Lesson Plans- Journey to the Diefenbunker
Activity Four: Spies and Ciphers
Concept:
This activity will help students understand the importance of keeping national secrets
during the Cold War.
Objectives:
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Students will learn how to build a cipher wheel and use it to code and de-code a
message.
Students will gain an understanding of why and how governments and spies
used codes and alternative forms of communication during the Cold War.
Materials: Journey to the Diefenbunker- KGB Spy Game, Cipher Wheel Template and
explanation, teacher guide to Gouzenko Affair and Diefenbunker and Cryptology
Student Activities:
Part A: Group Discussion
Have each student conduct research on Igor Gouzenko (the Soviet Cipher Clerk who
defected to Canada bringing with him Soviet Code books and deciphering material) and
play the KGB Spy Game a couple of times.
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Using the Teacher’s Guide, engage the students in a discussion on the
Gouzenko Affair using the following questions:
1. What type of information were the Soviets interested in
collecting from Canada?
2. What was Igor Gouzenko’s job, how did he come to play such
an important role in this affair?
3. What was the Canadian Government’s response initially to
Gouzenko’s allegations and later in the affair?
4. What were the international implications of this incident? What
were the national implications?
5. How do you think the Gouzenko Affair may have affected the
design and functioning of the Diefenbunker?
Part B: Student Assignment
In groups of 2, provide each student with the Alberti Cipher description and templates.
Have each student create their own Cipher Wheel and coded message. Next, have the
partners in the group switch their Cipher Wheels and coded message in order to decode
each other’s message.
Teacher Guide
The Gouzenko Affair
Background
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Many believe that the Cold War began in Canada with the Gouzenko
affair.
In 1943, Russian Cipher Clerk, Igor Gouzenko was stationed in Ottawa,
where for two years he enciphered outgoing messages and deciphered
incoming messages for the Soviet Embassy. His position gave him
knowledge of Soviet espionage activities in the West.
In 1945, he decided to defect.
Gouzenko walked out of the Embassy door carrying with him a briefcase
with Soviet code books and deciphering materials.
He first went to several people before someone believed his story
including: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ottawa Journal
newspaper, and the Department of Justice.
Gouzenko, hidden by a neighbour, watched through the keyhole as a
group of Soviet agents broke into his apartment. They began searching
through his belongings, and only left when confronted by Ottawa police.
The next day Gouzenko reconnected with the RCMP who were willing to
examine the evidence he had removed from the Soviet embassy.
Gouzenko was transported by the RCMP to the secret Camp X. Camp X
had been used during World War II as a training station for Allied
undercover personnel.
While there, Gouzenko was interviewed by investigators from Britain's MI5
and also by investigators from the American FBI.
Gouzenko’s documents reveal Soviet spy activity on Canadian soil.
Canada played an important part in the early research of nuclear bomb
technology and that kind of vital information was considered dangerous in
the hands of other nations.
Gouzenko's defection "ushered in the modern era of Canadian security
intelligence".
The evidence provided by Gouzenko led to the arrest in Canada of a total
of 39 suspects, of whom 18 were eventually convicted, including Fred
Rose, the only Communist Party Member of Parliament and Sam Carr, the
Communist Party's national organizer, and scientist Raymond Boyer- they
all received jail sentences.
Only half of those arrested and accused were found guilty of lesser
charges.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Espionage was conducted
into the Gouzenko Affair and this alerted other countries around the world,
such as the USA and the UK, that Soviet agents had almost certainly
infiltrated their nations as well.
Gouzenko’s testimony is believed to have been vital in the successful
prosecution of Klaus Fuch, the German communist physicist who
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emigrated to Britain and who later stole atomic secrets for the Soviets and
in the investigation of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the U.S.
Gouzenko, being a cipher clerk by profession, likely also assisted with the
Venona investigation, which probed Soviet codes and which eventually led
to the discovery of vital Soviet spies such the so-called Cambridge Five
and Alan Nunn May.
Diefenbunker and Cryptology
Background
As the Central Emergency Government Headquarters, the Diefenbunker was the
seat of government during a nuclear attack. As such, it would receive and send
many important national and international documents- some of which would be
top secret! The Message Control Centre and the Encryption Room in the
Diefenbunker coded and decoded all incoming and out-going communications
and sent these messages to the proper designate. Therefore, these two rooms
were considered high security and the most likely destination for a KGB spy to
infiltrate.
The Message Control Centre (MCC) handled all incoming and outgoing
messages of the facility and the Encryption Room coded and decoded
these messages.
The staff of the MCC performed the duties of logging, processing, duplicating and
distributing all incoming and outgoing messages. The MCC was also responsible
for ensuring that each outgoing message had the correct authentication and was
in the proper format before being sent to communications for transmission. The
MCC also handled the internal distribution of messages. When fully manned
each shift in the MCC consisted of two officers, two duplicating operators and
one file clerk.
The MCC was necessary to the proper functioning of the facility in that some sort
of control had to be exercised over the flood of messages that the bunker would
be expected to process during a nuclear conflict. Important messages had to be
prioritized and sent to the appropriate officials for their immediate attention. Less
important messages would be accorded a lower priority.
Messages were passed from the MCC to the ‘Crypto’ or Encryption Room for
encoding or decoding and then passed back into the MCC for proper distribution.
Reality Check: Cryptography
Cryptography is the science and practice of hiding information. Encryption
converts plain text messages into ‘gibberish’ or ciphertext. Decryption is the
process that converts the ciphertext into a readable (Plaintext) message again.
Encryption attempts to keep communications between spies, diplomats, political
and military leaders secret from their potential enemies.
A credit card with a 3x5 mm chip embedded in the card. The chip encrypts
financial information to make transactions more secure.