Office of Strategic Services

Office of Strategic Services
OSS insignia[1]
Agency overview
FormedJune 13, 1942
Preceding agency
DissolvedSeptember 20, 1945
Superseding agencies
Employees13,000 estimated[2]
Agency executives
Overview: Office of Strategic Services
CIA film describing OSS recruitment, training, and missions during WWII

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)[3] to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning.

The OSS was dissolved a month after the end of the war. Intelligence tasks were shortly later resumed and carried over by its successors, the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the intermediary precursor to the independent Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

On December 14, 2016, the organization was collectively honored with a Congressional Gold Medal.[4]

  1. ^ Emerson, William K. (1996). "51". Encyclopedia of United States Army Insignia and Uniforms. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806126227.
  2. ^ Dawidoff, p. 240
  3. ^ Clancey, Patrick. "Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Organization and Functions". HyperWar. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "US Public Law 114–269 (2016)" (PDF). Retrieved February 21, 2018.