Enemy Objectives Unit On June 13 , 1942 , President Franklin Roosevelt sought to create an intelligence group like Britain ’ s Special Operations Executive . The Office of Strategic Services or OSS was formed . Under the OSS a subdivision called Research and Analysis was composed of professors and scholars that were willing to contribute to the war . Among the R & A branch a team of economists were formed under the name of the Enemy Objectives Unit . The Enemy Objectives Unit was a research group of economists that used input / output models in recommending Nazi targets to allied Eighth Air Force . This group is often used as a case study in applied economics , in particular their suggestion to Allied commanders to destroy ball bearing factories , as their models showed them to be the most vital to Nazi industry . [ 1 ] ( this particular recommendation turned out to be incorrect as the Nazis re - engineered many machines to use other methods of friction reduction and because of cushioning reasons discussed below ) . Finding targets . “ Your primary object will be the progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military , industrial and economic system , and the undermining of the morale of the German people to a part where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened ” – Directive given to British and American air forces from the Casablanca conference . Recommendations were based on a system created by EOU officers such as depth , target system , and cushion . The EOU had a well organized system that allowed them to find the most vital targets . Before they would actually attack , they asked themselves three questions related to depth , target system , and cushion . For depth they asked themselves if the attack would go “ deep ” enough and how many different things would it effect . Another point that they considered was the target system . The target system decided if the attack would create a chain reaction that would knock out many things at once . For the cushion system the EOU had to ask themselves if the target they selected would be able to recover quickly from the attack . Conventional target factories , such those that produced weapons , tank , and aircraft had developed methods of rapid recovery after being bombed and were considered to be less cost - effective for this reason . These three points helped the EOU to scout vital targets which led to the Allies victory in World War II . Casablanca and Pointblank . Casablanca and Pointblank were guidelines for the EOU and helped them choose which targets to choose as a priority over others . The Casablanca plan gave guidelines that chose the five most important targets . The five points were The EOU targeted five main points of the German Army 1 . ) German navy 2 . ) German air force 3 . ) Transportation 4 . ) Oil 5 . ) Any other targets vital to the economy The EOU would now incorporate their ways of finding targets and try to choose the best targets . One point which this group underestimated was the effectiveness of bombing German oil refineries — they had correctly estimated the amount of stocks kept but failed to account for the immediate conservation methods the Germans would employ . The later attacks on Nazi fuel reserves are thought by many historians to be a substantial factor in Nazi defeat . As the war progressed however , there was a call for a new plan , Pointblank . This plan ignored the five points from the Casablanca plan and told EOU workers to target German air force , as this field was doing the most damage to the allies . The EOU proved to be a vital tool to the allies ’ air force and helped with the defeat of the Germans in World War II . References . 1 . Mauch , Christof . The Shadow War against Hitler : The Covert Operations of America ’ s Wartime Secret Intelligence Service . Trans . Jeremiah Riemer . New York : Columbia UP , 2003 . Print . 2 . Pinck , Charles , and Dan Pinck . “ American Intelligence in War - time London : The Story of the OSS . ” OSS Reborn . N . p . , 2010 . Web . 28 Jan . 2010 . < http : / / www . ossreborn . com / index _ files / 27 . html > . 3 . “ Research and Analysis . ” Central Intelligence Agency . N . p . , 28 June 2008 . Web . 28 Jan . 2010 . < http : / / www . cia . gov / library / center - for - the - study - of - intelligence / csi - publications / books - and - monographs / oss / art04 . htm > .