William j. Donovan

William j. Donovan

William J. Donovan

William J. Donovan (1883–1959), known as “Wild Bill,” was a towering figure in American military and intelligence history. A decorated World War I hero, earning the Medal of Honor, he later founded and led the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, laying the groundwork for the modern CIA. His career in covert activities shaped U.S. intelligence during and after World War II.

Entry into Intelligence: Pre-WWII

In the 1920s and 1930s, Donovan, a successful Wall Street lawyer, conducted informal intelligence-gathering missions for the U.S. government. His travels to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often under the guise of business, allowed him to report on political and military developments.

In 1919, he observed the Russian Civil War, assessing Bolshevik strength for the State Department. In the 1930s, he met with European leaders, including Benito Mussolini, to gauge fascist regimes’ intentions, providing insights to U.S. Donovan recognized the U.S.’s lack of a coordinated intelligence apparatus, unlike Britain’s MI6. His experiences convinced him of the need for a dedicated agency to conduct espionage and covert operations, especially as global tensions rose with Nazi Germany’s expansion.

The creation of the OSS

In July 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Donovan as Coordinator of Information, tasked with collecting and analyzing intelligence to prepare for U.S. entry into World War II. This role marked his formal entry into clandestine operations.

In June 1942, the COI evolved into the Office of Strategic Services under Donovan’s leadership, reporting to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The OSS was America’s first centralized intelligence agency, with a mandate for espionage, sabotage, propaganda, and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The OSS included branches for Secret Intelligence (espionage), Special Operations (sabotage and paramilitary actions), Morale Operations (propaganda), and Research and Analysis.

Donovan recruited a diverse team, including academics, journalists, military officers, and even unconventional figures like actors and criminals, fostering a creative approach to covert work. Notable OSS members included Allen Dulles, Julia Child, and Moe Berg.

Donovan’s OSS conducted extensive clandestine operations across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The OSS trained and armed resistance groups, such as the French Maquis, Italian partisans, and Yugoslav Chetniks, to disrupt Axis operations. Special Operations teams conducted sabotage missions, destroying bridges, railways, and supply lines. For example, OSS operatives in Norway helped sabotage Germany’s heavy water production, hindering its nuclear program. In Burma, OSS Detachment 101 organized Kachin tribes into a guerrilla force, harassing Japanese troops and securing key intelligence for Allied advances.

The OSS’s Morale Operations branch produced leaflets, radio broadcasts, and forged documents to undermine Axis morale. Examples include fake German newspapers and broadcasts encouraging desertion. Donovan personally championed “black propaganda,” using disinformation to sow confusion, such as spreading rumors of internal Nazi dissent.

Operation Jedburgh: Donovan oversaw the Jedburgh teams, small groups of OSS, British SOE (Special Operations Executive), and Free French operatives parachuted into occupied Europe to coordinate resistance efforts before and after D-Day (1944). These teams trained local fighters, disrupted German communications, and supported the Allied invasion of Normandy.

Donovan embraced unorthodox methods, developing specialized equipment like silenced pistols, explosive devices disguised as everyday objects (e.g., “explosive flour”), and early surveillance tools. He fostered collaboration with scientists and engineers, laying the groundwork for modern intelligence technology. In China, the OSS worked with Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and trained Chinese commandos, while Detachment 101’s jungle warfare in Burma earned a Presidential Unit Citation.

In October 1945, President Harry S. Truman disbanded the OSS, wary of a peacetime intelligence agency and pressured by rivals like Hoover. OSS functions were split between the State Department and War Department.

Donovan advocated for a permanent, centralized intelligence agency, submitting a proposal to Truman in 1944 that outlined a post-war equivalent of the OSS. Though initially ignored, this blueprint influenced the creation of the CIA in 1947 under the National Security Act. Many OSS veterans, including Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, and William Colby, joined the CIA, carrying Donovan’s clandestine ethos forward. Donovan himself was not appointed to lead the CIA, partly due to political opposition and his controversial reputation.

Later Clandestine Involvement

After the OSS, Donovan’s direct role in clandestine activities diminished, but his influence persisted:

• Private Consulting: In the late 1940s, Donovan advised the U.S. government on intelligence matters and supported anti-communist efforts in Europe, leveraging his OSS networks.
• Cold War Advocacy: Donovan supported covert operations against the Soviet Union, aligning with the CIA’s early anti-communist missions, such as those in Italy’s 1948 elections. However, he held no formal intelligence role after 1945.
• Ambassador to Thailand (1953–1954): As ambassador, Donovan facilitated U.S. support for anti-communist forces in Southeast Asia, indirectly aiding covert CIA operations during the First Indochina War.

Connection to Operation Gladio

While Donovan died in 1959, before Operation Gladio’s most documented activities in the 1960s–1980s, his OSS laid the groundwork for NATO’s stay-behind networks.

The OSS trained European resistance groups during WWII, many of which formed the nucleus of Gladio’s anti-communist networks in countries like Italy, France, and Belgium. For example, OSS-trained Italian partisans were later recruited into Gladio.

His active intelligence career ended in 1945, however his covert warfare and anti-communist networks directly influenced the CIA and NATO’s Cold War strategies, including Gladio. Donovan’s protégés, like Allen Dulles were instrumental in Gladio’s establishment in the late 1940s, using OSS tactics to create clandestine armies to “counter Soviet influence”.