The Shadow Warriors: O.S.S. and the Origins of the C.I.A. by Bradley F. Smith - 1983

Basic Books, 1983. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/very good. First printing. Hardcover. 507 pp. with bibliography, index. Fine in very good dust jacket. Definitive account of the nations first intelligence agency--how it operated, what it really accomplished, and how it laid the basis for the present-day Central Intelligence Agency. The O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) was the wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. Operating under the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it coordinated all espionage activities behind enemy lines. Prior to its establishment, Ameircsn intelligence opertions had no central control or coordination; for example, the Army and Navy each had seperate code-breaking operations. William J. ("Wild Bill") Donovan organized the service at the request of FDR, patterning after the British intelligence service MI6.