OSS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200220011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 15, 2007
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: September 17, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Rele
1 CN- s
Yb/9' 4
17 Sea
self- to ,-pact, the, irut-h_ to separate -1:>ewhere 1.
the
na e., w..a.. ----
fact from fiction,
well need as many trained researchers secret Naval intelligence tears had
as there were operators in the0.S.S. broken the Japanese military code,
Donovan's diaries were cryptic, cle- C?S?` ? men in Portugal secretly en-C
ter?ed the Japanese Embassy and stole
;ig ixecl to~iaffIe. f >ieigle (""try v, rrt- a. copy of the ener)ly's co le book."
ten in his neat handwriting might Discovering the t.lic,ft, the Sal"'allese,
read: "Operation Scolpiorl 1)(T0,11 ta- according to Smith, "promptly C
The Secret History of America's
First Central bite ige'rtce Agency.
By H. Harris Smith.
Illustrated. 4:55 pp. Berkeley:
Unriversity of Cc iil'orrria Press.
day" a,... and n.otlirrig elsel r.(r ur,.- clinf;etl their cipher.?:;. Washington)
f 1 ?tl()rl ,T ci pion
f O
l
th the storY o
ear~ d`
x:}. iroir of Ila- s s left without a vital source Of
rh
V ,1tir
th
~
,
,
:XIC,
might r?ecluirc
y, f OR f,n
e a,T, per: from p rl,aps }.UO thi'clAted file i.nfo,n,3tio,nr and Ue Joint Chiefs of
lover s}race the. Greeks filled a drawers of material, Conapo undiuag; St tf were mate." Again, Smith r only
sxroo(len lio"e with soldiers and pre- else= security cvrn})artixtc nt< lrzatiori half r raat x h(: U `* S. did not h)*gln
stinted it to ill (1 by res, the work} even fitner, each op,:retive in those ti-te Upane:.e T,aherassy in Portlig;(tl,
has been fascinated by the dc(r:pti.ve files had a code name. To understand but }rr I ISSoa tbay olxc air,(d a few
nxet iit'ig;ee of espiona-ge and counter what had Occurred, dcrYlandeel inontns pv,geS (if a. "1Jw level" ~fipanecc ct? 'File int.ellnce, nature, is of i clligence, of frustrating reading - only to find ph r This cipher was not the all-
by its Very acti'C', i5 so secret l ked that even then one relight never learn important cod('. that the Navy cr}pto-
eitbei clandestine antit'itics are Cloaked the total truth. But l1iI'. Sr%rii.h has Ca,aalysta }i a l Ci aC}ccd, the fact is
either in the ridiculous and the ab- clearly fallen foul of the Very first the United States continued to take
surd or the sublime and the practical. law of reportage: Believe nothing; un- dvahrttbe of the Japanese codes for`
In this book, R. Harris Snx'rth, vylo less it can be corrohorated by others the, entire war,
vvor}.c(^d bri fly as a research analyst are substantiated by d' firdtive br~cli- 'J'O ,tufineait his rescarciz, the au-
and
the C.I.A. and novr lectures hi po- ground records. thor has drawn on the reminiscences
litical science at. the University of Unfoitiately, because the author of Sol-130 200 0.1.33. veterans -?- of
~rholix thole are uowhore cnteriaining
Call fainia's overesio the i fir seems was denied access to o?fic}al harpers, storytellc.ls alive. Ilotr rrrray of tiaest
to have discovered on nly y the first. tiro. lie was forced, for the )Host pact, storytellr c live will oai of tit se
t0 rCly on contemporary rr CSf)iOr13g~C'
ebaps that's all he was ril?aSlt t.Oin ligence geiOr` S, ithCkdt.bene p f
find. It would appear that old 0,S.S. te
and intelligence accounts rand, iC~' ~ derctione; Oh rhi.(IE'ed, their C
me;j get l-
never die, their stories simply th the exception of perhaps Jia.lf-
get better while their secrets remain. with transrrlitted Inessages, could ac.cu-
a-do ell valuable work^, there is rattily recall af ter 1.,5 years what hap??
