OSS in China: Prelude to Cold War

In this impressive book Maochun Yu tells the dramatic story of the intelligence activities of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in China during World War II. Yu draws on recently released classified materials from the U.S. National Archives and on previously unopened Chinese documents to reveal the immense and complex challenges the agency and its director, General William Donovan, confronted in China.

Forerunner of the CIA, OSS lacked a central command to oversee policy and had to compete fiercely with other U.S. agencies for intelligence turf. This contentious situation inevitably confused the lines of command and reduced the effectiveness of American foreign policy throughout the war. OSS's embryonic and symbiotic ties with the British also proved to be a major obstacle to conducting clandestine operations in China, as the newly formed organization struggled to establish its own independence and command integrity. Complicated espionage warfare among the Americans, the British, the Chinese Nationalists, and the Chinese and Soviet Communists contributed further to the intense and confusing environment. Yu concludes that the experiences of OSS in China had long- lasting and important effects, leading toward the eventual globalization and totalitarianization of U.S. intelligence in the subsequent era of the CIA.