British Security Co-ordination facts for kids
The British Security Co-ordination (BSC) was a secret organization formed in New York City in May 1940. It was created by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) with permission from Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
The main goals of the BSC were to find out what enemy groups were doing. They also worked to stop attacks against British interests in North and South America. Another key aim was to encourage people in the Americas to support Britain. The BSC was a large secret agency that influenced news and spread "black propaganda." This meant they secretly put out information that seemed real but was designed to help Britain. They influenced newspapers like the Herald Tribune and the New York Post, and also Radio New York Worldwide. Stories from their offices at Rockefeller Center were then picked up by other media. This helped spread anti-German stories to turn public opinion.
The BSC pretended to be the British Passport Control Office. It received help from William J. Donovan, who led the US Office of Strategic Services. This US group was actually based on British ideas. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt also strongly supported the BSC because he was against the Nazis.
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How the BSC Started
When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, the link between British intelligence (SIS/MI6) and the FBI broke. This was due to US Neutrality Laws. William Stephenson was sent to the US to see if this connection could be restarted. He wanted to allow SIS to work in the US.
J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, was helpful. But he could not go against the US State Department without the President's approval. Hoover also believed that if cooperation happened, it should be a secret link just between Stephenson and him. President Roosevelt, however, agreed to the cooperation.
Stephenson's second-in-command at the BSC was Dick Ellis, a British intelligence officer. Ellis had introduced Stephenson to important intelligence leaders. This led to Stephenson being asked to go to America. His mission was to re-establish a link between British security and the FBI.
This link was important because Britain's enemies were already in the US. They could get support from German and Italian immigrants. But US authorities were not focused on activities that did not directly threaten US security.
Stephenson wrote a report about the situation in America. He suggested creating a secret organization. This group would go beyond just SIS activities. It would handle all secret operations to ensure Britain received aid. It would also work towards the US eventually joining the war. Stephenson was given this task. He took on the usual secret role of a "Passport Control Officer" in June 1940. Even though the existing setup in New York was weak, Stephenson had strong connections. He had a personal link with Hoover, support from Canada, the British ambassador, and US leaders who wanted to join the war.
How the BSC Worked
The BSC office was set up for gathering information and spreading propaganda. It was led by William Stephenson, an industrialist from Canada. Its first jobs were to promote British interests in the United States. It also worked to fight Nazi propaganda. And it helped protect the Atlantic convoys from enemy sabotage.
The US State Department officially registered the BSC as a foreign group. It operated from Room 3603 at Rockefeller Center. Its official name was the British Passport Control Office. The BSC served as a main office for the SIS and the Special Operations Executive (SOE). It was also a way for US and British security groups to communicate.
The BSC used many public ways to do its work. In 1940, a German agent named Gerhard Alois Westrick was trying to get support from American oil companies. The BSC exposed him through news articles in the New York Herald Tribune. This caused public anger. Westrick was forced to leave the US. The head of Texaco, Torkild Rieber, also had to resign.
Through other groups, the BSC helped develop the WRUL shortwave radio station. This station was independent and non-profit. It could broadcast in many foreign languages. The BSC then fed it stories they wanted to spread worldwide. The station had many listeners who wrote in. This allowed the BSC to monitor how people reacted to the broadcasts. For a time, the station unknowingly worked for the BSC. After the US entered the war, the WRUL operation was given to US control.
Even though British and American leaders were working together, the arrival of "British spies" in the US angered J. Edgar Hoover. He was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The US Department of State was also not pleased.
Stephenson and Hoover did not always agree. But they did work together on many operations against Nazi Germany's spy activities in the US. The British hired Americans, even though they had promised not to. Americans recruited into the BSC were given British ID numbers. These numbers started with 4 and 8, likely representing the 48 US states.
In 1939, Stephenson arranged for the Hamilton Princess Hotel to become a censorship center. All mail, radio, and telegraph messages going to Europe, the US, and the Far East were stopped. About 1,200 censors, part of British Imperial Censorship and BSC, analyzed them. Then, the messages were sent to their destinations. Working closely with the FBI, these censors found and arrested many Axis spies in the US. This included the Joe K ring.
The BSC also helped Britain get the powerful "Aspidistra" transmitter. This was used for propaganda by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE). It was also used for BBC overseas broadcasts and by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the war against Germany. The BSC also found a transmitter for itself to talk with the UK. This was called "Hydra" and was at Camp X. Camp X was BSC's Special Training School No. 103. It was a secret training place in Whitby, Ontario, for agents learning "secret warfare." The Hydra station was set up in May 1942 by engineer Benjamin deForest Bayly. He also invented a very fast coding/decoding machine called the Rockex. Stephenson had started Camp X in December 1941. It trained Allied agents in secret operations. Many agents trained there were later sent behind enemy lines in Europe by the SOE.
The British writer William Boyd wrote in 2006 that the total number of BSC agents in the US in the early 1940s is unknown. But he guessed there were at least "many hundreds," and some figures suggested up to 3,000.
Noël Coward, a famous entertainer, met Stephenson in July 1940. Stephenson was known as "Little Bill." Coward wrote that Stephenson's office became familiar to him. Stephenson offered Coward a job, but London did not approve it.
Stopping Smuggling and Protecting Ships
South America was an important neutral place for trade with the Axis forces. Its importance grew after the US joined the war in 1941. The Italian airline LATI flew between Rome and Rio de Janeiro. This route was used to smuggle valuable goods like platinum, mica, and diamonds. It also carried agents and diplomatic bags. London told the BSC to stop this.
The airline had connections with the Brazilian government. The Brazilian President's son-in-law was involved. Also, Standard Oil in the US supplied the airline, despite US State Department protests. This made official efforts useless. To stop LATI's activities, the BSC decided that Brazilians themselves had to take action. Sabotage would only be a short-term fix.
So, the BSC created a fake letter. It was so perfect that it looked real even under close study. The letter seemed to be from LATI's main office to an executive in Brazil. It contained insults about the Brazilian president and the US. It also hinted at links with a fascist political party in Brazil. After a fake "burglary" at the executive's house, a copy of the letter was given to an American reporter. The reporter immediately took it to the American Embassy. They then showed the letter to the President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas. LATI's operations in Brazil were taken over, and its staff were held. The airline stopped transatlantic flights in December 1941. Brazil then broke ties with the Axis and joined the Allies in 1942.
People Who Worked for the BSC
Many interesting people worked for the BSC:
- Roald Dahl – a famous writer, worked as an Assistant Air Attaché in Washington, D.C.
- Dick Ellis – the deputy head.
- Ian Fleming – the writer who created the James Bond character.
- David Ogilvy – later became a well-known advertising expert.
- Betty Thorpe – a spy known by the code name "Cynthia."
See also
- Camp X
- British Information Services, which was a public propaganda group
