983, WIN established the Dorothy T. Blum Award for excellence in employee personal and professional development.
Throughout her years in management, Ms. Blum was well known for her “sincere, personal interest in people and … for the astute and effective career guidance and counseling she gave many Agency employees.”