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Office of Strategic Services

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Office of Strategic Services (OSS), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II under the jurisdiction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the purpose of obtaining information about enemy nations and of sabotaging their war potential and morale. Headed by William J. Donovan Donovan, William Joseph (dŏn`əvən), 1883–1959, American lawyer, director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), b.
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, the OSS comprised personnel from all the branches of the armed forces as well as civilians. Although the "cloak and dagger" section gained the most publicity after the war, some of the most valuable work was done by the research and analysis section. Behind enemy lines, the OSS acted as a liaison with the underground in Nazi-occupied countries. The OSS was disbanded in 1945. Later many of its functions were assumed by the Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), independent executive bureau of the U.S. government established by the National Security Act of 1947, replacing the wartime Office of Strategic Services (1942–45), the first U.S. espionage and covert operations agency.
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Bibliography

See S. Alsop and T. Bradon, Sub Rosa: The O.S.S. and American Espionage (1946, repr. 1964); R. H. Smith, OSS (1972).


Office of Strategic Services (OSS)

(1942–45) U.S. agency formed for the purpose of obtaining information about and sabotaging the military efforts of enemy nations during World War II. It was headed by William J. (“Wild Bill”) Donovan (1883–1959). With some 12,000 staff, the OSS collected and analyzed information on areas of the world in which U.S. military forces were operating. 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. Many of its functions were later assumed by the Central Intelligence Agency.



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After graduation, Wilson is recruited to work for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II-era precursor to the CIA.
Because so few shots were fired in anger in the "secret war," since Thailand was always a side-show and because the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) dealing with the Thai spent more time feuding with each other than they spent fighting the Japanese, there are stretches of comedy and a good deal of huff and puff in Professor Reynolds' otherwise absorbing book.
Colonel Bank was the pioneer of special operations," said retired Major General John Singlaub, who served with Bank in the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS, during World War II.
 
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