Q In the fact-based WWII drama Windtalkers, Marines used the Navajo language as code and recruited Navajos as code talkers. When did that stop?
A The U.S. military dropped the Native American code shortly after the war, due to less need for secrecy -- and tech advances. ''Nowadays it's all on tiny little chips,'' explains David Kahn, author of The Codebreakers. ''They'd have walkie-talkie telephones, only these messages are instantly encrypted. If anybody intercepts it, they're going to hear gobbledygook.'' And, adds Kahn, cracking a digital code would take decades. Bemoans Windtalkers director John Woo: ''The whole world is so computerized. But the Navajos...used skill to win the war.'' -- Nancy Miller (Send queries to BurningQuestions@ew.com)
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