Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a cryptanalyst for the U.S. Coast Guard and became a key witness in the prosecution of several smuggling cases during Prohibition. (Source: National Security Administration).

Elizebeth Friedman: Coast Guard Code Breaker

Max Lee

By the end of her life, Elizebeth Smith Friedman was renowned for her work deciphering codes from civilian criminals. She cracked the codes that sent members of what one prosecutor called “the most powerful international smuggling syndicate in existence” to jail, took down a Vancouver opium ring, and caught a World War II Japanese spy.

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Last Updated: May 10, 2022