After code-breaking work during World War One, Friedman was made chief of the Signal Intelligence Services (SIS). By the late 1930's, US intelligence realised that war with Japan was inevitable and stepped up its intelligence preparations and code-breaking activities. By 1941 US intelligence experts, Friedman at their core, were able to translate the Japanese orders to break off negotiations on December 7th which had clearly indicated Japan's intent to go to war, although the messages did not pinpoint Pearl Harbour as the site of the first sneak attack.
Friedman visited the British code-breaking operations at the Government Code and Cipher School (GC & CS) at Bletchley in 194? to establish the close co-operation. Not only did the wartime partners produce a code-breaking capability that probably shortened World War Two by several years, saving countless millions of live, but laid the ground work for the global intelligence gathering network that still exists today.
Following the end of the war, Friedman remained an intelligence officer, becoming in 1952 the chief cryptologist for National Security Agency (NSA). Friedman died in 1969 exhausted by decades of brilliant but mind-numbing code-breaking , one of the great unsung American heroes and one the leading cryptologist's of his era.
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