The Pond (intelligence organization)

The Pond was a small, secret organization formed by the government of the United States of America which operated between 1942 and 1955.[1] It engaged in espionage. Its existence has only recently been acknowledged.

History

In the spring of 1942, Brigadier General Hayes Kroner, the head of the War Department's Military Intelligence Service, was given the go-ahead to set up an espionage organization separate from William "Wild Bill" Donovan's Office of Strategic Services.[1] He selected to head it U.S. Army Captain John or Jean Grombach, who was a rival and previous employee of Donovan. [2] Grombach, the son of the French consul in New Orleans, had obtained American citizenship and graduated from West Point before World War II.[1]

In 1955, The Pond was disbanded by the American government because of post-war centralization of intelligence gathering and questions about the organization's effectiveness.

On April 27, 2008, the Associated Press reported that the Central Intelligence Agency planned to "release a stash of Pond-related papers accidentally discovered in a Virginia barn in 2001" and hand them over to the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.[3]

Members

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mark Stout. "The Pond: Running Agents for State, War, and the CIA". Central Intelligence Agency official site.
  2. ↑ Wild Bill Donovan by Douglas Waller, p. 118
  3. 1 2 Arthur Max and Randy Herschaft (April 27, 2008). "Clues surfacing in Wallenberg disappearance / WWII hero may have had ties to White House; other data to be released". Associated Press. Retrieved May 17, 2009.


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