A lecture by Grace Hopper with the title “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People” was recorded on videotape. More than 40 years later NSA is refusing to release it.
Grace Hopper, described for her appearance on the David Letterman show as “The Queen of Computing” and on IProgrammer as “Mother of Cobol” became a legend in her lifetime as the oldest serving member of the Navy. Having initially retired at age 60 she was recalled twice to active duty in order to sort out the Nav’s computing capabilities. She finally retired in 1986 with the rank of Commodore (aka Rear Admiral, lower half) at the age of 79.
It was in August 1982, some four years before her retirement, that Grace Hopper delivered the “Future Possibilities” lecture at Fort Meade, headquarters of the National Security Agency. Two tapes containing it were stored in the video archives of the National Cryptographic School and, even though they have been located, NSA is refusing to let them be released.
Back in October 2021, Michael Ravnitzky, an attorney and former journalist who has 25 years of experience in using the Freedom of Information Act, filed a request for a copy of these historic videos. It took until May 2024 for NSA to provided a “no responsive documents” reply. Ravnitzky then pointed out that the agency’s own “Television Center Catalog” had it listed, evoking the following explanation:
“When the search was conducted, our office reached out to the organization that would have the tape you requested if it still exists. We were informed that although there are some older video tapes that are potentially responsive, they are on a format that NSA no longer has the ability to view or digitize. Without being able to view the tapes, NSA has no way to verify their responsiveness.”
In an even more negative manner, the communication continues:
NSA is not required to find or obtain new technology (outdated or current) in order to process a request. We have made all reasonable attempts to find responsive records, and those that are potentially responsive are housed on/in unreadable media/system, therefore, the no record response is appropriate.
In response to a further request NSA supplied photos of the two tapes verifying at least that they exist and were in the possession of the NSA.
This photo also provide enough clues to know how to liberate the data the tapes contain. The tape used is Ampex 1″ reel-to-reel video tape, already pretty dated by 1982 and a report by Hackaday has a photo of the type of deck required to play it – an Ampex VR7800:
Comments to the Hackaday post go further pointing out that there were a few generations of 1″ video tape but Type C, “widely adopted as the US broadcast standard in the late 70’s” would be the most likely to have been uses and that “the VTR’s were built like tanks, and there are still plenty of machines out there doing archival work“.
Other comments give suggestions of the organisations that might have them, including NASA and the Smithsonian. This comment perhaps gives the best lead:
Per my experience as a former US government employee, I know that there are machines that could read this tape within the various DOD T&E organizations.
NSA’s reluctance to share the Grace Hopper tapes is shameful and it is to be hoped that it can be persuaded to have a change of mind. I’m encouraged by another comment on the Hackaday report:
The people involved in handling the FOIA request likely have little idea of just how important that lecture is for the modern world, so this simply comes down to doing what’s easiest: denying the request.
Fortunately, with numerous publications picking this up, the latest being HaD, there’s a chance someone at the agency will reconsider.
We at I Programmer are happy to add to the list of publications publicizing this, in the hope that our readers can exert influence on the recalcitrant authorities.
Meanwhile if you want to indulge in a spot of Hopper-watching, here’s a lecture given at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in April 1985. The reproduction quality is abysmal but the content is great and includes the famous Nanosecond demonstration at 45:06.
It is evident that Hopper did the rounds of universities with versions of this lecture. YouTube also has a shorter version of the lecture delivered at the University of Tennessee, but with better quality reproduction and some additional material added to provide background info introducing the speaker to a generation who may not have heard of her!
Grace Hopper being promoted to the rank of commodore in 1983, in presence of President Ronald Reagan
Photo Wikipedia
More Information
Admiral Grace Hopper’s landmark lecture is found, but the NSA won’t release it (Mudrock)
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Wanda Parisien is a computing expert who navigates the vast landscape of hardware and software. With a focus on computer technology, software development, and industry trends, Wanda delivers informative content, tutorials, and analyses to keep readers updated on the latest in the world of computing.
