Word: oss
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...months before Pearl Harbor, Mellon enlisted in the Army as a private. Combining his love of horses with an almost storybook romanticism, he joined the cavalry; but instead of charging, sword drawn, into the jaws of death, he found himself teaching riding to recruits. Eventually he landed in the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, and, elevated to major, directed the dropping of agents all over Europe. He was later awarded four Bronze Stars. In 1945 he came home to Mary, their two children, Catherine, 9, and Timothy, 3, and a relaxed life of horses and pleasant conversation. After...
During World War II, Allen returned to Berne for the OSS. Among others, he recruited Fritz Kolbe, an employee of the Nazi foreign office who delivered plans for the V-2 rocket missiles and minutes of the meetings of Hitler's inner council. When Allen became head of the CIA in 1953, he applied the same stylish ingenuity and ruthlessness he had learned in the OSS. One of his greatest successes was the Berlin Tunnel in 1954. At a cost of $4 million, the CIA burrowed into East Berlin to tap all calls, from Communist Berlin, including those...
...putative misdeeds has obscured its solid accomplishments over many years. Except for rare periods of war, the U.S. did not even have an overall intelligence service until the Office of Strategic Services was created in 1942; it provided Americans with a hazardous and exhilarating cram course in espionage. OSS members formed the nucleus of the CIA, which was started in 1947 in response to Soviet expansionism. The agency attracted talented recruits from campuses in the 1950s, and its activities spread adventurously, and occasionally recklessly...
After the war I wandered off into the law business [practicing with OSS Chief William ("Wild Bill") Donovan's firm in New York]. When the Korean War came along I went back into intelligence. The cold war was very much with us. A lot of people thought this was the precursor to another overall...
...fortune invested in Cuban gambling, but Robert Kennedy was then investigating Hoffa and organized crime, another reason for the mob to join in getting rid of Kennedy. The recent exposes of the CIA show that the agency has been closely involved with the Mafia since Lucky Luciano helped the OSS protect U.S. ports against sabotage during World War II, to the point of providing immunity from prosecution for certain mobsters...