Office of Strategic Services

As World War II hit America, there was a need to coordinate intelligence efforts. Until 1941, all intelligence had basically been handled within branches. This led to  uncoordinated operations that were less effective than they could have been with joint intelligence. The need for joint intelligence bred the OSS, or Office of Strategic Services, from the previous attempt at a joint service, the COI. The OSS was intended to pool all information from every branch and aid in overall cooperation. However, many high positioned officers were opposed to the OSS and worked to deny them the most vital of information sources in the military: intercepted enemy communications. However, this was overcome and a world wide clandestine operations group was built, working in every theatre of World War II. They worked closesly with British intelligence and made a high reputation. The OSS lasted into the Vietnam War, but in just the four years they were involved in World War II, the OSS spent the equivalent to about 1.1 Billion dollars in modern times. The OSS was expensive, but their impact on World War II was well worth it. In addition, the OSS also laid the path for future agencies such as the CIA.