Lowell Frazer

Who is Lowell Frazer?

Dr. Lowell K. Frazer is a mathematician who worked for the National Security Agency in the field of cryptography.

"Dr. Lowell K. Frazer founded modern cryptographic evaluation for the US government. As a result of his efforts, all cryptography used for classified applications by the U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community is now subject to rigorous scientific evaluation. He influenced the design of most U.S. cryptographic systems fielded prior to 1990. In addition, Dr. Frazer was a prolific writer of technical papers.

He was selected as the first Communications Security mathematician assigned as an integrated member at GCHQ from 1954 to 1956. During this two-year tour, he performed assessments of many cryptographic systems, designed speech cryptosystems, and discovered an analytic technique that would be widely used over the next three decades. Also, he authored a training primer for new COMSEC cryptomathematicians.

Dr. Frazer was the principal formulator of the standards that the United States and the United Kingdom use to judge the strength of cryptographic systems. He continued to lead the adaptation and extension of those standards as the role of cryptography grew from COMSEC to a more diverse mission.