intaht. probably no body of World War II ral on all f ter fie operation? hap
Tl.le fi lr'it is not, really Srrritli's. It Itte ature so distorted aid misleading.
l that, anyone can writ rnany would ovrn up that their Udcs
is do r ,.arch of it r~Ta.s raieant to be ,o? grow in exz.ggerat.i.ort and rheirt ~n s
the Lure arx.(I autixeixtic "Secret His- '?llo'c world War 1I intelligence v ith each yearly 03,.13. vcteraris clira-
tory of rnerie y, First Central In- agents who wrote of their ei:ploits n.(;r.? 'g:o them it, i.s usually ril[ gcUe
tellis en.cr Ag en.cy the wartime Of- after the conflict deliberately falsi.-
fiee of Strategi( Services. Cud The outrider must learn to t ke
s feed names, dates and places and, of- it {hrrt way too. Ilut did, in f c ties,-
a
I have solve ,canon to rnow. nc
ten, the very nature of t}reir assi' iit l,t fr/n.irled acceptar.~ dcgiberately
era the early si,.tics, r s Bart I of , a rnents.'.io act otherwise might gravely b y
research Ixrojc( t, I was granted un- (iecei\,e? 'T'iler,: arc Indicvtrtions that
have iimperiled agents still in the fiche tlxe ttutliar eras left short detail at
diar a t the aj. S5, fWiand Mr. Smith has drawn on rnuch of various missions, for many of t;he
diari es of of th tlxe }ate Maj. EFen. e this literature, repeating in many in- anecdotes consist cif tag; lines wsthout
/ wrild Dill" Donovan, founder r of of li thre stances old inaccuracies. One of the. ~,
a. beginning or a middle acid the
is Services
t
e
e1
a wartime 05ce of : ir;
most prominent concerns Allen }]u1- ender is loft frustrated, wollers
--- the vy ry's first real intelli- }.es, the late director of C.I.A., who, what what actually took place:
Bence agenency and the forerunnor of "Every c.c-
during Worl.d 'tTJar IF, was uridoubied- centric schemer," vrritc.s 7allitll, "with
C.I.th I was r~stonislied. at the size ly Donovan's most brilliant a .gent. )3e- a harebraiem pl.a.ri for :.Britt opera-
van's colminous . ap catalog e tie fore the war, Smith writes, Dulles in Lions bras l phos horescent foxes to
van's ve stirvic is ses pa of a pers requir trained ed d the conjunction with his leg al Ivor} at incendiary bats) would find a sym-
fuli tirrx ser staff Sullivan & Cromwell "met the elite nccn is ear in Dould n's office."
far over two years, and even this of German industry --- the same men
fascinating cache did not include the*rho financed and actively supported
real. body of still liigllly sensitive the Itia.I dictatorship. Ile and a fu-
(r.S.s. records. Stepping even briefly ttrre (1.5.5. aide, , I.rrssia.n enxig;rC Val-
into Donovan's mysterious world was deRu ties i sat, all the
enough to convince me of the awe- e Brke 1J Itqiocrors of the ~t on the
some task awaiting the historian who Bie O.S drandh of rec gr of th Amhroe(l n
might, one day, write the C3.S.S. of- banking house." The German parent
rnarty secret. faces of intellitzence it-
Corxrelius Rynit is the author of
two volumes about Worlcl War II:
"The Longest Day" and "The Last
Battle." lie is currently working on
a third volurile entitled, " A Bridge
Too Par."
ficial history. Indeed, because of the firm
the author added, "was headed
,
b a scar-faced Prussian baron who
served as a general in the SS, I-Iitler's
Clite g,'uard." Sil-rit.h has got the story
only half right. Dulles was a director
of the J. llenry Schroeder Banking
Corporation in New York -- which
had no connection whatsoever with
he izt relaaia Sch oeder BBank.
continued
Approved For Release 2007/02/16: CIA-RDP88-0135OR000200220011-8