Hegseth’s Revival of OSS Moniker Evokes Memories of “Wild Bill” Donovan

The World War II-era spying organization that gave birth to the CIA is back — now overseeing special operations efforts inside the Pentagon.Seeking a “bold, foundational change,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon back to where it all began, resurrecting the Office of Strategic Services as the new name for an elevated post supervising special operators and one that he wants to eventually join the six existing under secretaries reporting to him.The move elevates the current post of assistant secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict to assistant secretary of war for the Office of Strategic Services. The current holder of that post is Derrick Anderson, a former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan and was director for counterterrorism in the National Security Council. Under Mr. Hegseth’s order, Mr. Anderson would be elevated to the protocol equivalent of the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.“This action is a pledge that those sent into the hardest places, entrusted with the gravest responsibilities and called upon when all else has failed will have a voice equal to the burden placed upon their shoulders,” Mr. Anderson said in a statement. “They will be given the resources, authority and support required to prepare, to endure and to prevail.”Mr. Anderson’s position places him as the civilian administrator for the special operations community. He will provide oversight of the military’s Special Operations Command, which oversees 70,000 service members and was formed in 1987 to coordinate joint special operations efforts across the American military.Special Operations Command includes the Army Delta Force, Rangers, and Night Stalker helicopter regiment; the Navy SEALs; the Marine Corps’ Marine Force Special Operations Command; and Air Force Pararescuemen, Combat Control Teams and Special Reconnaissance members.The OSS, formed in 1942, was the creation of the dashing and brilliant Colonel William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan, a Medal of Honor winner from World War I who was brought from Wall Street to the war effort by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.“Staffed by some of the best minds in America, the branch provided timely assessment of the Allied bombing campaign in Europe, studied operations in countries where Allied forces were fighting, and developed preparations for the occupation of Germany,” the CIA’s official history of the OSS reads.During the war, the OSS sent units behind enemy lines to create mayhem for the Nazis in places like France and Yugoslavia, and for the Japanese in Manchuria, Burma and Malaya. OSS commandos joined with British and Free French officers to parachute into occupied France to prepare the ground for the D-Day invasion of France. They trained Thai students abroad and sent them back into Thailand via seaplane, submarine, and parachute drop to begin to liberate their homeland from Japanese invaders.Agents for the OSS stole documents, broke into embassies, and trained average citizens of occupied countries to sabotage enemy war efforts.For Mr. Donovan — a millionaire who made a fortune on Wall Street between the wars, had numerous extramarital affairs, and was once so eager to show off a silenced pistol to President Roosevelt that he shot up a sandbag inside the White House — no method was too unorthodox as long as it worked.“In war,” he said, “nothing is more important than intelligence — except courage.”The OSS was dissolved on October 1, 1945, after the close of World War II. In 1947, President Truman established the CIA by signing the National Security Act creating a civilian intelligence agency headed by a director of central intelligence who reported directly to the president. Mr. Donovan was not offered a post in the new agency. Since intelligence-gathering responsibilities were conveyed to the CIA, the agency has long viewed OSS as their forebear and Mr. Donovan as their founding father.The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, announced earlier this year that the global security environment “demands that the Joint Force and the interagency always operate as a single, cohesive entity.” On Friday, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret, cheered the change.“Big moves for our special operators,” Mr. Waltz wrote on social media. “Back to basics with the legacy of the OSS!”Not everyone is pleased by the resurrection of the OSS. Author Toby Harnden, who wrote a book chronicling the life of the agency through 39 recipients of the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Cross, called the order by Mr. Hegseth “ahistorical” and “a weird flex.”“Pentagon trying to appropriate entire OSS legacy is quite a stretch,” he wrote on social media. “OSS vets formed core of CIA for first 25 years of its existence.”Others including a former DIA director and retired general, Michael Flynn, saw the move to bring back the OSS as a first step that could shake up the intelligence community.“Since the OSS is back, why do we still need the CIA?” Mr. Flynn asked.Renaming the assistant secretary’s post and elevating the position in the protocol order was accomplished with the stroke of a pen from Mr. Hegseth. Congress, however, created the role of assistant secretary, and Congress will need to formally sign off on the changes. Mr. Hegseth’s memo says the goal is to create the post of under secretary of strategic services to both replace and promote the assistant secretary post.

Hegseth’s Revival of OSS Moniker Evokes Memories of “Wild Bill” Donovan

Hegseth’s Revival of OSS Moniker Evokes Memories of “Wild Bill” Donovan

More from the New York Sun

Doctors Without Borders Admit That Gaza Terrorists Dominate Local Hospitals

Justice Alito Sounds Alarm Over Democrats’ Power To Cripple Supreme Court Through Its Purse Strings

Ousted CEO Huang Faces Intense Questioning and Possible Legal Jeopardy Over Transfer of Nvidia’s AI Secrets to China

‘Unleashed’ Homeland Security Reports Record Arrests and Deportations in Months Before Midterm Elections

U.S. Soccer Must Start Over After Pochettino’s Unexpected Exit for Manchester United

Far-Left Parties Pressure European Union To End Trade Agreement With Israel

Trump’s Opportunity at the UN

Schumer Faces Revolt as Van Hollen Launches Leadership Challenge

More from the New York Sun

Doctors Without Borders Admit That Gaza Terrorists Dominate Local Hospitals

Justice Alito Sounds Alarm Over Democrats’ Power To Cripple Supreme Court Through Its Purse Strings

Ousted CEO Huang Faces Intense Questioning and Possible Legal Jeopardy Over Transfer of Nvidia’s AI Secrets to China

‘Unleashed’ Homeland Security Reports Record Arrests and Deportations in Months Before Midterm Elections

U.S. Soccer Must Start Over After Pochettino’s Unexpected Exit for Manchester United

Far-Left Parties Pressure European Union To End Trade Agreement With Israel

Trump’s Opportunity at the UN

Schumer Faces Revolt as Van Hollen Launches Leadership Challenge