Government Code and Cypher School: Sigint Board and Related Committees and Sub-Committees:...

HW 42

1924-1945

This series consists of the minutes, papers and correspondence of the Signals Intelligence Board and its predecessor, the Cryptography and Interception Committee, and of all their respective committees and sub-committees.

Public Record(s)

English

• Government Code and Cypher School, Cryptography and Interception Committee, 1924-1943
• Government Code and Cypher School, India Y Board, 1942-1945
• Government Code and Cypher School, Signal Intelligence Board, 1943-1946

31 file(s)

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

From 2002 Government Communications Headquarters

Topics

Intelligence

File series ran from 1924 to 1946

Series is accruing

All surviving records of the Y and Sigint Boards and their respective committees and sub-committees have been selected for permanent preservation as showing the central direction of the pre-war and World War II signals intelligence effort. Selected under section 2.2.1.3 (external relations and defence) of the PRO acquisition policy.

The Cryptography and Interception Committee of the Government Code and Cypher School (more commonly referred to as the Y Board) was established in 1924 at the request of the armed forces to prioritise the work of the School, and guide its operations. The Board itself met relatively infrequently, and conducted its business through a number of committees and sub-committees, dealing with particular technical subjects or with work in specified geographical locations. The Y Board was replaced in October 1943 by the Signal Intelligence Board (SIB or, more commonly, the Sigint Board).

A separate India Y Board operated between 1942 and 1945, exercising similar functions in respect of setting service priorities for signals intelligence work in the sub-continent. There were also Y Boards and Committees for the Middle East, for Gibraltar and for North Africa. A Y Committee for West Africa was proposed but never established