Venona Project

The Venona Project was a secret U.S. effort during the Cold War to intercept and decrypt messages sent by Soviet intelligence agencies. By analyzing encrypted communications, American and British cryptographers uncovered espionage activities of Soviet spies within the U.S. government and elsewhere. The project revealed the extent of Soviet spying efforts in the 1940s and early 1950s, providing crucial intelligence that influenced U.S. national security decisions. Although highly classified at the time, the findings became publicly known years later, shedding light on Cold War espionage and the hidden conflicts between East and West.