Because the OSS recruited imaginative, free-wheeling, assertive individuals, the organization was probably inherently difficult to manage, but Donovan’s absences and inattention made it more so. Consequently, the administration of his rapidly burgeoning, worldwide organization was often chaotic. He personally disdained office work and left the daily running of his agency to others, as he had done at his law firm. 1 Fascinated with strategic visions and actual field operations, he was bored by organizational detail. Yet, Donovan was inattentive as an administrator and uncompromising as a bureaucrat.
An inspiring and visionary leader, he conceived of America’s first centralized intelligence and special operations agency, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency and Army Special Forces. His restless energy, dynamism, and personal attention inspired the men and women of the OSS. Unlike desk-bound, bureaucratic spymasters, Donovan, a World War I hero, enjoyed being on or near the front lines. Always the romantic adventurer, he spent much of his time away from Washington in the war zones. To a great extent, this was due to Donovan himself.
The OSS was terminated within a month after the end of World War II. It was better prepared to fight armed enemies overseas than bureaucratic enemies in the nation’s capital. OSS may have won its battles in the field, but it lost its final campaign-in Washington.
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