Intelligence part 1 Essay - 3,172 words

Intelligence After the First World War, the European nations assumed that the United States (US) would continue to involve itself in international matters, particularly in helping to reconstruct Europe and help maintain the balance of power. However, the US showed no inclination to become involved. On the one hand, this was seen in Europe as evidence of selfishness and immaturity. On the other, whilst many Americans shared the Europeans sense of disillusionment with the war and its aftermath, they also believed that their involvement had been both unnecessary and a grave mistake. The Nye Committee (1935) proclaimed that the US had been lured into the war by armaments manufacturers and by Wall Street bankers who wanted to save their fortunes. Foreign policy had seldom interested many Americans, and there was no earthly reason in the inter-war years why they felt that they should become involved in what they considered being the affairs of other nations. They were not threatened and more important activities to which they wanted to devote their time and money. Many thought of relations with other nations in terms of trade and finance, which belonged in the realm of the private sector and that there was little need for political and hence public involvement with other countries.


As a result, the American approach to foreign policy in the inter-war years appears to be confused. Public opinion, and Congress, appeared to be predominantly isolationist and this had to be taken into account by presidents and policy makers who wished to be more active. During the 1920s, Republican Party administrators implemented a foreign policy consisting of two main themes. First, the reconstruction of Europe in which the government would take a back seat to the private sector, and second the backing of moves for the reduction of armaments and limitation in which the government itself took the lead. From 1933 onwards the Democratic Party came to power and isolationism continued to be a dominant strain in US politics and foreign policy. Roosevelt announced at the World Economic Conference (1933) that the US would concentrate on domestic economic recovery. In addition a series of Neutrality Acts were passed by Congress which were intended to fence off the US from future conflicts by ensuring that businessmen and financiers could not do business with those waging war.


Public opinion continued to remain strong the severity of the Depression led many to conclude that their efforts and attention ought to be focused on home affairs rather than abroad. Isolationism also had a historical source as well. America was largely a land of immigrants, of people who had left Europe and its problems behind. Why the need to get involved again? Even before the devastating attack at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was concerned about American intelligence deficiencies. The next day December 7, 1941, the day of the attack, President Roosevelt still could have warned Hawaii.


He had received a Fourteen Part Message that stated that Japan was declaring war and would attack Pearl Harbor at 1 P.M. Washington time or dawn at Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt had plenty of time to warn Hawaii of the attack. The United States government refused to use the scrambler phone on his desk, refused to send a warning by the fast, more secures Navy system. The government knew it would take 30 or 40 minutes by Army radio. Roosevelt was satisfied because that meant he had delayed enough so the warning wouldn't reach Pearl Harbor until after the 1 PM Washington time deadline. The warning was in fact sent commercially without priority identification and arrived 6 hours late. This message reached all other addressees, like the Philippines and Canal Zone, in a timely manner.


After attack President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked New York lawyer William J. Donovan to draft a plan for an intelligence service. In June of 1942, the Office of Strategic Services was established in order to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations that were not assigned to other agencies. During the World War II, the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) supplied policymakers with essential facts and intelligence estimates, and the office often played an important role in directly aiding military campaigns. The OSS never received complete jurisdiction over all foreign intelligence activities.


Since the early 1930s the FBI had been responsible for intelligence work in Latin America, and the military services protected their areas of responsibility. In October 1945, the OSS was abolished, and its functions were transferred to the State and War Departments. The need for a postwar centralized intelligence system remained a problem. Eleven months earlier, Donovan, at the time a major general had submitted to President Roosevelt a proposal that called for the separation of the OSS from the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the new organization having direct Presidential supervision. Donovan proposed an organization which will procure intelligence both by overt and covert methods and will at the same time provide intelligence g ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: central intelligence, united states, united state, pearl harbor, intelligence agency

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