1938 Army chief of staff secretly authorizes the Signal Intelligence
Service to intercept radio communications and provide crypto-analytic
services.
1938 British prime minister Neville Chamberlain announces Munich
Agreement with Adolf Hitler, ceding Czechoslovakia.1939 Japanese government switches to “Purple” code machine. June:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues secret directive, placing all es-
pionage, counterespionage, and sabotage matters under jurisdictions of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Military Intelligence Divi-
sion (MID), and Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI); also establishes In-
terdepartmental Intelligence Committee (IIC) to coordinate these activ-
ities. June:President Roosevelt gives the FBI authority to carry out
counterintelligence and security operations against Axis agents in Latin
America. 29 August:Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed; ONI and
MID begin daily intelligence briefings of the president. 1 September:
Nazi Germany attacks Poland; World War II begins.1940 Japan joins the Axis. President Roosevelt sends William J.
Donovan to Britain to assess its ability to withstand Germany. April:
Prime Minister Winston Churchill sends William Stephenson to estab-
lish liaison and urge U.S. to counter Axis sabotage and subversion in
U.S. 24 June:President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the establishment
of the Special Intelligence Service within the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation to engage in espionage in Latin America. August:Signals In-
telligence Service breaks Japan’s “Purple” code; intercepted messages
given code name MAGIC. December:William Donovan, accompanied
by William Stephenson, visits Mediterranean and Balkans.1941 President Roosevelt establishes informal intelligence network
operated out of the White House. U.S. government freezes Japanese as-
sets in the U.S. February:The British reveal to U.S. that they had bro-
ken the German “Enigma” code; decryptions code-named ULTRA.
March:Donovan proposes an intelligence agency to analyze intentions
of enemies; opposed by ONI, MID, and FBI. 11 June:President Roo-
sevelt appoints Donovan as coordinator of information (COI) to collect
and analyze national security information. 22 June:Germany attacks
the Soviet Union. 7 December:Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; the
U.S. enters World War II.xxvi • CHRONOLOGY05-398 (1) FM.qxd 10/20/05 6:14 AM Page xxvi