John Lansdale , Jr . John Lansdale , Jr . ( 11 June 1912 – 22 August 2003 ) was a United States Army colonel who was in charge of intelligence and security for the Manhattan Project . A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and Harvard Law School , Lansdale was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve in 1933 . He was called up for active duty in June 1941 , and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff , G - 2 ( military intelligence ) of the War Department General Staff . He became involved with the Manhattan Project in 1942 , eventually becoming Brigadier General Leslie R . Groves , Jr . ' s special assistant for security . Lansdale coordinated the activities of the Manhattan Project ' s field security teams with those of other agencies such as the FBI . In April 1945 , Groves sent Lansdale to Europe , where he worked with the Alsos Mission to secure 1 , 000 tons of uranium ore from the German " Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft " ( WiFO ) plant in Stassfurt . He also participated in the planning and execution of Operation Harborage , in which a special Allied force went deep behind enemy lines , seized 1 . 5 tons of uranium ingots , and captured a number of German nuclear energy project scientists , including Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , Max von Laue , Karl Wirtz , Horst Korsching and Erich Bagge and Otto Hahn . Early life . John Mannen ( Jack ) Lansdale was born in Oakland , California on 11 June 1912 , the son of John Lansdale , Sr . , and his wife May Hamilton née Mannen . After his sister Sally Mannen Lansdale was born in 1921 he dropped his middle name and was henceforth known as John Lansdale , Jr . He was educated at San Jacinto High School , from which he graduated in 1929 . He entered the Virginia Military Institute , graduating in 1933 , and then Harvard Law School , from which he graduated in June 1936 . He took a job with a law firm , Squire , Sanders and Dempsey , initially in Cleveland , Ohio and later in Washington , D . C . He married Metta Virginia Romlinson in Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston , Texas on 17 June 1936 . They had five daughters . World War II . Counterintelligence . After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute , Lansdale joined the United States Army Reserve . He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the field artillery branch in 1933 , and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1937 . He was called up for active duty in June 1941 , a few months before the United States entered World War II , and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff , G - 2 ( military intelligence ) of the War Department General Staff . In February 1942 , Lansdale , now a captain , met with James B . Conant . the Chairman of the National Defense Research Committee , who briefed him on efforts to create an atomic bomb , and charged him with responsibility for counterintelligence at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California , Berkeley . When Colonel James C . Marshal established the Manhattan District in June 1942 , he created a Protective Security Section as part of its staff , responsible for the security of its people , installations and information . He also arranged with the Assistant Chief of Staff , G - 2 , Major General George V . Strong , for support from the Military Intelligence Service . Strong gave Lansdale special responsibility for the Manhattan District , and Lansdale , in turn , arranged with the G - 2s of each of the service command s for officers to be assigned to report directly to him , thus bypassing both the service command G - 2s and their commanders . He also organised a special counterintelligence group in Washington , D . C . , headed by himself , that reported directly to both Strong and Brigadier General Leslie R . Groves , Jr . , who became director of the Manhattan Project in September 1942 . Lansdale had security concerns about Robert Oppenheimer and his communist connections , but Lansdale and Groves agreed that Oppenheimer was loyal and cooperative on security matters . Nonetheless , Lansdale had Oppenheimer ' s movements followed , his telephones tapped , and his mail opened . Lansdale interrogated Oppenheimer over the latter ' s relationship with Haakon Chevalier . On 1 January 1944 , the Army decentralized counterintelligence to the service commands . Lansdale attempted to have his group exempted from this , but when he failed , Groves had Lansdale ' s unit reassigned to the Manhattan Project , creating a new Counter Intelligence Corps ( CIC ) unit within the Project . Groves had Lansdale transferred to the Manhattan District , but instead of placing him in charge of the new CIC unit , Groves made Lansdale his special assistant for security at Manhattan Project headquarters in Washington , D . C . Lansdale coordinated the activities of the Manhattan Project ' s field security teams with those of other agencies such as the FBI . Overseas operations . In April 1945 , Groves sent Lansdale , now a lieutenant colonel , to Europe , where he met with Lieutenant General Walter B . Smith and Major General Harold Bull of SHAEF to develop a plan for Operation Harborage , the capture of German nuclear energy project scientists , materials and facilities in the vicinity of Hechingen , Bisingen and Haigerloch . While waiting for an opportunity to launch this operation , the Alsos Mission learned that uranium ore that had been taken from Belgium in 1944 had been shipped to the " Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft " ( WiFO ) plant in Stassfurt , which was captured by the 83rd Infantry Division on 15 April . As it was in the occupation zone allocated to the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference , the Alsos Mission , led by Boris Pash and accompanied by Lansdale , arrived on 17 April to remove anything of interest . Over the following ten days , 260 truckloads of uranium ore , sodium uranate and ferro - uranium weighing about 1 , 000 tons were taken away . Lansdale accompanied the Alsos Mission on Operation Harborage , which began on 22 April 1945 . A special Allied force called T Force went deep behind enemy lines , seized 1 . 5 tons of uranium ingots , and captured a number of scientists , including Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , Max von Laue , Karl Wirtz , Horst Korsching and Erich Bagge and Otto Hahn . The uranium ore was handed over to the Combined Development Trust , a legal entity set up to handle the acquisition of nuclear ores and materials . Lansdale had written a legal opinion for the Manhattan Project that it was within the powers of the President of the United States to conclude such agreements with the British without consulting Congress . In July 1945 , Lansdale concluded an agreement with Brazil for the purchase of 3 , 000 tons of thorium - bearing monazite ore . For his wartime services , Lansdale was awarded the Legion of Merit and was made an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire . Later life . After the war , Lansdale and his family moved back to Cleveland , and he returned to working for Squire , Sanders and Dempsey . He also served as a councilman for the city of Shaker Heights , Ohio , from 1949 to 1963 . Lansdale testified at the 1954 Oppenheimer security hearing in support of Oppenheimer . A seasoned trial lawyer , Lansdale was not intimidated by prosecutor Roger Robb ' s questioning , and bristled at Robb ' s insinuation that a West Point graduate was better qualified than a Virginia Military Institute graduate . In 1972 , Lansdale moved to Essex Farm in Anne Arundel County , Maryland . For a time he commuted to Cleveland , but eventually shifted to Squire , Sanders and Dempsey ' s Washington , D . C . office , remaining with the firm until he retired in 1987 . He died at his home near Annapolis , Maryland , on 22 August 2003 and was survived by his five daughters : Helen , Chloe , Mary , Metta Jr . and Sally . His wife Metta had died in 2001 . Lansdale was buried at All Hallows Cemetery in Davidsonville , Maryland . He was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2010 .