LONDON — A note written in code that was found on the skeleton of a carrier pigeon dating from World War II has been cracked, according to a Canadian history enthusiast.

Originally discovered in November, the message was enclosed in a red canister attached to the leg bone of the carrier pigeon. David Martin found the pigeon in the chimney of his home in Surrey, England.

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The U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), one of Britain’s three national intelligence agencies, said at the time that the handwritten message “cannot be decoded without access to the original cryptographic material.”

But Gordon Young, from Peterborough, Ontario, set his mind to deciphering the message using his great-uncle’s World War I code book.

"It follows same sort of code they used in the first war," Young told NBC News. "I’m not saying my note is perfect, but I am saying the code is crackable and this one is pretty close."

Experts: Unbreakable code message found on WWII carrier pigeon

It took Young, the editor of a local volunteer history group, 17 minutes to understand the message, which consists of 25 five-letter code groups.

He believes that the message was sent one afternoon in 1944, not long after the Allied landing at Normandy. It was written by an officer who was dropped behind enemy lines, confirming an earlier lunch-time note he sent giving the map coordinates of the Germans’ guns and tanks. It also confirmed that several units of American and British troops had finally met up.

In addition to using his uncle’s code book, Young double checked with infantry maps online to confirm his hypotheses.

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"To really understand the exact circumstances of the note, we would need access to British and American war diaries from the time," he said.

'Impossible to verify'
Despite Young’s translation, the GCHQ still maintains that without the original codebooks the note is indecipherable.

“We stand by our press notice of 22 November 2012 in that without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, the message will remain impossible to decrypt,” a spokesman for the GCHQ told NBC News in an emailed statement. “Similarly it is also impossible to verify any proposed solutions, but those put forward without reference to the original cryptographic material are unlikely to be correct.”

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The pigeon is thought to have been part of a flock of 250,000 that were used to carry messages between the European front and Britain during World War II.

"I am hoping that this will stir up some interest in the bravery of the men who were dropped on the battlefield," said Young.

"Imagine a guy dropping down behind enemy lines with crates of pigeons and a couple of bags of feed. How they didn’t get caught is amazing. It wasn't like today where there are unmanned drones. These guys were risking their lives," he added.

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LONDON — A coded message from World War II found on the leg of a dead carrier pigeon in an English chimney cannot be deciphered, according to British intelligence agents.

The handwritten message on a small sheet of paper headed "Pigeon Service" was found earlier this month in a small red canister still attached to the pigeon's leg, the GCHQ agency said in a statement posted on its website.

The pigeon is thought to have been one of the 250,000 used by British forces — including secret agents working behind enemy lines in German-occupied Europe — during the 1939-1945 war.

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The message was signed and appears to say "Sjt W Stot", GCHQ said, adding that nothing is known of this individual or their unit. Sjt is an abbreviation of the old-fashioned "serjeant" spelling of the army rank.

'Tribute' to code-makers
It was destined for a place code-named "X02," but it is also not known what this means. It contains 27 five-letter code groups, but GCHQ said it was impossible to decipher the message without the relevant code book.

"During the war, the methods used to encode messages naturally needed to be as secure as possible and various methods were used," the agency's statement said.

"The senders would often have specialist code books in which each code group of four or five letters had a meaning relevant to a specific operation, allowing much information to be sent in a short message. For added security, the code groups could then themselves be encrypted," it said.

"Although it is disappointing that we cannot yet read the message brought back by a brave carrier pigeon, it is a tribute to the skills of the wartime code-makers that, despite working under severe pressure, they devised a code that was undecipherable both then and now," it added.

It is thought a "one-time pad" may have been used to encrypt the message.

"The advantage of this system is that, if used correctly, it is unbreakable as long as the key is kept secret. The disadvantage is that both the sending and receiving parties need to have access to the same key, which usually means producing and sharing a large keypad in advance," GCHQ said.

The pigeons carried a wide variety of messages, "flying the gauntlet of enemy hawk patrols and soldiers taking potshots at them to bring vital information back to Britain from mainland Europe," GCHQ added.

Each had its own identity number and the Bletchingley message contains two such numbers — NURP.40.TW.194 and NURP.37.OK.76. Either could be the dead pigeon's number.

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By Peter Jeary, NBC News

In the 50 years since the first James Bond movie created a lasting impression of a British secret agent, a completely different character is about to emerge.

Britain's intelligence agencies are to recruit their next generation of cyber spies by harnessing the talents of the "Xbox generation."

In an expansion of a pilot program, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced Thursday that up to 100 18-year-olds will be given the chance to train for a career in Britain’s secret services.

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Most of the recruitment is aimed at producing staff for the GCHQ, the electronic communications agency and monitoring station at the heart of Britain’s cyber defenses. However, some recruits will go on to work in the other two intelligence agencies – MI5 and MI6.

The move to recruit school-leavers marks a break with the past, when agencies mainly drew their staff from among university graduates.

