Building a Presence along the Danube: A Fresh Look at OSS and SSU Austria in 1945 and 1946

This article assesses the activities of US intelligence services in early Cold War Austria along four separate, albeit linked axes. The organizations under observation, namely, Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Strategic Services Unit (SSU) Austria, as well as (to a lesser extent) Central Intelligence Group (CIG) Austria, are explored differently than as in the past, cast not as cogs within a larger intelligence machinery directed from Washington, DC (headquarters) but rather as relatively autonomous producers of regional intelligence that was disseminated locally, laterally, and up the inner-organizational chain of command (“the field”). Key to discovering how OSS, SSU, and CIG evolved in Austria (rather than as the result of changes effected in Washington, DC, or its surroundings) are the interactions between middle management in Austria and senior leadership in Washington, several of whom were former “field” men (or women) themselves. Austrian-based staffing and reporting, operational successes and failures, as well as biographical sketches of several key individuals in question are presented, allowing for fresh insights into how each organization actually operated in Austria to be gained. Through studying these aspects jointly, the authors posit the emergence of a unique intelligence culture among US intelligence officers shaped by their shared Austrian experience, perhaps denoting a more efficient and fruitful approach to local and regional peculiarities.