14. Codenames

In this episode we talk about the Codenames with Codemaster Cole and the Evil Ant. Codenames and Codewords are arguably the core of codes, so we decided to finally get to them, with Steve's Tips included. Plus, hear the story, in which Dangerous Dave arrives (at the very end). This episode features more sound effects, so if you thought this show was boring, think again.

Links from the episode:
Codenames: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_name
Codewords: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_word_(figure_of_speech)
CIA Cryptonyms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_cryptonym
NATO Reporting Names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_reporting_name

Please support our show by  leaving us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, where you can also submit flubs for Bob Bot.

The background music used in this episode are "Bio Unit", "Resonance", "Float", "Moving Sun", and "Lonely Satellite" by Bio Unit and "The Corporate Ambient" and "Resolute" by ComaStudio. Our theme song is "Mosquito" by Caspar Babypants.

 You can find Dr. Gareth's work at drgarethmoore.com. He has released many puzzle and cipher related books for kids, as well as a lot of stuff for adults, too. 

Thank you for listening.

Transcript

Barnabas (w/ studio effects)  1:03
For centuries people have been using codenames and code words to conceal identities. In this episode, we'll dig through those fascinating stories and find out what the best option is for you.

Barnabas  1:27
Think that was scary enough? Alright, good.

Barnabas  2:07
Hello and welcome to season 3 of the Kids' Code Podcast. For those who are new to the show, I'm Barnabas, and you'll want to listen to the last episode - the one about the differences between codes and ciphers before this one, but for older listeners, I am not going to have any new co-hosts - we're still with Steve. And we have Codemaster Cole here and the Evil Ant on Zoom so that he can't carry out any evil plots during the show.

Evil Ant  2:46
Don't be so sure about that.

Barnabas  2:51
Today we will be talking about codenames. Please explain codenames, Codemaster Cole.

Codemaster Cole  3:02
Codenames are used for military and espionage purposes as labels for people to hide details which are intended to remain secret. In other words, codenames are words for people that don't want other people to know about.

Barnabas  3:34
We will also talk a little bit about just code words in general. Steve;

Steve  3:45
Code words are not just codenames, which are usually terms for people, but terms for any other word or phrase. Any phrase or word can have a code word. We'll talk about that a bit more in this episode, but mostly we'll save that for another episode.

Barnabas  4:16
Hopefully that explains enough for you.

Announcer  4:22
And now it's time for Steve's Tips.

Steve  4:31
Hi, this is Steve for the 3rd Steve's Tips so far, I think. Maybe I'm forgetting some. But anyway, I have 4 tips today. 1. Use a codename that doesn't give away personal information. It shouldn't include your first, last, or middle name or shortenings or backwards of that name, and it shouldn't give away any addresses, or people you you know, or people your related to, or anything like that. It should mean that you stay anonymous even if your codename is discovered. 2. Use a codenames that isn't suspicious. If you use a really crazy codename that would never fit into most situations, for example Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or The Intergalactic Rapier, people are likely to suspect you. 3. Use a codename that you can stick to. Use a codename that you like, it makes sense for you to use, is not to confusing with the other codenames or code words that are being used, and such. You want to be able to keep your codename for months, maybe years, and 4, align themes between codenames and code words, so for example, you wouldn't want to have the codename bunny while you work with someone with the codename of Abraham Lincoln*. Barnabas has the codename Cobra. He's been in 3 different spy rings, and all 3 have had animal codenames. If he used code words while using codenames, he would want to have something related. Boston could be Zoo, Las Vegas could be Safari, Chicago could be Rain forest, and Philadelphia could be Birdseed. That's all today for Steve's Tips. See you in another episode.

