The Shadow Warriors: O.S.S. and the Origins of the C.I.A.
The Shadow Warriors: O.S.S. and the Origins of the C.I.A. by Bradley F. Smith
English | April 1, 2022 | ASIN: B09X3L935Z, ISBN: 0465077560 | True AZW3 | 853 pages | 3.8 MB
English | April 1, 2022 | ASIN: B09X3L935Z, ISBN: 0465077560 | True AZW3 | 853 pages | 3.8 MB
This is an account of the nation’s first intelligence agency, the Office of Special Services (O.S.S.) — how it operated, what it accomplished, and how it laid the basis for the present Central Intelligence Agency — and how its charismatic founder, “Wild Bill” Donovan, established control over it, recruited its staff, and, most importantly, sold Roosevelt, the armed services, the Allies, and the rest of the country on the agency’s varied — and often bizarre — shadow warfare missions during World War II.
The O.S.S.’s special relationship with the British, the key role of academics and its embarrassing connection with the Soviets’ N.K.V.D. are also addressed. Smith concludes that the creation of the C.I.A. after the war owed less to the accomplishments of the O.S.S. than to Donovan’s public relations skills and the precarious military situation the country found itself in at the time.