The U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and British wartime intelligence agencies forged the clandestine “Special Relationship” during World War II. British organizations like the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and MI6 mentored the nascent American agency, establishing joint operations, shared training, and a permanent intelligence bond that survived long after the war.Desperate Deception: British Covert Operations in the United States, 1939-44 is a 1998 book by Thomas E. Mahl that details how British intelligence used secret propaganda, front groups, and political interference to push the U.S. into World War II.British Influence and FormationEarly Mentorship: British networks—led by figures like Sir William Stephenson of the British Security Coordination—helped shape American thinking on intelligence.SOE Partnership: The Foreign Policy Research Institute notes that the U.K.’s Special Operations Executive worked closely with the OSS to divide global operational spheres and share subversive tacticsOperational Friction: Cooperation was not always smooth; rivalries over colonial spheres and strategy occurred in theaters like the Asia-Pacific.Legacy and Post-War ImpactBlueprint for the CIA: The operational methods and clandestine framework of the OSS directly influenced the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947.The Five Eyes Alliance: Wartime codebreaking and intelligence exchanges laid the groundwork for modern cooperative pacts, including post-war signals intelligence.Version 1.0.0The post Origins of the “Special Relationship” appeared first on LewRockwell.