For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. That company was secretly run by the CIA, which had the ability to read all those communications for decades.

Greg Miller at the Washington Post:

The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and, finally, silicon chips and software. The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican. But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company's devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages. The decades-long arrangement, among the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War, is laid bare in a classified, comprehensive CIA history of the operation obtained by The Washington Post and ZDF, a German public broadcaster, in a joint reporting project.

Read more:

'The intelligence coup of the century'

[washingtonpost.com, Greg Miller Feb. 11, 2020, via techmeme, image modified from a photograph by theglobalpanorama CC BY-SA 2.0 ]

In case you've ever wondered why the US national security community is always so freaked out about Huawei… https://t.co/GjHgMUczIg — Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 11, 2020

For more than half a century, countries all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. The Swiss company, Crypto AG, was secretly owned by the CIA.https://t.co/tStuLX9xgs pic.twitter.com/MBdnKK4rRm — Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) February 11, 2020

"what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence." Holy cow. WHAT a story. It's loooong—but a real thriller. Must read by @gregpmiller https://t.co/6ZjL5Y3F80 — C. Stelzenmüller (@ConStelz) February 11, 2020

For anyone who thinks US worries about Huawei and other Chinese tech companies is overblown… https://t.co/ctSkptA9MY — Alex Finley (@alexzfinley) February 11, 2020

The CIA monitored Iran's mullahs during the 1979 hostage crisis, fed intelligence to Britain during the Falklands War, tracked the assassination campaigns of South American dictators and caught Libyan officials congratulating themselves on the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco. https://t.co/EbVUVPaGn9 — Lynda Robinson (@WPLyndaRobinson) February 11, 2020

The CIA monitored Iran's mullahs during the 1979 hostage crisis, fed intelligence to Britain during the Falklands War, tracked the assassination campaigns of South American dictators and caught Libyan officials congratulating themselves on the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco. https://t.co/EbVUVPaGn9 — Lynda Robinson (@WPLyndaRobinson) February 11, 2020

"The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican." https://t.co/cfh07Icm6v — Kim Zetter (@KimZetter) February 11, 2020