570 • WELCHMAN, GORDON
French biologist and prominent Communist; and Jacques Soustelle,
another academic who was to rise high in Charles de Gaulle’s intelli-
gence service.WELCHMAN, GORDON.One of the pioneers of research at the
Government Code and Cipher Schoolinto the cryptographic se-
crets of theEnigmamachine, Gordon Welchman was a mathemati-
cian from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, who collaborated with
Alan Turingand John Jeffreys to solve many of the enemy’s cipher
keys. Welchman spent the war in Hut 6 atBletchley Parkand in
October 1941 joined Hugh Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry in
writing to the prime minister to complain about the lack of resources
available to the cryptanalysts.
After the war Welchman moved to Massachusetts and became an
American citizen, but when he published his memoirs,The Hut Six
Story, in 1982,GCHQprotested and the U.S.National Security
Agencywithdrew his security clearance to undertake classified work
at the MITRE Corporation, where he worked.
WELDON, L. B.When World War I broke out, L. B. Weldon was
working for the survey department of the Egyptian government, and
he was quickly transferred to the intelligence branch of the General
Staff as a map officer with responsibility for the preparation and dis-
tribution to British forces of accurate maps of the Middle East. His
direct superior was Colonel Gilbert Clayton, the regional chief of
MI1(c), then Secret Intelligence Service’s military cover title.
Gradually Weldon’s post changed into one of liaison, and in January
1915 he was appointed intelligence officer aboard theAenne Rick-
mers, a confiscated German cargo vessel that had been converted into
a spy ship equipped with a pair of French Nieuport seaplanes. Wel-
don’s assignment, which was to last two years, consisted of cruising
off the Syrian coast and launching reconnaissance flights inland over
the Turkish lines to report on troop movements. In addition, the
Aenne Rickmerscarried British agents from Port Said and dropped
them ashore on short-term missions to infiltrate enemy positions.
Initially Weldon started his mission under the auspices of the
Egyptian Ports and Lights Administration, acting for the GOC Egypt,
which would have left him vulnerable as a civilian if he were ever