Daniel Olson
Unit Chief
Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit
FBI Laboratory
Quantico, Virginia
Monday, June 20, 2016 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m at the National Cryptologic Museum’s Magic Room
Over the past 75 years the codebreakers of the FBI Laboratory have been engaged in a high stakes battle of wits against spies, terrorists, violent criminals, gangs and criminal syndicates. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the history, milestones, success and failures of the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit. Highlights will include both solved and unsolved ciphers from notorious criminals such as the Zodiac killer of the 1960s, the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killer Dennis Raeder, and the enciphered journal of Ted Kaczynski, the infamous UNABOMBER.
Dan Olson is the Unit Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. From 1988 to 1997, Dan served as an intelligence analyst and cryptanalyst in the U.S. Army and was assigned to an electronic warfare company in Saudi Arabia and Iraq during Operation Desert Shield/Storm 1990-91. From 1993 to 1997, he provided intelligence support to the Drug Enforcement Administration. In 1997, Dan transferred to the FBI as a cryptanalyst. Since that time, he has been involved in the decryption of criminal codes and ciphers involving domestic and international terrorists, violent criminals, drug traffickers, street and prison gangs, and organized crime. He has been recognized as an expert in cryptology in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has been featured on the History Channel, Court TV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. Dan holds a B.A. in Criminology from Saint Leo College in Florida
and a Masters in Forensic Science from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
If you would like to register for the event, please send your name and number of requested seats to history@nsa.gov with the title – Attention: Dan Olson. Seating is limited for this event and available on a first come, first served basis. The CCH will notify all requestors if confirmed.
For directions to the National Cryptologic Museum, visit our museum webpage. To learn more about CCH, visit the Center for Cryptologic History webpage.