Marching Orders: The Untold Story of How the American Breaking of the Japanese Secret Codes Led to the Defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan

by Bruce Lee

Thus, MIS WD London will have three primary functions. First, U.S. liaison officers working with British personnel at GC&CS will examine incoming enemy decrypts, select those that should be sent to recipients in the various zones of combat and draft the signals necessary for disseminating the information. Second, American liaison officers at GC&CS will examine messages and summaries, picking out the most important for transmittal to Washington and G-2 (Intelligence) in the War Department (Army). Last, a special group of U.S. liaison officers will be properly trained at GC&CS and then attached to field commands “where an American officer is Commander-in-Chief.” The function of these liaison officers will be to advise the commander on Ultra matters and “overcome difficulties that might arise in regard to difference in language.” This is a polite way of saying that when the American Ultra liaison officer finds that his old-fashioned commander is unable to comprehend the significance of the Ultra secret intelligence he is receiving from a young whippersnapper without combat, or even much Army, experience, the liaison officer is supposed to find some other way of getting his message across so it can be used effectively against the enemy.