[Infowarrior] - OSS archives opened; Julia Child's spy file revealed

Thu Aug 14 12:12:57 UTC 2008

Newly Released Files Detail Early US Spy Network
Long secret CIA files identify nearly 24,000 spies from WWII era,  
including chef Julia Child
By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and RANDY HERSCHAFT Associated Press WritersThe  
Associated Press
WASHINGTON

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5577204
Before Julia Child became known to the world as a leading chef, she  
admitted at least one failing when applying for a job as a spy:  
impulsiveness.

Details about Child's background as a government agent come into the  
public spotlight Thursday with the National Archives' release of more  
than 35,000 top-secret personnel files of World War II-era spies. The  
CIA held this information for decades.

The 750,000 documents identify the vast spy network managed by the  
Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA. President  
Franklin Roosevelt created the OSS, the country's first centralized  
intelligence operation.

Child's file shows that in her OSS application, she included a note  
expressing regret she left an earlier department store job hastily  
because she did not get along with her boss, said William Cunliffe, an  
archivist who has worked extensively with the OSS records at the  
National Archives.

The OSS files offer details about other agents, including Supreme  
Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, major league catcher Moe Berg,  
historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and film actor Sterling Hayden.

Other notables identified in the files include John Hemingway, son of  
author Ernest Hemingway; Kermit Roosevelt, son of President Theodore  
Roosevelt; and Miles Copeland, father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for  
the band The Police.

Some of those on the list have been identified previously as having  
worked for the OSS, but their personnel records never have been  
available before. Those records would show why they were hired, jobs  
they were assigned to and perhaps even missions they pursued while  
working for the agency.

The release of the OSS personnel files unmasks one of the last secrets  
from the short-lived wartime intelligence agency, which for the most  
part was later folded into the CIA after President Truman disbanded it  
in 1945.

"I think it's terrific," said Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, a former OSS  
agent now living in Woodbridge, Va. "They've finally, after all these  
years, they've gotten the names out. All of these people had been told  
never to mention they were with the OSS."

The CIA long resisted releasing the records. But a former CIA  
director, William Casey, himself an OSS veteran, cleared the way for  
transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he  
took over the spy agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest  
documents to be made public.

Information about OSS involvement was so guarded that relatives often  
could not confirm a family member's work with the group.

Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North  
Africa, said he kept quiet for more than 50 years, only recently  
telling his wife of 62 years about his OSS activity.

"I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mess, now 93 and living in  
Falls Church, Va.

The files provide new information even for those most familiar with  
the agency. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society created by  
former OSS agents and their relatives, said the nearly 24,000  
employees included in the archives far exceed previous estimates of  
13,000.

The newly released documents will clarify these and other issues,  
Cunliffe said.

"We're saying the OSS was a lot bigger than they were saying," he said.

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On the Net:

CIA OSS page: http://tinyurl.com/6bvmhf

Index to National Archives OSS personnel files: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/