23. The Office of Strategic Services was created in 1942
On June 13, 1942, as the first team of agents for Operation Pastorius arrived in New York, Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS was tasked with coordinating the intelligence activities of all other American agencies, those of the Army, Navy, and State departments, and with performing special activities not assigned to other agencies. J. Edgar Hoover resented the new organization from the outset. He lobbied hard, long, and successfully to keep counter-espionage and intelligence-gathering activities in the hands of the FBI. Officially the bureau retained the responsibility in North and South America.
Hoover resented the OSS because he felt the organization intruded on his turf, and OSS operatives in the United States and South America were watched closely by the FBI. OSS activities in South America were limited by FBI monitoring. When Roosevelt created the OSS it was assigned a military status, reporting to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hoover could not eliminate it entirely in neutral or Allied countries, where it worked out of US Embassies. Hoover’s efforts in South America against Operation Bolivar were hampered by his insistence that his agents monitor the OSS activities as well, tying up valuable assets in turf wars.