CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), U.S.A.
No one enjoys failing publicly, intelligence agencies least of all. The United States Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) early record, however, suggests otherwise. The CIA either misread, failed to predict, failed to prevent, or actively caused, Soviet: takeovers of Czechoslovakia and Romania, Berlin blockade, atomic weapon development, influence in engendering the Korean War. This, non-comprehensive, list of fiascos illustrates the CIA’s disastrous world stage debut, and each of these early failures is a consequence of the agency’s messy, shockingly inept, bureaucratic origins.
The attack at Pearl Harbor laid the groundwork for a complete transformation in US espionage. Official investigations concluded US intelligence apparatuses possessed the information but failed to compile or inform key decision-makers through a lack of agency coordination. Franklin Roosevelt responded by creating the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) on June 13, 1942, and appointing Colonel William J. Donovan to its helm. The Joint Chiefs of Staff despised OSS’s independence, oftentimes restricting intercepted intelligence. J. Edgar Hoover hated the new office. Roosevelt mollified him by allowing Hoover to retain control over Latin American espionage.
In 1945, Donovan submitted plans to FDR for an independent peacetime intelligence agency. The plans mysteriously leaked to the press, who referred to the agency as “American Gestapo.” The Joint Chiefs officially shelved the idea. Donovan tried again when FDR died, but Truman disliked both the proposal and Donovan, ordering the OSS’s disbandment and firing its chief. This decision sparked one of the greatest bureaucratic feeding frenzies in the history of Washington DC.
No one disputed the importance of a coordinating intelligence group. The real question was, “Who controls it?” Hoover fought for an FBI-controlled agency. The Joint Chiefs argued that intelligence remained a military function. The State Department stated foreign operations fell under their jurisdiction. Even Postmaster General Robert E. Hannegan tried to claim the new agency. Truman responded by dividing the OSS between the State and War Departments. Three months later, Truman conceded dissolving the OSS was a mistake, and established the National Intelligence Authority (NIA), which included the Central Intelligence Group (CIG).
Hoover was furious. The military undermined the new agency whenever possible. Twenty months later, the National Security Act of 1947 revised the NIA, and the CIG transformed into an independent institution, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). An agency that inherited a collapsed espionage network, bitter internal enemies, and an opponent who boasted developed intelligence agencies and experienced operatives.