Office of Strategic Services

Identification U.S. intelligence organization

Date Established on June 13, 1942

Also Known As OSS

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) conducted numerous sabotage operations behind enemy lines in coordination with local resistance groups. The OSS trained a number of agents who later served in the Central Intelligence Agency and provided a structural framework for the establishment of the CIA.

On July 11, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of the Coordinator of Information to handle intelligence matters. He placed Congressional Medal of Honor winner William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan at the head of the organization. Once the United States entered World War II, Roosevelt was persuaded to bring the Office of the Coordinator of Information under the authority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He placed Donovan in charge of forming the new intelligence organization that was named the Office of Strategic Services. The OSS combined foreign intelligence gathering and special operations. It was under the tutelage of the British, who split these different missions between two organizations known as the Secret Intelligence Service (commonly called MI6) and Special Operations Executive. The OSS was the first Allied organization to combine the two into one office.

The OSS was divided into sections such as Secret Intelligence, Morale Operations, Research and Analysis, Research and Development, Special Operations, and counterespionage, known as X-2. The Secret Intelligence section was responsible for foreign intelligence collection and operated predominantly in Europe. Morale Operations was responsible for creating propaganda. The Research and Analysis section was designed to evaluate the information gathered by the intelligence section. The Research and Design section was responsible for creating or adapting weapons systems. It also created a number of explosive devices and other weapons for use in sabotage and special operations.

The Special Operations section was the covert-operations wing of the OSS. This section carried out numerous acts of sabotage and worked alongside local resistance groups to disrupt the enemy. X-2 was responsible for counterintelligence, mainly combating foreign intelligence-gathering efforts through information operations. OSS training was often conducted under British instructors, particularly at Camp X on Lake Ontario in Canada. There were also a number of training areas in Maryland and Virginia. The training was meant to be as realistic as possible, with practice operations conducted against domestic targets whose guards were not aware that the operations were training exercises.

Operations

The OSS operated in both the Pacific and European theaters during World War II. In Europe, the OSS aided local resistance groups by supplying weapons and, at times, personnel. It conducted a series of operations during the Italian campaign. One of the more ambitious, Operation McGregor, was an OSS attempt to get the Italian navy to surrender the Italian fleet to Allied forces. The mission turned out to be a waste because the Italian naval command had already agreed to surrender to the British. Throughout the Italian campaign, OSS agents operated behind German lines to disrupt their communications and supplies. In France, OSS operations were generally used to disrupt the German supply lines and communications through sabotage and coordination with the French resistance forces.

The OSS also stationed an intelligence-gathering unit in Switzerland under the command of Allen Dulles. This unit worked to gather vital intelligence on Nazi Germany and established contact with the German resistance. Instead of sending agents into Germany, Dulles used personal contacts in an effort to gain information.

OSS operations in the Pacific were limited in scope largely because General Douglas MacArthur resented other intelligence organizations operating in his area. The OSS aided the Nationalist troops in China in the effort to fight the Japanese. It also helped train and arm other resistance groups, including the communists under Mao Zedong and the resistance movement in Vietnam. The OSS recruited and provided training focused on sabotage techniques. By the end of World War II, it had carried out many effective operations and gathered vital intelligence for the Allied war effort. In September, 1945, the OSS was effectively disbanded.

Impact

The OSS played an instrumental role in World War II. The unit provided substantial aid to resistance fighters and gathered some timely intelligence in Europe. In the Pacific, the OSS was able to establish effective communications with the Chinese resistance movement. After the war, the structure of the OSS was used by President Harry S. Truman as an example to help establish the CIA through the National Security Act of 1947. Many of the original members of the CIA were former OSS officers who learned their trade during World War II.

Bibliography

Fenn, Charles. At the Dragon’s Gate: With the OSS in the Far East. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2004. The story of Charles Fenn, a member of the OSS’s Morale Operations section in the Pacific theater.

Ford, Kirk, Jr. OSS and the Yugoslav Resistance, 1943-1945. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1992. Discusses the OSS mission to Yugoslavia and OSS aid to the Partisan forces under Tito.

Lucas, Peter. The OSS in World War II Albania: Covert Operations and Collaboration with Communist Partisans. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007. Examination of the OSS mission to Albania in which the OSS aided and supported the communist guerillas led by Enver Hoxha.

O’Donnell, Patrick K. Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of World War II’s OSS. New York: Free Press, 2004. Provides a good overview of OSS operations in Europe and is based largely on interviews conducted with former members of the OSS.

Schwab, Gerald. OSS Agents in Hitler’s Heartland: Destination Innsbruck. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996. Discusses an OSS operation in which three OSS agents infiltrated German territory; based on OSS records and interviews with participants.

Yu, Maochun. OSS in China: Prelude to Cold War. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996. Examines the OSS mission in China and argues that the neglect of China by the administration allowed the OSS to make U.S. foreign policy in the Chinese theater.