![]() ![]() ![]() Under Donovan’s capable, if unorthodox, direction, the OSS was remarkably effective, despite the initial inexperience of most of its personnel. Among reports commissioned from the OSS were assessments of German industry and war-making capability and a psychological profile of German dictator Adolf Hitler that concluded that he would likely commit suicide should Germany be defeated. Before the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, more than 500 OSS agents were working inside occupied France. It used agents inside Nazi-occupied Europe, including Berlin carried out counterpropaganda and disinformation activities produced analytical reports for policy makers and staged “special operations” (e.g., sabotage and demolition) behind enemy lines to support guerrillas and resistance fighters. Donovan supported the use of exotic poisons against enemy targets and once proposed the use of bats to deliver incendiary weapons against Japan.)ĭuring World War II the OSS, with a staff of approximately 12,000, collected and analyzed information on areas of the world in which U.S. (Roosevelt described Donovan as a man who had 100 new ideas a day, of which 95 were terrible-though he added that few men had 5 good ideas in their lifetimes. (“Wild Bill”) Donovan, who had spurred Roosevelt into creating an information agency, became head of the OSS upon its founding and was largely responsible for building the organization and for improving its ability to perform economic and political intelligence analysis for senior policy makers. A similar office for this purpose, the Office of the Coordinator of Information, created in July 1941, had floundered as the result of hostile pressure from the State Department, the military intelligence services, and the FBI. foreign intelligence gathering in a single organization. In June 1942 Roosevelt created the OSS to bring together the fragmented and uncoordinated strands of U.S. Roosevelt was not given sensitive information about Japan in the months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. For example, because of rivalries between army and navy intelligence offices, which did not want to jeopardize the “security” of their information, U.S. The information gathered was rarely shared with other government agencies and was sometimes not even provided to senior policy makers. ![]() Information was collected in an unsystematic way by the Office of Naval Intelligence, by U.S. Indeed, prior to 1942 the country lacked any civilian intelligence agency. The United States was the last of the major powers to establish a civilian intelligence agency responsible for the collection of secret information for policy makers. intelligence and counterintelligence efforts had been conducted by the military and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and suffered from duplication, competition, and lack of coordination, problems that continued, to some degree, into the 21st century. Formally created in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) grew out of the World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS). SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!Ĭentral Intelligence Agency (CIA), principal foreign intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions. ![]()
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