the fullest and most current information about the results obtained from the work. Although all the girls knew that the work was always of the greatest importance and urgency it made all the difference if someone told them of the really current operational news connected with traffic actually being handled at the time. Almost all the clerical work was intrinsically dull and exhausting - as all routine work tends to be - and it is unreasonable to expect a continuously high morale unless constant efforts are made to stimulate interest. Moreover I think for two reasons that it is quite untrue that a policy of telling people as much as possible endangers security. (1) Staff working on a job like ours have to be trusted with the main secret - that traffic is being read - and if they are indiscreet can give the whole show away in any case. (2) It is not in practice possible to prevent people from getting hold of occasional tit-bits of news; they are less likely to be scrupulous about keeping it to themselves if the official attitude is that they are not to be trusted with such information than if they are kept fully in the picture.
16. Regular talks on the intelligence side of the work and visits from Admirals and other V.I.P's also help considerably. Distinguished visitors unfortunately have rather a tendency just to say thank you very much; what really helps is to get from them - the ultimate users - one or two specific examples of the difference made by the work.
17. Attempts to produce an intelligent interest and technical understanding of the work are well worth while and are very much appreciated by a minority of the girls; the majority of clerical workers, however, are content to know that their job is useful and to do it as a routine provided they have some vague idea as to how it fits into the whole. It is useless to expect much interest in the job from the majority - it is interest in the results that keeps them keen.
18. Finally it is a great help if they can see their work being used. One of the best things about Hut 8 was that the cryptographers
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