Creation of the U.S. intelligence community during World War II

Intelligence

The Creation and Performance of a True U.S. Intelligence Community

The emergence of a true U.S. intelligence community did not occur until late during World War II. The primary deficiency in U.S. intelligence up until that point was the complete lack of coordination of information and operations between the various intelligence agencies that were, by and large, military affairs. Army Intelligence didn't necessarily communicate effectively with Navy Intelligence, and so on. The only potential for coordination was the slim chance that it would occur as various reports passed across the desk of the President.

FDR recognized this problem during World War II and appointed William Donovan to draft a plan for a more cohesive intelligence service in the United States ("United States Intelligence"). The argument stood, and not incorrectly, that if U.S. intelligence had been more efficient and coordinated it might have been possible to prevent the tragic attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, just as the eventual crack of the Japanese military codes led to the successful defeat of the Japanese forces at Midway Island in 1942. Donovan's plan was the creation of the Office of Strategic Services, which collected and analyzed information that would be required and used throughout the rest of the war for all clandestine operations.