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Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies

Viewing Ideas

Before Watching

1. To help students understand the program, review the following terms with them: code, cipher, plain text, base code, encoded message, additive, enciphered message, and indicator. (See Activity Answer for more information.)

2. Have students brainstorm what makes a good codebreaker. What kinds of personality traits, characteristics, or skills do students think would be good to have? As students watch, have them take notes on the backgrounds and specialties of people involved in breaking the Soviet ciphers.

After Watching

1. Have students consider whether they agree or disagree with the government's decision to wait until 1995 to inform Americans about the VENONA project. What were some of the implications of this decision?