COURTING A RELUCTANT ALLY - National Intelligence University

good will and encouraged greater cooperation to deconflict the efforts of bothorganizations. For example, the British had run agents on neutral and Americanshipping to report on subversive activity and smuggling and to spread propaganda.In the Fall of 1941, the agents on the American ships were turned over toONI’s control and a cooperative agreement was reached to share intelligencefrom these sources and the agents on the neutral ships, which the British stillcontrolled. 206The Donovan Visit—15 July 1940–4 August 1940Bath and others have stated that Colonel William “Wild Bill” Donovan’s visitto London in the summer of 1940 was the turning point in the relationshipbetween the U.S. and the UK, a contention the historical evidence confirms. 207Donovan’s mission was to act as an impartial observer to assess England’schances of surviving the war following the fall of France. His positive endorsementof the British and his sanguine assessment of their prospects allowedRoosevelt and other senior officials to overcome their fears of Great Britain’simminent downfall, fears which had been fanned by the negative evaluations ofthe British situation they were receiving from the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain,Joseph P. Kennedy, and the naval attaché there, CAPT Kirk. 208Why was Donovan chosen to undertake this mission and what was the role ofthe British in the decision to send him? First, while not a close associate ofRoosevelt, Donovan was known by him and the successful World War I hero andWall Street lawyer was a close personal friend of Secretary of the Navy Knox. 209William Stephenson was also a friend of Donovan’s and, as the head of the BSC,it was his job to counteract the negative assessments of England’s chances in the206 BSC, Secret History, 161-165. The BSC also shared intelligence with ONI gained by one oftheir most sensitive sources, the agent known as “Cynthia,” who had deep penetration of the Italianembassy. They also extensively shared information obtained by their Consular Security Officers inLatin American ports with ONI, the Coast Guard, and the FBI. For additional information see BSC,Secret History, 214-215, 244-249.207Bath, 27-28; MacLachlan, 225-226; Smith, Ultra-Magic Deals, 14-16; Dorwart, Conflict ofDuty, 144; Corey Ford, Donovan of OSS (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1970), 91-94.Donovan would go on to become the head of America’s first, official central intelligence organization,the Coordinator of Information office, and would also lead its more famous successor organization,the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).208 Beesly, Very Special Admiral, 175; Ford, 89.209 “Transcript of Press Conference with the Secretary of the Navy, The Honorable Frank Knox,”20 September 1940, Knox Papers. Knox had just completed a two-week inspection tour of the U.S.Fleet and told reporters he had brought his personal friend, Colonel William Donovan, with him onthe tour.60