Barnabas  7:47
Thanks for that, Steve. Now, let's get into the history. The Culper Spy Ring, which you may have heard of, was one of the most successful spy operations in the American Revaluation. The main players were Abraham Woodhull, who lived on Long Island, New York and had the codename Culper Senior, and Robert Townsend, who lived in New York City, using the codename Culper Junior. If they hadn't used codenames, they would likely have been caught, as they would have had their identities clear. During World War 1, there were many code words and codenames among the allies referring to nations, cities, geographical features, military units, military operations, diplomatic meetings, places, and individual persons which were agreed upon, and followed an interesting procedure using random lists of names. This, if you're wanting to conceal your message, is not a good option, but, if you have lots and lots of things you have to do, maybe it's okay. It worked for them. Stalin, who's last name means "man of steel", was given the codename GLYPTIC, meaning "an image carved out of stone". During the world wars, there was a spy ring in Switzerland called the Lucy Spy Ring. It comprised the leader, who was codenamed Lucy, his main contact, codenamed Taylor, the letterbox, codenamed Sissy, the head of a Russian group, codenamed Dora, Dora's main radio operator, codenamed Jim, and one without a codename - the leader's secondary contact. One of the reason's why the Lucy Spy Ring succeeded was nobody knew who it was, and also because they had brief rendezvous. During World War 2, there were a good number of German codenames as well. For example, the German word for golf course was used for Britain. Samland was used for the United States because of Uncle Sam. An imaginary god who's power was to see for 100 miles was the codename for long-range radar, and there were a bunch of others. Throughout the second world war, the British used lots of one-word names, though the Americans favored longer more compact words. These were mostly decided by Winston Churchill, who was very particular on the quality of codenames. He insisted that code words, especially for dangerous operations, could not be common, or cute, or grand, or anything like that. He wouldn't want to have to tell someone that their son was killed in an operation called bunnyhug. Presently, British forces tend to use one-word names, presumably in keeping with their post-world war 2 policy of reserving single words for operations and 2 word names for exercises. British operation codenames are usually randomly generated by a computer and rarely reveal it's components or any political importances, unlike the American names, for example the 2003 invasion of Iraq was called Operation Telic compared to the American Operation Iraqi Freedom, obviously chosen for propaganda rather than security. Americans prefer 2 word names, whereas the Canadians and the Australians use either. The French military currently prefers names drawn from nature, such as colors or the names of animals. The CIA uses alphabetical prefixes to designate the part of the agency supporting the operation.

Barnabas  14:27
NATO reporting names are codenames for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Soviet Union. They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in place of the original designations, which either may have been unknown to the western world at the time or easily confused codes. For example, the Russian bomber jet Tupolev Tu-160 is simply called "Blackjack". NATO maintains lists of these names. The assignment of the names for the Russian and Chinese aircraft was once managed by the five-nation  Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC), but that is no longer the case. The Soviet Union did not always assign popular names, but unofficial nicknames were as common as in any air force. Generally, Soviet pilots did not use the NATO names. An exception was that Soviet airmen appreciated the MiG-29's codename "Fulcrum", as an indication of its pivot role in Soviet air defense. Here are some NATO reporting names for missiles;The initial letter of the name indicated the use of that equipment. 

• A—air-to-air missiles.
• K—air-to-surface missiles.
• G—surface-to-air missiles.
• S—surface-to-surface missiles or ship- and submarine-launched. Land-based missiles have the prefix SS-.

Here's some NATO reporting names for aircraft. The first letter indicates the type of aircraft, for example 'Bear' for a bomber aircraft. Here's a few;

• F—fighter aircraft, also later ground attack aircraft.
• B—bombers.
• C—commercial aircraft and airliners, and cargo aircraft.
• H—helicopters.
• M— miscellaneous names.

CIA cryptonyms are code words used by the CIA to refer to projects, operations, persons, agencies, etc. Usually they use an interesting dictionary word, and sometimes they use 2 words to form a dictionary word (for example, aeroplane) or can by read out as a simple phrase (for example WIBOTHER is read as "why bother"). Cryptonyms are sometimes written with a slash after the digraph (or starting code), for example, ZR/RIFLE, and sometimes in one sequence, e.g., ZRRIFLE. The latter is more common. Here are some prefixes and likely definitions.

•  AL: Brazil
•  BE: Poland
•  DN: South Korea
•  KK: Israel
•  LC: China
•  LN: United States
•  PD: Soviet Union (1980s)
•  PO: Japan
•  SM: United Kingdom
•  WI: Congo

There are some unidentified digraphs that are interesting to think about and maybe to to figure out; DT, ER, FJ, HB, HO, HT, JU, KM, KO, QK, SC, SE, SG, WO, WS, ZI.  The Secret Service also uses codenames.

Barnabas  19:45
I think that's enough history for now, so let's get to the story.

Dan  20:14
To get ready, we'd better try to make some believable disguises.

Barnabas  20:41
said Dan. He and Caw the Crow were getting ready to go to the convention of criminals, because that was where the new recruit was supposed to be.

Caw the Crow  20:56
How about this disguise? I look like a lady in a dress.

Caw the Crow (mimicking crazy lady)  21:05
Oooohhh, lady! I'm a lady!

Caw the Crow  21:10
Oh no, that sounds terrible.

Dan  21:15
How about this:

Dan (mimicking old sailor)  21:19
Well! I'm a sea dog.

