Ed Fishel

Edwin Clark "Ed" Fishel was a lifelong artist, historian, war correspondent, and magazine editor for the National Security Agency. He was notable for his tenure as the director and senior editor of Cryptologic Spectrum, which was eventually merged into the Cryptologic Quarterly. He was also the director of the press at the National Cryptologic School (now University), and senior editor of the NSA Technical Journal. He wrote a book which is considered a definitive history of military intelligence during the US Civil War. He was also directly involved in the core advisory panel during the Senate debate over the creation of a National Historical Intelligence Museum.

Alongside his career in the United States Intelligence Community, he was also a well known as a jazz pianist, and was a cofounding member of a jazz band called the Tuesday Nooners Jazz Band (TNJB), which was a jazz band composed entirely of US Government cryptologists. He was also a member of the Bull Run Blues Blowers jazz band and the Band From Tin Pan Alley.

World War II In January 1941, Fishel left his hometown of Alliance, Ohio, for Washington, D.C., intending to use his experience as a ham radio operator to obtain a commission in the Army Signal Corps. Instead, he was drafted a few months later. His service record noted his completion of a cryptology course, and in early 1942 he was assigned to the Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) in Washington. At the time, he had been stationed at the Fifth Corps headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and his application to the SIS was approved by Colonel , the Corps’ signal officer.

Fishel was sent to the Signal Corps school at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where his class was trained under the supervision of Corporal Lambros Callimahos, who later became a prominent cryptologist. Callimahos was responsible for leading the class to and from their lessons and for conducting early morning inspections of their barracks.