Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-09-16
New Agency Needed
As OSS Replacement
Permanent Central Intelligence
Unit Proposed for Nation
BIZ William n. Harrison

By William II. Harrison
Now that the ONCE of Strategic Ser
vices is being dissolved because its
legal lease on life is running out, ques-
ton of great and pressing Importance
is whether the United States-alone
among the major powers of the world
is going to revert TO it's traditional prac-
tice of gathering foreign intelligence in
a manner so haphazard as to make the
shaping of our diplomatic and military
policy largely business of guessing In
the dark.
Probably owing to the somewhat deli
cate international nature OF the subject,
the American people never have heen
kept adequately informed on the way
in which governments-during both
war and peace-keep their eyes and
ears open in every part of the world.
Except for the United States, all coun-
tries of consequence have had for many
years globe-encircling secret intelligence
systems of a highly co-ordinated kind.
Until the establishment of OSS, how
ever, we were relative amateurs in this
opiNtS, dCpCiIdlI6 swiftly VII tLlC "oC-
fully small-scale, hit-or miss, wholly
unintegrated operations of underfi-
nanced and understaffed units in TIE
Army, the Navy, and several Federal
departments like State, Treasury and
Commerce.
In quarters unfriendly to 1t, OSS has
been the butt of such scornful descrip-
tives as "Oh So Social" "Oh So Secret"
and just plain "Oh So So But the fact
remains that this agency, whatever may
be its shortcomings, must be credited
with having rendered an indispensable
service during the war When it was es-
tablished in June of 1912 as an arm of
the Joint Chiefs of staff, the highest
authorities of the Government, for the
first time in American history. at last
had an instrument which could collect.
coordinate and evaluate a tremendous
mass of international material for the
intelligent direction of the Nations for
eign political and military operations
This was something new for the United
States, and it most certainly represented
a vast improvement over the old desul-
tory and disjointed way of doing things.
At its peak strength, the Office of
Strategic Services with Maj. Gen.
William J. Donovan as its director-had
some $4,000 individuals working for it.
Besides routine administrative person.
mel and civilian specialists, these in
cluded a great number of Army, Navy
and Marine Corps officers and enlisted
men. For reasons of high policy, some
of the undertakings of OSS-as super
vised by the Joint Chiefs of staff and
advised by interdepartmental commit
tees-may never be revealed in detail,
but it is safe to state generally that
the agencys direct-action operations
outside this hemisphere consisted of
% espionage and counterespionage,
~ undercover projects TO weaken
enemy morale by psychological and
other means, 49, missions to liberate
war prisoners. and "a the use of highly
skilled agents to organize resistance
movements and lead guerrilla activities.
Thus. long before the Allies landed.
OSS men were in North Africa and
France preparing the way In Switzer-
land they contacted Germans who
gave information on Peenemunde, the
Nazi secret-weapon experimental base
subsequently subjected to devastating
air attack. In Thailand. together with
the Thai government, they completely
bamboozled the Japanese. And in other
theaters, especially Europe. they were
instrumental in the escape of more
than 5000 American airmen forced
down in hostile territory. For this and
similar work, we'll over 800 members of
the agencys military personnel have
been decorated. The perils involved are
indicated by the fact that at least so
such members are now numbered among
the dead, some 80 of them having been
executed after capture. To this must
be added the figure of several hundred
/ OSS-associated civilians-most of them
nationals of other countries-killed by
| the enemy because of their underground
activities.
These dangerous operations, however
! probably were Of less Importance to the
| Allied war effort than the generally
unexciting and nonspectacular job per-
formed by OSS in the field of research
and analysis. Carried out in liaison
with Allied and our own Army and
Navy secret service units. and involving
also the fact-gathering facilities of
several nonmilitary Federal agencies,
| this undertaking had to do with the
coordination and Interpretation of
mountains of data collected by many
different hands in many different quar-
tiers on a multitude of subjects signifi-
cantly affecting political and military
| policy-the closest approach to a CEN
tralized intelligence system ever attained
by America.
But with OSS now on the way out,
there is distinct possibility that the
United States, no longer feeling the
urgency of war, will give up the peace
time advantages of such a system and
again become the only major country
in the world without an adequate, CEN
tralized foreign intelligence service.
That is one reason why General Dom
ovan-who has been living with this
subject ever since he headed the old
Office of the Co-Ordinator of Informa-
tion out of which OSS evolved-is rep
resented as believing that Congress
should lose no time in setting up a
permanent independent organization
charged with the responsibility of CO.
originating all kinds of data from all
sources and being the only Federal
agency permitted to engage in secret
operations abroad