“And killed Colonel and Mrs. Schumann. Phrased as delicately as possible, there will have to be a closed-casket funeral. Tony Schumann was a fine officer and a close friend. A true tragedy.
“Obviously a replacement was necessary. There were several reasons why I had to go outside EUCOM CIC for a replacement. One is that, as I’m sure you know, we are very short of officers. We are even shorter of officers with the proper security clearances. A Top Secret clearance, dealing with what we’re dealing with here, is as common as a Confidential clearance elsewhere.
“So I appointed Major James B. McClung, the ASA Europe Chief . . . you know who I mean?”
“Is that ‘Iron Lung’ McClung, sir?”
Greene nodded and went on.
“. . . to temporarily add the duties of IG to all the other things on his plate. He was—is—the only officer available to me with the Top Secret–Lindbergh and Top Secret–Presidential clearances. Then I called Admiral Souers—”
“Excuse me, sir. Who?”
“Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers,” Greene answered, paused, and then said, “Well, let’s deal with that. Have you heard the rumors that there will be a successor organization to the Office of Strategic Services?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, let me give you the facts. Shortly after the President put the OS
S out of business, he reconsidered the wisdom of that decision. There were certain operations of the OSS that had to be kept running, for one thing, and for another, Admiral Souers told me, he came to recognize the nation needed an intelligence organization, with covert and clandestine capabilities, that could not be tied down by putting it under either the Pentagon or the FBI. It had to report directly to him. More precisely, to the President.
“On January first, the President will sign an executive order establishing the Directorate of Central Intelligence, and name Admiral Souers as its director. Admiral Souers has been assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence. But, he’s been more than that. When the President realized that certain clandestine operations started by the OSS and which could not be turned off like a lightbulb needed someone to run them until he decided what to do about them, he turned to Admiral Souers. It is germane to note that the President and the admiral are close personal friends.
“Further, when the President realized there had to be a successor organization to the OSS, and that there were, for him, insurmountable problems in naming General Donovan to be its director, and that he did not want the Pentagon to have its man in that position, or someone who owed his allegiance to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, he again turned to Admiral Souers.
“Colonel Mattingly, would you like to add to, or comment upon, what I just told Major Derwin?”
“No, sir. I think you covered everything.”
“Feel free to interrupt me at any time, Bob.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“As I was saying, when Colonel Schumann . . . was taken from us, I needed someone who could be given Presidential and Lindbergh clearances, and I needed him right away, so I called Admiral Souers and explained the problem. He said he would take the matter up personally with the G2 of the Army. He called back the next day, told me the G2 had proposed three officers, and given him access to their dossiers, and he felt you best met our requirements. He proposed sending you over here immediately to see if Colonel Mattingly and I agreed.
“Which brings us to Colonel Mattingly. Mattingly was OSS. In the last months of the war, he was chief, OSS Forward. When the OSS was put out of business, he was assigned to me, to EUCOM CIC, as my deputy.”
“And now the colonel will be in this reconstituted OSS, the Directorate of Central Intelligence?”
“No. And please permit me to do the talking, Major,” Greene said. “But since we have started down that road: At Admiral Souers’s request—when he speaks, he speaks with the authority of the President—Headquarters, War Department, has tasked EUCOM CIC with providing the Directorate of Central Intelligence-Europe with whatever support, logistical and other, the chief, DCI-Europe, feels it needs. With me so far, Major?”
“I think so, sir. May I ask a question, sir?”
“Please do.”
“Who will be the chief, DCI-Europe?”
“Captain James D. Cronley Junior. You just met him.”
Major Derwin’s face showed his surprise, or shock.
“There are reasons for this—”
“A couple of months ago he was a second lieutenant at Holabird!” Derwin blurted. “I had him in Techniques of Surveillance.”
“I strongly suspect that as soon as Admiral Souers can find a more senior officer, say a colonel, or perhaps even a senior civilian, to appoint as chief, DCI-Europe, he will do so. But for the moment, it will be Captain Cronley.”
“General, may I suggest we get into Operation Ost?” Mattingly said.