In the archives of the US National Security Agency (NSA), there are magnetic tapes containing a significant fragment of the history of programming - a lecture by Admiral Grace Hopper. However, there is a problem: the NSA has no way to reproduce it.
Grace Hopper was a senior officer in the US Navy, a legend in the field of computer science, and a pioneer in computers. She was involved in the development of FLOW-MATIC, the first programming language to use basic English words instead of numbers. Later, she helped develop COBOL, a commercially oriented computer language that is still used in some computer systems to this day. In 1982, she gave a lecture at NSA headquarters. The agency recorded the lecture and stored it.
"The content of her 1982 lecture is divided into two parts - TVC 930A and TVC 930B, with durations of 48 minutes 15 seconds and 40 minutes 39 seconds, respectively. They contain not only historical data, but also valuable and forward-looking information about the evolution of technologies and their impact on society," writes researcher Michael Ravnitsky, representing MuckRock, a non-profit organization which helps people make requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
On October 12, 2021, Ravnitsky applied for access to these tapes. Three years later, the NSA stated that they "do not have the relevant documents." Ravnitsky was certain that the data existed, and objected. The NSA's own "Television Center Catalog," a document disclosed under the Information Access Act in 2009, listed the tapes among its contents. So the researcher demanded explanations from the agency. The NSA replied that they do not have the technical means to play the tapes, and therefore cannot provide them upon request:
"During the search, our office contacted an organization that would have the records that you requested, if they still exist. We were informed that while there are some old videotapes that potentially match, they are in a format that the NSA no longer has the capability to view or digitize. Without the ability to view the tapes, the NSA cannot verify their content. The NSA is not required to find or obtain new technologies (obsolete or current) to process the request," the agency said.
Ravnitsky asked the NSA to provide photographs of the recordings, and he received them. The pictures showed that the tapes were recorded on a 1-inch AMPEX videotape recorder. There were three different standardized types of AMPEX machines. A preliminary search on eBay revealed dozens of machines that could potentially meet the requirements.
After MuckRock published the article, some people volunteered to help. Michael Morisy, founder and CEO of MuckRock, said that several groups offered "various hardware setups that they believe could help." The search for equipment is currently underway. However, magnetic tapes deteriorate over time, so haste is advisable.
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