Office of Strategic Services

(OSS)

   The OSS, founded in 1942, was America’s first centralized civilian intelligence organization. Unfortunately it was penetrated by the NKVD, who referred to it with the contemptuous code name “izba” (peasant hut). The Soviet service’s most important agent inside the OSS was Duncan Lee, a Yale graduate, well-known lawyer, and member of the American establishment. Lee provided the NKVD with details of American intelligence on China, as well as details on how the service worked with the War Department and the White House. Other OSS agents provided details on U.S. intelligence and policy toward Europe, the Soviet Union, and Asia.

   The OSS did not conduct operations against the Soviet intelligence services or try to collect intelligence clandestinely on the Soviet Union. On one occasion, the OSS returned to the Soviets one of their code books, which the OSS had obtained from the Finns. It is believed that no copy was made of the book. The OSS director, Major General William Donovan, sought a liaison relationship with the NKVD during World War II. The Soviets did provide the United States with some important information on Nazi tactics and equipment, but no real liaison relationship developed between the two services.