Mr. Thomas E. Tremain came to NSA in 1961. He received his electrical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1966.

Mr. Tremain was a pioneer in voice encryption systems. While working at NSA, he had a high record of innovation in theory and applied science. His work became the basis of virtually every digital U.S. modem and speech-coding standard for satellite communications and hand-held digital cellular systems. His algorithms reside in deployed STU-III units to this day.

The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Communications, Control, and Intelligence appointed Mr. Tremain chairman of the U.S. Government Digital Voice Consortium. He led the Consortium for three decades and built it into the premier U.S. Government speech research forum. He went on to establish an independent speech-testing center that the U.S. used to evaluate voice algorithms. This was a milestone in the effort to quantify and measure progress in the U.S. speech research program.

Mr. Tremain's ideas have and will continue to influence speech research, especially in the U.S. for decades. Many of Mr. Tremain's peers considered him one of the most dynamic senior scientists ever assigned to NSA. Mr. Tremain passed away in 1995.