303Z Spring 2025 World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

This course explores the birth, infancy, and adolescence of modern American intelligence in a sweeping look across the landscape of World War II. Prior to 1940, the United States did not systematically recruit spies and steal secrets or intrigue against enemies overseas. The country had just a few codebreakers, isolated in windowless vaults on the National Mall, and a few FBI counterspies based nearby. Everything changed as the country mobilized to fight and win the war between 1940 and 1945.

Nicholas Reynolds has held two of the best niche jobs in the U.S. government: officer-in-charge of USMC field history and historian for the CIA Museum at Langley. His most recent book is Need to Know, World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence. He holds a PhD in History from Oxford.