Office of the Coordinator of Information

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The Office of the Coordinator of Information ( COI ; German  Office of the Information Coordinator ) was a civil US government agency for centralizing propaganda and intelligence activities during the Second World War in Washington, DC It existed from July 11, 1941 to June 12, 1942, when it was officially transformed into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

Emergence

Under the impression of the war in Europe and more and more espionage cases in its own country, the USA decided under the Roosevelt administration to rethink propaganda and intelligence. The Roosevelt government took its first steps in the field of civil propaganda with the creation of the Office of Government Report (OGR), the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) and the Office of Facts and Figures (OFF). In addition to other, similar institutions and offices, they often worked side by side between 1939 and 1942, with little success and always critically observed by the military and the press. The responsibility for secret service activities previously lay with the military intelligence services of the Navy Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and the Army ( MID and G-2 ) as well as the FBI . In the summer of 1940, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox dispatched World War I veteran, Wall Street attorney and Catholic Republican of Irish descent, William Joseph Donovan, to Great Britain, Europe and the Middle East on several occasions as military observer. He should state there “wether closer intelligence collaboration could be established between the American ONI and the British Admiralty.” Donovan was convinced, especially by the British side (e.g. by William Stephenson ), that espionage, psychological warfare and (subversive) Propaganda was an indispensable means of war in the 20th century. After his return to the USA, Donovan demanded the establishment of a central authority (based on the British model) with intelligence powers. The aim and purpose of this new authority should be, among other things, to counter the propaganda of the Axis powers . In Donovan's view it was possible to "[f] or reasons of expediency and practicality […] [to] emulate [d] Nazi subversive tactics to defend [his] interpretation of democracy." He also warned his compatriots in several writings ( e.g. the brochure “Fifth Column Lessons for America” from 1941) in front of a “ Fifth Column ” of Germans who threatened the USA. These writings are rated by historians as a "simply inflammatory exercise in hysteria and group hatred". President Roosevelt responded to Donovan's demands for a central (civil) authority for propaganda and intelligence activities and in July 1941 founded the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), which is responsible for information gathering and actions relating to national security on behalf of the President should. The scope of duties and responsibilities were formulated very vaguely and openly. Donovan became head of the COI; Its budget for the intelligence service was initially 1.7 million US dollars and a few dozen employees, but it should increase to 12 million US dollars after the USA entered the war. The establishment of such an institution shows that there has been an ideological change in America. The end of isolationism was finally heralded and preparations were made for new conflicts and confrontations. An instrument to meet these new challenges should also be a non-military intelligence service. This was primarily thanks to Donovan and his colleagues.

structure

The COI apparatus was headed by a Board of Analysts with a number of distinguished US academics. The panel made the final decision on what to submit to the President.

  • R&A (Research and Analysis)

According to its specifications, COI's " Research and Analysis Department " "(R&A) initially evaluated information from the State Department , FBI, ONI and G-2. COI hired the best academics from 35 universities for the fields of economics, geography and psychology. Division of Special Information “employed geographically specialized historians who provided reports on social, military, political, and economic conditions in the regions.

The relatively permissive, hardly bureaucratically restricted conditions of the R&A resulted in high-quality news that other agencies also took over. COI is said to have provided the information about the attack on Pearl Harbor ( Pearl Harbor plot ) in advance. The overall effect was small, however, as Hoover saw his sovereignty curtailed, the Foreign Ministry criticized the knowledge that was not obtained through diplomatic channels and the army mistrusted the 'civilians'.

  • Foreign Information Service

FIS was the largest department in the facility with half of the COI staff. Under Robert E. Sherwood as director, radio stations were established in Europe that turned against the Axis powers with propaganda programs such as Voice of America . The FIS Outposts Division sent staff to London, Chongqing , New Delhi , Lisbon, Stockholm, Bern, Brazzaville , Cape Town , Cairo, Ankara, Honolulu and Reykjavík . FIS also tried "black propaganda", the transmission of fudged false information for the enemy. As a CIA department, it was later called the FBIS .

  • The Foreign Nationalities Branch attempted to identify possible saboteurs among ethnic minorities, communities in exile, trade unions and communists in the United States. In addition, she created connections to pro-axis groups in order to attract agents among them.
  • The Visual Presentation Branch used audio-visual media to extract strategic information.
  • The Field Photographic Division emerged from a naval reserve unit in Hollywood and recruited studio technicians as well as the director John Ford .
  • The Oral Intelligence Division interviewed tourists and emigrants about their impressions of the target areas.
  • The Special Activities Branch (SOE) emerged as “ Special Activities - K and L Funds ” after the ONI and G-2 were handed over from the “ K Organization ”. It dealt with espionage, subversion , guerrilla warfare and “ complementary activities ” and was part of the implementation of the “ fourth element of war ” plan favored by Winston Churchill, in which Germany was to be overthrown through area bombing , sea ​​blockades , propaganda, sabotage and subversion.