Speaking at Bletchley Park, the forerunner of GCHQ and home to Britain's Second World War code-breakers, Hague said it was important to bring in the most talented people to secure the UK's cyber expertise for the future.

“Young people are the key to our country’s future success, just as they were during the War,” Hague said.  “Today we are not at war, but I see evidence every day of deliberate, organized attacks against intellectual property and government networks in the United Kingdom.”

Security Minister James Brokenshire told NBC News the government was always on the lookout for the best people regardless of where they come from.  

“We look at technical innovation, but it’s also looking at attracting people to become involved in the work or our agencies, recognizing the importance of the work that they do,”he said.

The new recruitment program, called the Single Intelligence Account apprenticeship scheme will enable students with suitable qualifications in science, technology or engineering, to spend two years learning about communications, security and engineering through formal education, technical training and work placements.

Officials said apprenticeships would tap into the skills of the "Xbox generation" who had grown up in the world of social media, global connectivity and interactive gaming.

In a bid to widen the Intelligence Services’ pool of cyber talent, Hague also announced GHCQ will introduce an open-door and continuous recruitment strategy, no longer only recruiting annually. And a university degree will no longer be a prerequisite, but consideration will be given to anyone with relevant experience.

The Director of GCHQ, Iain Lobban, welcomed the announcement, saying, “It should ensure that GCHQ continues to develop the skills and attract the talent it needs to meet today's challenges around cyber security.”

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Gareth Williams, the British cyberspy who was found dead in a padlocked duffel bag, probably suffocated or was poisoned, a forensic pathologist testified Monday.

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Williams' body was found in the bag in the bathtub of his apartment in London in August 2010. The unusual of his death — Williams, 31, a math prodigy who worked as a code breaker for the British spy service MI6, was discovered naked and showing no signs of a struggle — has transfixed Britain as details of Williams' transvestism and sexual fantasies have emerged.

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Speaking at an official inquest into Williams' death in August 2010, the pathologist, Benjamin Swift, said the precise cause of death couldn't be pinpointed because the body was badly decomposed after having been in the bag for more than a week before it was found, The Guardian reported. But he said  asphyxiation or poisoning were the "foremost contenders."

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Other experts have testified that it was highly likely that another person, or even two, was involved in the case, citing the near-impossibility of Williams' being able to lock himself into the bag.

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That has spawned any number of conspiracy theories that Williams may have been assassinated by foreign agents or terrorists. But MI6 said it believed his death had nothing to do with his work or that it had covered it up.

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LONDON - There was "no evidence" to suggest that British intelligence services were part of a cover-up after one of their own was found naked and decomposing inside a locked duffel bag in his London apartment, an intelligence officer said on Thursday.

"Witness F" gave evidence to the inquest -- which are held when deaths are deemed violent or unnatural -- in the August 2010 death of MI6 officer Gareth Williams from behind a screen, BBC News reported.

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MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence agency, is roughly equivalent to the Untied States' CIA.

The denial came on the same day that one of the code-breaker's relatives shrieked and brought proceedings to a halt while listening to details of a series of missteps that allowed for the spy to lay in his bathroom undiscovered for a week, the Telegraph reported.

UK cops close to arrest over British spy found dead in a bag?

The relatives walked out of the inquest in tears during Witness F's evidence, the BBC reported.

Their lawyer Anthony O'Toole said the agency showed a "total disregard for Gareth's whereabouts and safety."

Williams, 31, was a math prodigy working as a codebreaker at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the state eavesdropping service. 

Williams' family became increasingly upset during the four days of proceedings as it became clear that his absence did not spark any concern, despite the sensitive nature of his job, according to reports.

Witness F, a senior intelligence officer, told the inquest that MI6 was "profoundly sorry" for the delays, which had made it more difficult for the family to "come to terms with his dreadful death," the newspaper reported.

A detective told the inquest on Tuesday that a "third party was involved in that padlock being locked, and Gareth being placed in the bag."

Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

The inquest has also been told that Williams, who was single and intensely private, would not have let a stranger into his flat, and that he would not have given his keys to anyone apart from close family.

There were no signs of a break-in or indications of foul play.

Small amounts of unidentified DNA were detected on the bag.

On Wednesday, the inquest heard that years earlier Williams had been found tied to his bed and unable to free himself.

Williams had shouted out for help in the middle of the night when he was living in an annex of the home of his then-landlady Jennifer Elliot in Cheltenham, western England.

Mystery couple sought in UK cyberspy's bizarre death

Elliot and her husband found Williams dressed only in boxer shorts with his hands tied to the headboard of the bed. He told her that he had been just "messing about," trying to see "if I could get myself free," the Telegraph newspaper reported.

In a written statement, Elliot said it was likely "to be sexual rather than escapology," the paper added.

Williams later took up a three-year assignment at the headquarters of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, whose offices are on the banks of the River Thames in central London.