Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

by Liza Mundy

Some WACs got assignments that were challenging and important, but in a much less painful way. In May 1945, two WACs working at the Vint Hill intercept station—their last names were Regan and Solek—were assigned to test Arlington Hall security by seeing if they could penetrate the code-breaking compound and steal classified information. The two resourceful women were put up at a nearby hotel and told to apply for a job. They did not know anything about the layout, nor how the system worked. They came to the front gate wearing civilian clothes, said they wished to apply for work, and were admitted and given visitors’ badges. They acquainted themselves with the compound, went to the PX and started chatting, learned what badges gave entry into certain buildings, altered their visitors’ badges accordingly, stole more badges from some coats lying around, and proceeded to wander around taking classified documents from desks and drawers. They turned in everything to an intelligence officer at the end of the day. The next day they did exactly the same thing. Nobody reported the badges or documents missing. The escapade found its way into the Washington Post, which noted the breach in a gossip item headlined SECRET WAR DOCUMENTS PROVE ABOUT AS HARD TO GET AS A COLD.