Editing Office of Strategic Services (section)

==Structure and recruitment==
The OSS recruited a diverse group of individuals for its dangerous and unconventional missions. Its ranks included scholars, academics, Hollywood figures, and even criminals like safecrackers, chosen for their specialized skills rather than traditional military backgrounds. 

* Leadership: The head of the OSS, William Donovan, was a World War I hero and a successful Wall Street lawyer. He cultivated a creative and fearless culture within the agency, often described as "calculated recklessness".
* Specialized branches: The organization was divided into specialized units, including:
* Secret Intelligence (SI): The "cloak and dagger" branch focused on espionage.
* Special Operations (SO) and Operational Groups (OG): The paramilitary branches responsible for direct action.
* Research and Analysis (R&A): A branch of civilian experts who processed intelligence from published sources and other data.
* X-2: The counterintelligence division that worked to ferret out enemy agents.