A
COMMEMORATIVE WWII HISTORY SERIES
Part 2: The FBI's Special Intelligence Service, 1940-1946
06/24/05
Who was the "golfer" who
easily won a local championship overseas and went on to become personal
friends with the country's political leaders?
Who was
the "traveling
companion" of a South American police official—an official
who boasted that he "could spot any FBI undercover man on sight"?
Who was the "visitor" to
a foreign country who drew up legislation that improved that nation's
ability to protect itself against Axis intelligence activities?
They were
all FBI agents...working undercover in Central and South America during
World War II as part of our "Special Intelligence Service," or
SIS, established 65 years ago this week by order of President Roosevelt.
Why was the
SIS launched? Because by 1940 South America had become a hotbed
of German intrigue. More than half-a-million German emigrants—many
supporters of the Third Reich—had settled in Brazil and Argentina
alone. In line with our earlier intelligence
work on threats posed by Germany, Roosevelt wanted to keep an eye
on Nazi activities in our neighbors to the south. And when the U.S.
joined the Allied cause in 1941, he wanted to protect our nation from
Hitler's spies and collect intelligence on Axis activities to help
win the war.
The President turned
to the FBI to run the SIS (remember, this was before the CIA was created),
and we ended up sending more than 340 agents and support professionals
undercover into Central and South America over the next seven years.
As you'd
expect, there was a learning curve...and it took some time to master
the languages
and get undercover operatives in place. But within months, the SIS was
working well.
We were gathering information and sending it back to FBI headquarters
in Washington, where it was crafted into useful intelligence for the
military and others. And overseas, we developed ways of sharing crucial
information with law enforcement and intelligence services there so they
could round up Axis spies and saboteurs.
How successful
was the SIS? The numbers speak for themselves. By 1946, we
had identified 887 Axis spies, 281 propaganda agents, 222 agents smuggling
strategic war materials, 30 saboteurs, and 97 other agents. We had
located 24 secret Axis radio stations and confiscated 40 radio transmitters
and 18 receiving sets. And we had even used
some of these radio networks to pass false and misleading information
back to Nazi Germany.
The SIS was disbanded
after the war, and the newly formed CIA was asked to take over its operations
and expand U.S. intelligence activities worldwide. But the SIS served
the nation well: it helped protect the homeland and win the war...provided
valuable lessons in intelligence and undercover operations for the Bureau
for years to come...and set the stage for our overseas Legal
Attaché program.
Links: Part
1 of the WWII Summer Series | FBI
History during WWII | More
Byte Out of History stories
