Office of Strategic Services

Office of Strategic Services
	OSS insignia
Agency overview
Formed	June 13, 1942
Preceding agency	Coordinator of Information;
Dissolved	September 20, 1945
Superseding agencies	Central Intelligence Agency; Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research; Central Intelligence Group; Strategic Services Unit;
Employees	13,000 estimated
Agency executives	MG William Joseph Donovan, Coordinator of Information; BG John Magruder, Director for Intelligence; Millard Preston Goodfellow, SA/Goodfellow; David K.E. Bruce, SA/Bruce; Garland H. Williams, Director of Training; Robert E. Sherwood, Voice of America;

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning.

The OSS was dissolved a month after the end of the war. Intelligence tasks were shortly later resumed and carried over by its successors, the Strategic Services Unit (SSU), the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the intermediary precursor to the independent Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

On December 14, 2016, the organization was collectively honored with a Congressional Gold Medal.