KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. —

Accelerating and changing the possibilities of learning, the 333rd Training Squadron implemented a new cyber escape room to test knowledge and sharpen the skillsets of cyber warfare students.

The students are put into a simulated hostile scenario, requiring them to think critically and apply their skills under pressure to “escape” the exercise.

“Our students approached this challenge with no plan,” said 2nd Lt. Kendra Perkins, 333rd TRS cyber warfare officer and escape room project manager. “This forces them to adjust to the environment, preparing our students for any complex or uncertain situations they might face.”

From decoding cyphers and packet tracing to programming and networking, the room provides students with a hands-on training experience. Throughout this cyber warfare class iteration, only one team was able to complete the challenge, which included 2nd Lt. Ethan Isaacson, 333rd TRS cyber warfare officer.

“Most of our tests have been in a controlled environment, focusing on the most recent concepts we learned,” said Isaacson. “The escape room required us to apply all of our curriculum we’ve learned. We had to put trust in ourselves and each other and we came out of this room more confident in our skillset.”

Capt. Luke Thornton, 333rd TRS cyber warfare instructor, provided his perspective as the class instructor, overseeing how the teams took on the challenge.

“We are able to test the team dynamics, communication and camaraderie of our students,” said Thornton. “Our students were put into a new situation with a lot of pressure and they had to really think outside the box. We were able to test our students to the best of their capabilities.”

Perkins said the inspiration for the escape room was derived from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. and his action orders to accelerate change across the Air Force through the direction of transforming the way we learn across all facets of Air Force education and training curricula including but not limited to professional military education to reflect renewed emphasis on competition and warfighting.

“Our goal was to create an environment that highlighted gamification to stray away from the initial Q&A or multiple choice and have something hands-on that was able to apply critical thinking, teamwork and communication as well as creating scenarios built on high standards for competition,” said Perkins.

By SrA Seth Haddix, 81st Training Wing Public Affairs

The National Cryptologic Museum operates as the National Security Agency’s principal gateway to the public, holding within its archives a treasure trove of cryptologic equipment. Its mission is to educate visitors in person and online about the role of cryptology in shaping history, from the ancient world to the present. In this occasional series, we highlight some of the rarest and most interesting artifacts found in its collection. Enjoy!

FORT MEADE, Md. – If the punchline to the famous joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” is practice, the same theory applies to National Security Agency staff who aspire to join the ranks of the best cryptanalysts in the world.

Over decades, cryptanalysts were trained by a world famous concert flautist who made it to Carnegie himself before entering the halls of the NSA to teach hundreds how to crack codes. Lambros Callimahos, born in Cairo to Greek parents, created musical history with an all-flute recital in New York’s most famous concert hall in 1938. After that he then pursued another of his passions, cryptology.  He entered the Army cryptologic service in 1941 and went on to teach cryptology at the Army Security Agency and later the NSA.

Callimahos’s students crossed the classroom threshold under a sign that said “Through these doors pass the Agency’s best cryptanalysts.” A master of languages, speaking 9 fluently and reading several more, he made up his own language and country to train his students. He imbued his fictional island nation of Zendia, not only with its own language, but a distinct culture, history, and a ruler, Salvo Salasio, whose picture bore more than a passing resemblance to a young Callimahos.

Salvo Salasio, the fictional ruler of the island nation of Zendia, bears a remarkable resemblance to a young Lambros Callimahos. Photo: National Cryptologic Museum

Recently the National Cryptologic Museum (NCM) uncovered long-lost materials from the course, which help tell the story of the NSA’s early training in cryptanalysis.

“These artifacts illustrate the attention to detail that Callimahos put into developing the training program provided to early NSA Cryptanalysts. The story of this program adds to the already rich history of American Cryptology,” said NCM Collections Manager Spencer Allenbaugh.

Callimahos’ course, which he taught for more than 20 years, was known as CA-400. It was an expansion of William Friedman’s original senior cryptanalytic course, and is still legendary around the Agency. Friedman was the NSA’s chief cryptologist in its earliest days.

