Before you could just install your own NSA-level security suite on your smartphone, securing lines demanded hardware. From cabinet-sized cipher machines to the eavesdrop-evading combat radios, our friends at Oobject have assembled nine of the coolest secured handsets in American history.
https://gizmodo.com/how-to-secure-your-android-phone-like-the-nsa-5877014
Be sure to also check out these vintage spy radios, these brick-phones, and some awesome retro videophones.
Moscow Washington Red hotline Telephone used during Carter administration
In some ways this is an anti-crypto device since the introduction of the famous hotline was as a result of the time taken to decode messages during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
STU-1 secure phone desk set, 1970s
Called the Stew phone, three models were produced, until the current STE set replaced them in 2008.
STU III phone, 1987-2008
The picture shows Bush using the phone after the 911 attacks.
Current US secure phone, STE, 2008 on
This replaces and is backward compatible with the STU-III
SIGSALY secure speech system used in WWII
SINCGARS Secure Combat Net Radio, US present day
STU-II secure phone, US, 1980s to present
Shown here is both the headset and the secure message hardware, below.
