TheCodeBreakers
S.A.—those who attack unknown or new
systems—at about 200.
Despite the great secrecy surrounding their work, and the great
events that can flow from it, the cryptanalysts' labors resemble those of
any other office workers. At N.S.A., they arrive in one of three shifts,
beginning at 7:20, 7:40, or 8:00 a.m. (and ending respectively at 3:50,
4:10, and 4:30 p.m.). Once in, the first order of business must be to
finish reading the newspaper and shoot the breeze with one's
officemates. When they get down to work, they write on cross-ruled paper
with colored pencils, shuffle pages, look for significant patterns, look for
plaintext, confer with colleagues, take coffee breaks. Sometimes a yelp of
joy will pierce the concentration as a cryptanalyst breaks through. They
have one advantage at least over workers in more ordinary fields: they
cannot take their work home with them at night. But, in another sense,
they cannot get away from it, for a problem in cryptanalysis grips the
annaabi.ee 