Caw the Crow  21:26
No! Ah!

Dan  21:30
How about this: I'm a cowboy.

Caw the Crow  21:37
But you are a cowboy.

Dan  21:41
Oh, yeah. I guess I'd just better change the clothing a bit - and maybe add a mustache.

Caw the Crow  21:52
Well, I'll think of a disguise.

Barnabas  21:57
Later, Caw the Crow and Dan went along to the convention of criminals, Caw the Crow dressed as a delivery man and Dan as a cowboy.

Guard  22:21
Well. Do you have your Evil Passes to get in?

Barnabas  22:29
said the guard at the entry.

Dan  22:36
Yeah, we forgot all about those. But I know how to fake them.

Barnabas  22:46
Then, Dan grabbed out 2 Evil Passes somehow from his bag.

Dan  22:57
Here you go, sir.

Guard  23:01
Well, okay. But don't call me sir again. We're evil, remember?

Dan  23:12
Oh, yeah.

Barnabas  23:15
While all this was happening, Steve was still on the couch. Then he remembered that the spy can tell that you're there, so he went and hid in the closet with his gong and his drum.

Steve  23:38
Wow. Hopefully I can catch him when he comes here.
(Beat of Drum)
Oops.

Barnabas  23:50
said Steve, because it was only an accidental beat of his drum.
(Beat of Drum)
It happened again.
(Beat of Drum)
and again. Steve put down his drum, made sure that he wouldn't be beating it again and listened carefully.

Dangerous Dave  24:17
Now let's see. Where does he keep his gong?

Steve  24:23
Dangerous Dave is here!

Barnabas  24:25
said Steve. He was. THE END.

Evil Ant  24:41
Okay. I'll use this new ray that can go through screens that I haven't read the warning labels on yet. (Sound of ray) Oh no! I'm using the wrong kind of screen. This is a computer screen, not a window screen. Man! I'm on a Mac!

Barnabas  25:21
Wow, that really didn't work. Are you okay, Evil Ant? He's out. Hopefully he will wake up soon. Here are the codenames of some famous operations. Operation Anthropoid:  the assassination of a top Nazi official.  Operation Black Tornado was an operation in 2008 conducted by India's National Security Guards to flush out the attackers from a Hotel near the Taj Mahal. Operation Desert Storm: The US code name of the air-to-land conflict from January 17th 1991, through April 11th 1991 in Kuwait during the First Gulf War. Operation Sea Lion: the planned invasion of Britain by the Nazis which never happened. The Manhattan Project was the U.S. nuclear weapons program during World War II. There's a lot more cool stuff and codenames for CIA places and such in Wikipedia articles that I've taken things from for this podcast episode. If  you would like to look at them, there's links in the show notes for them.

Barnabas  27:23
Well, that's all the time we have for this week. If you want to support our show, please follow us on Apple Podcasts. It helps spread word about the show**, and I would appreciate it.

Steve  27:46
The sources used in this episode are Top Secret by Paul B. Janeczko and the Wikipedia articles Code Name, Code word, Lucy Spy Ring, NATO Reporting Names, and CIA Cryptonyms. Next week we will be talking about one of the Spy Rings you heard about in this episode and it's related code.

Barnabas  28:19
but until then, keep on cracking!

Barnabas (Whispering)  28:39
So. . .Steve decided to rendezvous me for the post show out here in the park. But. . .I don't see him. And it's just feeling kind of. . .creepy. Like Dangerous Dave is suddenly gonna jump out of the bushes and. . .

Dangerous Dave  29:06
Boo!

Barnabas  29:08
Hey! Don't scare me like that, Dangerous Dave. Anyway, as I was saying, I don't see Steve. Oh wait, there he is, by the bench.

Steve (also whispering)  29:23
Hi Barnabas.

Barnabas  29:27
So. . .why all the secrecy and why are we in the park? And why at night?

Steve  29:37
I just wanted to. It just feels better. Creepier, wouldn't you say?

Barnabas  29:47
Yes, and that's my problem. How much longer is this post show going to be?

Steve  29:55
Just a minute more. But I wanted to tell the listeners that for most of the sound effects in this episode, we used Pixabay, which is really fun, and free and you don't need to log in or anything to see their sound effects and to get them.

Barnabas  30:18
Yeah, Pixabay is fun. I could spend hours experimenting on there. But I'd rather spend hours creating a Culper Code for our next episode. Wait! Oh, I gave it away. Our next episode is about Culper Code. See you then.

Steve  30:42
Bye!

*Which, by the way is not a good codename.
**And you can report flubs there.