Breaking David Kahn’s Code

The famed intelligence historian was a friend and quiet newspaper man

When my friend and colleague, David Kahn, the journalist and famed cryptologist, died last month at the age of 93, I thought back to our days at Newsday in the 1980s. Even some people who worked with us didn’t know that the quiet copy editor in the Viewpoints section was the same man as the acclaimed intelligence historian.

In 2010 the NSA’s National Cry…