X-2 Counter Espionage Branch
The head of the
Overview
Background
With the beginning of World War II, the
Missions
The missions of the X-2 Branch were to:[2]
- Collect information on espionage and subversive activities of the enemy
- Analyze, process and exchange this intelligence
- Maintain operational security measures for the OSS and prevent infiltration of the OSS by enemy intelligence services
- Cooperate and give timely intelligence to United States' and allied intelligence services
- Create foreign area subversive personality lists to disseminate to commanders and intelligence personnel.
Donovan also established strong communication and sharing between the Secret Intelligence and X-2 Branches.[2] He additionally allowed the X-2 Branch to use field representatives in coordination with the station chief and outlined that the X-2 would maintain separate communication lines, liaisons and records.[2] X-2 had its main base for European operations in London but maintained liaison in Washington, D.C., with other agencies including the FBI, State Department, G-2 and Office of Naval Intelligence.[7]
Special units
Special Counterintelligence Units
The X-2 created Special Counterintelligence Units (SCI Units) to pass
Watch List Unit
The Watch List Unit disseminated information on agents such as their cover names, addresses and mail drops. It maintained liaisons with the US Censorship Office, British Imperial Censorship and French Censorship.[7] It also passed information on enemy methods of secret communication.[7]
Insurance Unit
The Insurance Unit's main task was to investigate enemy intelligence's use of insurance as a cover for its activities.[7]
Counter Espionage Smuggling Unit
The Counter Espionage Smuggling Unit was intended to coordinate information on smuggling activities but never became effective due to low staffing.[7]
Art Looting Investigation Unit
The
Operations
X-2 ran operations throughout Europe as well as in North Africa, in places such as Algeria, and provided intelligence for large-scale operations such as Operation Anvil/Dragoon, a post D-Day landing in Europe.[5] In its operations, X-2 used officers from other nations, including Spain and Canada, in positions as high as unit chiefs.[5] X-2 operations also involved feeding false or harmless information to controlled agents in the field.[3] The head of European X-2 operations was Norman Holmes Pearson.[5]
Italy
X-2 officers' primary mission in Italy was to eliminate foreign services in the area, although they also received training on doubling and controlling agents, which the regular military counterintelligence lacked.[4] James Jesus Angleton was assigned to the Rome detachment of X-2 in 1944 with the mission of turning around the faltering operations within a six-week time frame. In the end, he would move up from Rome chief to the head of all secret operations in Italy for the Strategic Services Unit after the war.[4] One of Angleton's key contributions in Rome was his development of a book of information with concepts from Ultra that could be given to non-Ultra officers.[4] With this information they could fish through POWs and suspects and then disseminate the information more widely once it had been found in a lower security clearance situation i.e. Secret vice Top-Secret.[4]
Another important contribution to operations in Italy was Angleton's cultivation of relationships and liaisons with foreign intelligence services. He developed a contact in Italy's Royal Navy, Capitano di Fregata Carlo Resio, codenamed SALTY, in 1944, which yielded important information as the war went on.[4] Angleton ran another agent, JK 1/8, in Italy's secret intelligence service.[4] From the summer of 1944 on, this agent supplied the Allies with important information and corroboration of other agents such as SALTY.[4]
France
Operations in France were varied. X-2 officers like Betty Lussier helped set up a French-Spanish counterintelligence unit in Nice.[5] Later she worked on operations in which officers blended in with local communities in France to search out Nazi collaborators and stay-behind agents.[5] Enemy agents were often given clandestine radio sets to communicate Allied movements. X-2 monitored and tracked signals from these radios to their sources and attempted to turn the users into double agents for the Allies, as in the case of Gordon Merrick, a former French Lieutenant spying for the Germans in Perpignan.[5]
Communist penetration of the OSS
Although counterintelligence was its mission, the X-2 focused on Europe more than the OSS itself.[1] The OSS employed Soviet sympathizers and spies in its offices in Washington, D.C., as well as other non-communist spies such as Donovan's aide, Duncan C. Lee.[1] The Communists also penetrated OSS operations in China, participating in the training camps in addition to working as clerical staff and housekeepers.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "X-2". Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency. 28 June 2008. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Counterintelligence in the Office of Strategic Services". Counterintelligence in World War II. National Counterintelligence Center. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-0806527987.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Naftali, Timothy J. (1992). "ARTIFICE: James Angleton and X-2 Operations in Italy". In Chalou, George C. (ed.). The Secrets War: The Office of Strategic Services in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Natl Archives & Record Service. pp. 219–30.
- ^ ISBN 978-1591145141.
- ^ a b c d "What Was OSS?". Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency. 28 June 2008. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Counter-Espionage (X-2)". Counterintelligence in World War II. National Counterintelligence Center. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
- ^ "OSS ART LOOTING INVESTIGATION UNIT REPORTS, 1945-46" (PDF). Archives.gov. United States Government Office of Strategic Services. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- ^ "OSS (USS Office of Strategic Services) Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 and ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index". LootedArt. USS Office of Strategic Service. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
Further reading
- Cutler, Richard, W. (2004). Counterspy: Memoirs of a Counterintelligence Officer in World War II and the Cold War. Potomac Books Inc.
- Dulles Allen(1966). The Secret Surrender. Harper and Row.
- Katz, Barry, M. (1989). Foreign Intelligence: Research and Analysis in the Office of Strategic Services 1942–1945. Harvard University Press.
- Lussier, Betty (2010). Intrepid Woman: Betty Lussier's Secret War, 1942–1945. Naval Institute Press.
- Maochun, Yu (1996). OSS in China. Yale University Press.
- Mauch, Christof (1999). The Shadow War Against Hitler. Columbia University Press.
- Persico, Joseph, E. (2001). Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage. Random House.
- Roosevelt, Kermit (1976). War Report of the OSS. Walker Publishing Company Inc.