In January 1942, the department was divided into espionage and subversion in order to improve coordination with the SIS. The agent network of the COI was now controlled by David KE Bruce (SA / B) and the guerrilla warfare department was controlled by G-2 officer M. Preston Goodfellow (SA / G). While Bruce recruited his staff from former diplomats and business people with experience in the area of ​​operations, Goodfellow hired 200 military personnel with foreign language skills as the COI's first military personnel.

SA / B (espionage) began training with the help of the British BSC in May 1942 on a 30 hectare site (" The Farm ") near Washington. 15 students were each trained in four-week courses in radio technology, photography, cryptography, small arms, hand-to-hand combat, interrogation, camouflage, bribery, agent recruitment and network control. The lecturers were trained in " Camp X ", a Canadian command school run by the BSC and SOE.

SA / G (Subversion) opened schools in Quantico, Virginia and Maryland in April 1942 . The training was divided into 4 components: a 2-week introductory course in destruction, small arms, hand-to-hand combat and movement in enemy territory; a 2-week basic course in sabotage and guerrilla tactics; a two-week advanced training course in secret service work and control of an agent network, one week parachuting and one week naval training to learn about infiltration into enemy territory using submarines and small watercraft. There was also training in industrial espionage and on local, ethnic characteristics in the area of ​​operation.

activities

COI was tasked with ensuring that Spain remained neutral during the war, that the French fleet did not go over to the Axis powers and that the Vichy government of France did not declare war on the USA when they invaded North Africa. From January 1942 SA / B people worked undercover as vice consuls for the Foreign Ministry at embassies in Algiers , Tunis , Oran , Rabat , Tangier and Casablanca . They recruited agents from exiles, diplomats, gamblers and prostitutes, and organized a network of agents among the North African French. Established SA / B bases in Tangier, Chungqing, Cairo and London are geographically divided. In May 1942, only 21 COI agents were operating overseas. In June 1942, the COI was active in Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Africa and the Middle East. Due to Douglas MacArthur's reluctance , COI was not allowed to be active in the Pacific War or in British India . Activities in continental Europe did not begin until mid-1943.

The End

Donovan had expanded the COI from 92 to 1630 employees. He recruited the civilians himself until the first military units. They were bankers, lawyers, academics and veterans of the First World War , mostly wealthy Republicans of the Ivy League . His rivals in other secret services did not allow him to recruit their personnel and an elitist circle developed with practically no espionage knowledge. They only learned the skills of transmitting messages, keeping unobtrusive bank accounts or killing people from the British BSC. As the apparatus grew in size and influence, his competitors, from the State Department to the FBI and the new Joint Chiefs of Staff , wanted to dissolve him. When Donovan stayed in London with the Special Operations Executive , Roosevelt dissolved the COI and had it rebuilt on June 13, 1942 under the command of the "Joint Chiefs of Staff" in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). With the exception of the “ Black Propaganda Section ” of the FIS, which became the “Department for Special Operations” and later the “ Morale Operations Branch ” of the OSS, all previous departments were retained.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mauch, shadow war against Hitler, 20 f.
  2. ↑ Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda, 22 f.
  3. ^ Smith, The Shadow Warriors, 33
  4. ^ Smith, The Shadow Warriors, 33 ff .; Mauch, Shadow War against Hitler, 33 ff.
  5. ↑ Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda, 25
  6. ↑ Laurie, The Propaganda Warriors, 5.
  7. ↑ http://openlibrary.org/b/OL6437984M/Fifth_column_lessons_for_America
  8. ↑ Smith, The Shadow Warriors, 38f .; Mauch, Shadow War against Hitler, 38f.
  9. ^ Smith, The Shadow Warriors, 39.
  10. ↑ Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda, 26.
  11. ^ Smith, The Shadow Warriors, 69
  12. ^ Smith, The Shadow Warriors, Jan.

literature

  • Christof Mauch : Shadow war against Hitler. The Third Reich in the sights of the American secret services 1941 to 1945 . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt DVA, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-421-05196-8 .
  • Clayton D. Laurie: The Propaganda Warriors. America's Crusade Against Nazi Germany . University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS 1996, ISBN 0-7006-0765-X , ( Modern war studies ).