Documents purely related to military issues, including the disposition of Axis troops, layout of Greek harbors, and the placement of Axis anti-aircraft guns are excluded, as are topographic studies, train schedules, and road descriptions.

But all documents in those four categories are included?

No, despite US legislation ordering the National Archives to declassify everything from this period, some documents are still being withheld as classified. There are likely still files with the CIA or US military.

Have you seen all the US intelligence reports on Greece, 1942-1945?

No. There are hundreds if not thousands of pages, mostly administrative but still very valuable material, scattered in various National Archives collections, that are not included in the collection and I have not thoroughly reviewed.

Are there US intelligence documents before 1942 and after 1945?

Yes, but before 1942 there was no OSS, so other than the State Department, the only reports are those by the US Military or Naval Attaches. There is no magic cutoff at the end of 1946, approximately the same number of intelligence documents were produced in January, 1947 as in December, 1946. The number of documents declassified after 1946 is reduced however.

Are most of these documents recently declassified?

No, most of these documents have been available for decades, many since the 1970s; but access was limited to researchers who could visit the National Archives in Washington, DC, for days or weeks. It would take a beginner years of daily visits to the National Archives to identify and see all the documents in this collection, a skilled research would have to spend several weeks identifying the documents to request even before getting to the archives and seeing a single document.

Recent advancements in document retrieval and preservation, including inexpensive scanning, electronic sorting and searching makes compilation and universal access to these documents possible now.

Why are so many of these documents hard to understand?

The short answer is they are purposely written so someone without “the need to know” could understand them. The officer in Cairo was aware that an SO report was American; while an SO(I) report was British. Some memos are From “SAINT Athens” to “SAINT Cairo,” without saying who exactly wrote the memo in SAINT Athens, or who read it in SAINT Cairo. It requires careful work to reconstruct the process at the time.

There are several references that are helpful. The book that is most comprehensive regarding the Greek Desk at OSS is Classical Spies, by Susan Heuck Allen. What makes this book so useful is that the author compiles information about agents and OSS missions. Also useful is Time on the Mountain: The Office of Strategic Services in Axis-Occupied Greece, a PhD dissertation by Kyriakos Nalmpantis.

In the Reference section there are several government publications that should provide useful background information to the documents and the agencies that produced them.

If it’s in a US document, is it true?

No. All documents in the collection are pieces of evidence, they are not proof. For example, a military intelligence document of November 9, 1943 (CSDIC F207) reports that Khorozis Khorozis of Orestiada, Evros, was a very dangerous German agent and an agent provocateur. This might have been true or it might have been a rumor sincerely shared with the intelligence officer, or it might have been a lie, intentionally said to target someone.

Acronyms and Cryptonyms

These documents frequently use acronyms. Among the most common are :

B.P.I.N. Balkan Political Intelligence Notes (British)

C.I.D. (Central Information Division) of the OSS’ Research and Analysis Branch

C.S.D.I.C. Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (British) which interviewed refugees from Greece and later Italian and German deserters or prisoners.

D.N.I. Division of Naval Intelligence

F.O.L.E.M. (British) Flag Officer, Landing and Embarkation, senior naval officer responsible for organizing landing and embarkation of troops, vehicles, and equipmentJ.I.C.A.M.E. Joint Intelligence Collection Agency Middle East. A large number of documents are sourced as JICAME, which was an American agency to distribute intelligence. M.I.S. Military Intelligence Service

O.W.I Office of War Information

PATFORCE Patrol Force, used to describe US units in Greece

P.I.C.M.E. Political Intelligence Centre, Middle East (British)

S.I.M.E. Security Intelligence Middle East (British)

I.S.L.D., also ISLO (British)

S.O.E Special Operations Executive, Force 133, (British)

SO (I), (British) Staff Officer, Intelligence

Additional lists of OSS acronyms can be found at

https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/oss/glossary.html

Elias Vlanton
March, 2025

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