Role of Intel During World War II

Role of Intel during World War II

Before World War II the United States was said to the world's only great power without an intelligence organization. There were agencies that collected intelligence, but there was no agency that had any overall authority. The British at the time were extremely successful; they had the abilities to crack even the highest German encryptions. The Brits then urged the United States to generate a centralized intelligence organization; shortly after President Roosevelt established the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This was the Unites States first ever intelligence agency which will later become the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Despite US Secretary of State Henry Stimson's quote that "gentlemen do not read each other's mail," by 1941 the United States had erected a top notch intelligence system.

Shortly after America suffered the most devastating intelligence disaster when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. Although the attack was devastating it was what prompted the creation of the OSS, due to the denial and deception, the misconceptions, and analytical errors caused by the Japanese. During the war the Japanese purchased a German cipher machine called the Enigma. They modified the machine with several different security features and called it "Purple." They developed one of the most secure cryptologic machines in the world. It wasn't must longer until the United States created their own Purple machine to decipher codes and called it "Shadow Machine." As a result, the United States surprised Japan at Midway and American victory there proved to be decisive. Throughout the war, the United States staged various surprise attacks on Japan, thanks to the knowledge they had from Purple ciphers. Cryptanalysis, contributed significantly to the victory of the war through its contributions to the battle of Midway and the battle of the North Atlantic, as well as to the destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet. Joint intelligence organizations and operations were initiated at national and theater levels during the war. With these efforts implemented it increased production, collection, and exploitation of important intelligence.

In the beginning of World War II the United States realized that they needed people on the inside of the Japanese so they turned to the Nisei. President Roosevelt ordered over 110,000 Americans of Japanese descent to join the fight. The Nisei were recruited from the west coast and Hawaii. They were sent to schools were they became proficient in the Japanese language. Not only were their duties to translate, they were also educated in interrogation, radio monitoring, psychological and guerilla warfare. At the end of the war the Nisei are said to be one of the main reasons it ended when it did. They helped with local surrenders of Japanese forces. They were able to connect America with Japan