The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was an intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning.
The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments, it is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the United States, and remains the country's leading facility for astronomical and timing data.
The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is a ceremonial and administrative center for the United States Navy, located in Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy, situated along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Southeast D.C.
Capitol Hill is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both Northeast D.C. and Southeast D.C.. Dominated by the United States Capitol, which sits on the highest point of Capitol Hill, it is one of the oldest historic districts in Washington. Home to around 35,000 people in just under 2 square miles (5 km2), Capitol Hill is also one of the most densely populated neighborhoods. The name "Capitol Hill" is frequently used as a metonym for the U.S. Congress.
The Peace Monument, also known as the Navy Monument, Naval Monument or Navy-Peace Monument, stands on the western edge of the United States Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. It is in the middle of Peace Circle, where First Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW intersect. The surrounding area is Union Square, which the monument shares with the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, James A. Garfield Monument, and the Capitol Reflecting Pool. The front of the monument faces west towards the National Mall while the east side faces the United States Capitol.
Edward Kunhardt Hidalgo was a Mexican-born American lawyer who served as United States Secretary of the Navy from 1979 to 1981. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter, he was the first Hispanic American to serve as Secretary of the Navy and promoted the recruitment of Hispanics for high command.
The superintendent of the United States Naval Academy is its commanding officer. The position is a statutory office, and is roughly equivalent to the chancellor or president of an American civilian university. The officer appointed is, by tradition, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. However, this is not an official requirement for the position. To date, all superintendents have been naval officers. No Marine Corps officer has yet served as superintendent.
CINCPAC Fleet Headquarters, also known as Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet Headquarters or COMPACFLT Headquarters, is a historic military building on Makalapa Drive in Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, on the island of Oahu in the US state of Hawaii. Built during World War II in 1942, it served as the headquarters of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz from 1942 through 1945, while he was Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet and Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, during World War II. Commanding land, sea, and air forces, Admiral Nimitz had major responsibility for campaigns such as the Battle of Midway, the liberation of Guam, and the seizure of Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas. It was designated a National Historic Landmark for this role in 1987.
The Old Naval Observatory is a historic site at 23rd and E Street in Northwest, Washington, D.C. It is where the United States Naval Observatory was located from 1844 to 1893, when it moved to its present grounds. The original observatory building, built 1839-40, still stands, and is a designated National Historic Landmark. The Washington meridian of 1850 passes through the Observatory. The property for many years housed the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, which moved out in 2012. The property has been taken over by the State Department.
Building 170 is a former electrical substation located by the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is situated on the northwest corner of 3rd and Tingey Streets, Southeast, three blocks from the historic Washington Navy Yard. The industrial, two-story building was recently renovated and currently owned by the United States Department of Transportation. It is a contributing property to the Washington Navy Yard Annex Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), William Donovan, created the X-2 Counter Espionage Branch in 1943 to provide liaison with and assist the British in its exploitation of the Ultra program's intelligence during World War II. A few months before, Donovan had established a Counterintelligence Division within the Secret Intelligence Branch of the OSS but rescinded this order upon development of the X-2. The X-2 was led by James Murphy, whose branch would have the power to veto operations of the Special Operations and Secret Intelligence Branches without explanation. Donovan modeled the Counter Espionage Branch on British Counter Espionage. With the creation of the X-2 Branch, the British insisted that it follow British security procedures to maintain the secrecy of Ultra. The X-2 established separate lines of communication for itself as a self-contained unit. By the end of World War II, the X-2 had discovered around 3,000 Axis agents.
Eastern High School is a public high school in Washington, D.C. The school is located on the eastern edge of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, at the intersection of 17th Street and East Capital Street Northeast. Eastern was a part of the District of Columbia Public Schools restructuring project, reopening in 2011 to incoming first-year students and growing by a grade level each year. It graduated its first class in 2015. In addition, Eastern was designated an International Baccalaureate school in 2013 and awarded its first IB diploma in 2015. As of the 2022–2023 school year, it educates 766 students in grades 9 through 12.
The U.S. Fleet Cyber Command is an operating force of the United States Navy responsible for the Navy's information network operations, offensive and defensive cyber operations, space operations and signals intelligence. It was created in January 2010 "to deter and defeat aggression and to ensure freedom of action to achieve military objectives in and through cyberspace". U.S. Tenth Fleet was simultaneously reactivated as its force provider. Since it was founded, the command has grown into an operational force composed of more than 16,000 active and reserve sailors and civilians organized into 27 active commands, 40 Cyber Mission Force units, and 27 reserve commands around the world.
Rawlins Park is a rectangular public park in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., two blocks west of the White House grounds and two blocks north of the National Mall. The boundaries of the park are 18th Street NW to the east, E Street NW to the south and north, and 19th Street NW to the west. The park was an undeveloped open space for many years, until plans were made to install the statue of John Aaron Rawlins in 1874. Various improvements were made, but the area surrounding the park remained mostly undeveloped. This changed in the 1890s when the area was cleared of marshes, and houses were built on the park's southern border.
The Research and Analysis Branch(R&A) was a branch of the Office of Strategic Services. (OSS) Established in the OCOI with the appointment of James Phinney Baxter III as the first Director of Research and Analysis, July 31, 1941, the branch became operational within the Office of the Coordinator of Information on August 27, 1941. With OSS General Order 1 on October 17, 1942, R&A was absorbed into the new structure of the OSS. On January 4, 1943, with the restructuring of the OSS in OSS General Order 9, R&A was placed under the leadership of the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Service.
The Butler Building was a mansion in Washington, D.C., constructed by Benjamin Franklin Butler. It served as the headquarters of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service and its successor, the Public Health Service, from 1891 until 1929. It also contained a purpose-built fireproof unit to store archives of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. It was demolished in 1929 to construct the Longworth House Office Building.
The U.S. government constructed a number of temporary buildings on the National Mall during World War I and II which stood from 1918 until 1971. They were built due to the urgent need for office space during wartime, but they remained in use during peacetime even though they disrupted the intended layout of the mall according to the McMillan Plan for over half a century.
The Maritime Unit (MU) was a branch of the Office of Strategic Services that enabled maritime warfare for the allies during WWII. MU's mission was to "infiltrate agents and supply resistance groups by sea, conduct maritime sabotage, and to develop specialized maritime surface and subsurface equipment and devices." MU developed specialized boats, equipment, and explosives, fashioned underwater breathing gear, waterproof watches and compasses, an inflatable motorized surfboard, and "a two-man kayak that proved so promising that 275 were ordered by the British."
Formerly known as the Veterans of the OSS, the OSS Society is the association of veterans of the Office of Strategic Services, dedicated to preserving the legacy of the famed intelligence agency.
The Special Operations Branch (SO) was a branch of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II that "pioneered" many of the unconventional warfare, counter-insurgency (COIN), and foreign internal defense tactics and techniques used by today's US Military Special Operations Forces (SOF). Special Operations was the American equivalent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) of the United Kingdom.
