Frank Wisner

Introduction

Frank Gardiner Wisner was a pivotal figure in American intelligence, serving as a founding officer of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a leader in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. He played a major role in shaping CIA covert operations during the early Cold War, orchestrating coups and propaganda campaign.

Born in Laurel, Mississippi, to a schoolteacher mother and timber magnate father, Wisner graduated from the University of Virginia with a law degree and briefly practiced on Wall Street before finding his calling in intelligence.

History

During WWII, he joined the OSS in 1943, serving in Cairo, Istanbul, and Bucharest, where he orchestrated the rescue of 1,350 American POWs in Romania and gathered critical German and Soviet intelligence. His work intersected with Karl Wolff during Operation Sunrise in 1945, when Wisner, under Allen Dulles in Wiesbaden, supported negotiations for the early surrender of Axis forces in Italy, leveraging his expertise in covert coordination.

After the war, Wisner briefly returned to law but was recruited to the State Department in 1947, soon heading the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), a covert unit that merged into the CIA in 1950. As Deputy Director of Plans (1951–1958), he controlled vast resources, shaping global anti-communist efforts. He masterminded Operation Mockingbird, infiltrating media to promote pro-American narratives, and orchestrated coups in Iran (1953) and Guatemala (1954), toppling Mohammad Mossadegh and Jacobo Árbenz to counter perceived Soviet influence. These actions secured Western interests but sowed long-term instability, contributing to Iran’s 1979 revolution and Guatemala’s civil war. Wisner also funded anti-Soviet operations in Eastern Europe, often with tragic losses, and supported projects like MK-Ultra and the U-2 spy plane.

His connection to Karl Wolff extended indirectly into the post-war period through Wisner’s work with the Gehlen Organization, which integrated former Nazis into anti-Soviet intelligence, aligning with the leniency Wolff received for his Sunrise cooperation.

Operation Gladio

Wisner’s primary connection to Operation Gladio stems from his role as head of the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), the covert action branch of the CIA, from 1948 to 1950, and later as Deputy Director of Plans (1951–1958). The OPC was responsible for setting up stay-behind units across Western Europe, which became the backbone of Operation Gladio. These networks, initially conceived to resist a Soviet invasion, evolved into anti-communist operations that sometimes involved propaganda, political manipulation, and, in some cases, terrorism to thwart leftist movements. Wisner’s strategic vision and operational oversight were central to the establishment and funding of these clandestine units.

In 1947, President Harry Truman created the National Security Council and the CIA, with the OPC under Wisner tasked with covert operations. Wisner, leveraging his OSS experience, including his work with Karl Wolff during Operation Sunrise (1945), where he supported negotiations for the surrender of Axis forces in Italy, began establishing stay-behind networks in Western Europe. These networks, coordinated by the Clandestine Committee of the Western Union (founded 1948) and later the NATO Clandestine Planning Committee (1951), were active in countries like Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Wisner’s OPC set up these units, often recruiting former military personnel, anti-communist operatives, and, controversially, ex-Nazis who had intelligence value, a practice rooted in his post-war work with the Gehlen Organization, which integrated former Nazi intelligence officers into anti-Soviet efforts.

Wisner’s involvement in Operation Gladio included several key activities. He oversaw the creation of secret arms caches and communication networks across Europe, designed for use by stay-behind units in case of Soviet occupation. In Italy, the Gladio network, later exposed in 1990, was established with CIA support, and Wisner’s OPC collaborated with Italian intelligence and right-wing groups to counter the strong Italian Communist Party. Funding for these operations was a significant challenge, as Gladio was not authorized by Congress. Wisner secured initial funding from private sources like the Rockefeller and Mellon foundations, estimated at $200 million, and later allegedly turned to illicit revenue streams, including drug trafficking. According to some sources, such as Paul L. Williams’ Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia, Wisner worked with the Mafia and Vatican contacts in 1947 to launder money from heroin sales, with the CIA overseeing poppy cultivation in Asia to fund Gladio’s operations. These funds were used to arm fascist and right-wing groups in Europe and South America, contributing to a surge in opiate addiction in the U.S. post-WWII.

Wisner’s collaboration with controversial figures tied to Gladio is notable. His wartime and post-war work with Karl Wolff, who escaped Nuremberg prosecution due to his role in Operation Sunrise, reflects Wisner’s willingness to engage with ex-Nazis for strategic purposes. Wolff’s networks and knowledge of European resistance were likely valuable in setting up Gladio’s early framework. Wisner also worked closely with Reinhard Gehlen, a former Nazi intelligence officer whose organization was funded by the CIA to spy on the Soviets. Gehlen’s “Operation Stay-Behind” evolved into Gladio, with Wisner’s OPC providing substantial financial support, though results were often underwhelming. These collaborations highlight Wisner’s pragmatic approach, prioritizing anti-communist objectives over ethical concerns, a pattern seen in Gladio’s use of right-wing militias and organized crime elements.

The impact of Wisner’s Gladio involvement was profound but controversial. In Italy, Gladio units were implicated in the “strategy of tension” during the 1970s and 1980s, where false-flag terrorist attacks, such as the 1972 Peteano bombing, were used to discredit communists, though direct CIA involvement remains debated. Wisner’s broader covert operations, including Gladio, aimed to create a right-wing political environment in Europe amenable to U.S. influence, often at the cost of democratic principles. The 1990 revelation of Gladio by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti sparked outrage, with the European Parliament condemning NATO and the U.S. for manipulating European politics. Wisner’s role in establishing these networks laid the groundwork for such outcomes, though he retired before the most notorious incidents.

Death

In 1958, he was diagnosed as bipolar disorder. After hospitalization and electroshock therapy, he retired from the CIA in 1962, battling depression and paranoia. On October 29, 1965, he took his own life with a shotgun at his Maryland farm, aged 56