Office of Strategic Services

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was established in June 1942 during World War II as the United States’ first centralized intelligence agency. Under the leadership of Major General William J. Donovan, the OSS was responsible for gathering intelligence, conducting espionage, sabotage, and supporting resistance movements behind enemy lines in Europe and Asia. The organization played a crucial role in coordinating Allied intelligence efforts, pioneering methods that would shape future American intelligence operations. After the war, the OSS was disbanded in 1945, but its legacy continued with the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947.