The teaching materials used in CA-400 increased over the years, and by the mid-1970’s a student was expected to read over sixty books and documents. However, it was the “Zendian Problem” at the end of the course that needed solving before graduation.

Zendia represented Callimahos’s almost overwhelming thoroughness and creativity. Students were tasked with decoding radio intercepts from the fictional island. U.S. Army cartographers even drew up a map placing the small island in the Pacifika Ocean, right where some would say God forgot to put it. Students had to decipher 375 Zendian military messages, essentially Morse code intercepts in the Zendian language. The messages were enciphered by a variety of manual and machine systems. Over two weeks, students were tasked to decrypt and translate all the exploitable messages. If they could crack the made-up language, they could crack any other on earth.

The recent discoveries associated with the CA-400 course are the Zen-45 and Zen-50 cipher machines that students used to break the Zendian codes. The bright green machines mimicked real-world tools such as the SIGABA, and help tell the story of the NSA’s early cryptanalysis training.

“The National Cryptologic School (NCS) is enthusiastic over the museum’s discovery,” said Diane Janosek, Commandant of the NCS.

Diane Janosek poses alongside one of the newly discovered ZEN cipher machines used by Lambros Callimahos to teach National Security Agency staff to become cryptalnalysts. Photo by NSA

“The Zen devices provide us the opportunity to reflect on the rich history of the school and its immense value in contributing over five decades toward a well-educated and prepared workforce to defend our nation,” said Janosek.

Visitors to the NCM can look forward to seeing these treasured ZEN machines on exhibit when museum renovations are completed and the collection reopens in the Spring of 2022.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —  

Headquarters Air Force staff officially transferred the Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) Superiority Directorate from strategy, integration and requirements directorate to the intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and cyber effects operations directorate Oct. 1.

In conjunction with the directorate move, the EMS Superiority Directorate also absorbed the Air Force Spectrum Management Office (AFSMO) as its fourth division. This move consolidates Electromagnetic Spectrum Operation functions under a single staff – focused on Information Warfare integration efforts across the conflict continuum and is the latest milestone within the Air Force – streamlining oversight, policy and guidance to foster greater collaboration of efforts across various competitive and increasingly dynamic domains.

“It is vital that we leverage, defend and compete across the entire electromagnetic spectrum in order to deliver effects in and through the information environment now and into the future,” said Lt. Gen. Mary O’Brien, deputy chief of staff for ISR and cyber effects operations (A2/6).

Since its inception in 2019, current EMS Superiority Director, Brig. Gen. Tad Clark and his team have been working to ensure the Department of the Air Force is able to “maintain the advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum to stay one step ahead of the strategic competition and maintain freedom of action.”

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr. highlighted their work during the Fall 2021 Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference stating, “I am glad to see the directorate developing the next generation of Airmen and making the changes needed to ensure dominance.”

The Department of Defense published an Electromagnetic Spectrum Strategy (EMSS) in 2020 providing direction and highlighting the importance of EMS superiority in future warfare. Subsequently, the Air Force published its own Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy in Apr. 2021.

Following the establishment of the EMSS and the development of the electromagnetic spectrum implementation strategy, Air Combat Command stood up the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing in June of 2021 to implement EMS capabilities across the operations and test and evaluation communities.

“If we lose the fight in the EMS, we will lose the fights in all other domains,” said Col. William Young, 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing Commander. “We’re here to help make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Young added, “Standing up this unit emphasizes the Air Force’s commitment to consolidating and modernizing our entire enterprise so that joint warfighters have the freedom to attack, maneuver and protect themselves at the time, place and parameters of their choosing.”

According to General Clark, “Superiority in the electromagnetic spectrum is a precursor to all operations in all domains. I’m excited to see our Air Force better prioritize the EMS to ensure our warfighters have the tools and capabilities needed to win!”

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs