TRANSMITTAL OF REPORT ON BERLIN OPERATIONS BASE

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00144185
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 93
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: March 28, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-02680
• Publication Date: April 8, 1948

Approved for Release: 2019/03/25 C00144185
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SJGT7ra._smittal of Repor-: on Zerlin Operations Base
I. 2raasmittef: horewith le Report on Berlin Operations
Misr:, January 1946 to :larch 1948. rlhe report is submitted in
two copies 7ith the master ditto. One has been sent to
Karlsruhe headquarters, =o aro retained here.
2. A word of s-,planation is -necessary concerning the
origin and development of this report. It was begun orig-
inally as a Chief, Berlin Operations Base, Progress Report for
19&1.7 soon became apparent that. it was impossible to die-
cuss 1947 without going into the background of the preceding
year, for which no overall report had been submitted. Inevi-
tably the preparation of the report stretched out over the
-fitnt three months of 1948. In the meantime, the situation
was changed by the proposal that I be transferred from Berlin
Base. With this possibility in view, my concept changed from
that of a mere progress roport, to an overall statement
designed to help and guide my successor. From this concept
emerged the thought that the same report might be of general
interest to Headquarters, and it was with this in mind that it
was finnlly written.
3. I do not know whether the report as finally presented
requires any general circulation in your office or other parts
of OSO. For that reason I have sent it fa:0?i, leaving it ap
to you to decide how far it should be shamn. I am aware that
some very frank statements are made about American officials
and agencies, and for that reason you may wish to keep it
closely restricted, or you may decide to break it up and circu-
late individual sections, suppressing others. In any easel
ila7e no pride of authorship in the document.
3-22-'1;
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Chief, BOB
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
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The basic element in the history of the Berlin Operations
Base during 1946 and 1947 has been the maintenance of continuity
as a unified Detachment, in what may be-described as a semi-
overt status. ,In this respect, no fundamental changes were made
in the situation which had existed 'since the end of 1945.
Throughout the two years of my regime, there have Indeed been
numerous occasions on which the advisability of maintaining this
status has been questioned.. Sometimes the question was raised
-by Heidelberg, sometimes by ourselves but each time the answer
was the same: the operational, administrative, and liaison ad-
vantages of a compact unified Base outweigh the security advan
tages*.of-dispersal and deep cover. As long as our primary mission
remains the servicing of the Theater Commander and other local -
-customers, as opposed to the secondary mission of establishing a
-long range, permanent, truly clandestine coverage, the Army will
have to know who we are and how to deal with us. Externally, the
adMinistrative and liaison connections which have been built up
elaborately over two years are a precious asset which we Are
reluctant to liquidate. Internally, the cooperation between the
:-Branchesi. the intimate connection between the case,officers and
the:executiveheads! the convenience of our building with its.
admirable facilitiesl-all these have teemed to outweigh perfection-
'ist.COnceptions of,segregation and deep cover.
We have, In other words, mai tained a middle course. We have
avoided the "cordon sanitaire"
but we ve also kept a substantial '
.jmeaSUre onymi .ty, It is, of course, ImPossibIe-to be sure that
Atm:1r Security measures have been sufficient to divert the attention
of the opposition completely. In a position such, as ours, one.
.does well to remember the Greek moral "Count no man happy. (read
unblotn) until he is dead!" Nevertheless, we feel some confidence
-that our security position is radically different from that of the
overt agencies, 5-2 Berlin Command, CIC4 and the Intelligence
Office of Military Government in Berlin (0MGSS). AlI\their execu-
tive and staff personnel are known and have become Soviet EI'8,
Perhaps our personnel may also figure on those MI's, but so far
no case of:Imajor significance has come to our notice. Some 10
British and American agencies which would be in a position to re.-
port any major security break affecting us have provided at. least
negative confirmation of our practical anonymity.
ZeCurity-wise, our semi-overt status has caused us some un-
:happy moments. The most alarming flurry was that brought about by.
the Associated Press dispatch on the so-called underground railway,
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alleged to have spirited Mikolajczyk out of Poland. The unfor-
tunate reference to "a War Department detachment" sent us into
a prolonged tailspin, from which we gradually emerged, clinging
to the hoe that the difference between "a" and "the" WDD may-
have escaped the attention of unfriendly eyes. At any rate, 'we
did the best we could to lock the barn door; we found out the
identity of the culprit and got the matter into IG channels. We
were-able to derive at least a vindictive satisfaction from the
fact that the indiscreet OMGUS official was abruptly returned to
the States. We have never been able to ascertain whether the
ether offender, � i� e the AP correspondent, felt any remorse for
Nis unethical release of false information, damaging to American
security, or whether any deterrent effect was achieved.
. This incident remains the only one of which we are cognizant
affecting the security of our Detachment as a whole. The result-
ing decision to change the name of the Detachment would have, been
inevitable in any case, since the passing of the War Department
has made our designation a rather conspicuous anachronism. We
look forward in the spring of 1948 to a carefully planned charge
of name and toyer, carried out by an officer 'specially designated
by Heidelberg to explore all the vanifold administrative complexi-
ties which such a more entails. We hope for once to -have a
thoroughly cogitated and relatively foolproof approach to a problem
which in the past no one has ever confronted with sufficient
thoroughness.
The other principal blow to our security through indiscre-
tions by the press was the publication by Joseph Alsop of the .
substance of one of our secret reports entitled "Speech by
Sokolovsky". Vie have never fully, got to the bottom of this leak, -
partly.because it has seemed Inexpedient to press too hard. It
seems almost certain that this report was shown to- Alsop on instruc-
tions of the highest State Department authority in Berlin. Whether
this action was, as one Important official put. it, "a deliberate
leak" based on orders from Washington, we have not attempted to
find out, but we have let it be known at the highest level con-
cerned that our agency does not recognize the existence of any -
authority competent to release our classified material for publi-
cation without prior clearance.
In connection with Detachment security, we have made repeated
efforts to develop outside cover positions for individual staff
members.. From the outset, however, we have been greatly frustrated
by an obstacle which for the time being seems insurmountable viz.
the refusal of General Clay to permit the use of Military Government
cover for clandestine operations. During the first, half of 1947
we made a number of tentative approaches to the -problem. . With the
full approval of the �MGM personnel Officeri the Theater Director
of Intelligence, and even the Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. Charles_
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