Author: Lou Beyer

Explore the history of NIS/ONI – over 150 documents acquired from the National Archives have been uploaded this month.  Here’s some of the gems:

 

• A brief on the confession of H. T. Thompson, the first American convicted of espionage in peacetime who began spying for Japan in 1934.
• The coded messages containing U.S. fleet locations sent to Japan by the Pearl Harbor spy Otto Kuehn, who was convicted and sentenced to death by a military commission.
• Reporting on Nazi saboteurs who landed on Long Island, Florida and Canada.  Go to the World War II page and scroll down to “German Saboteur Landings” for more reporting from ONI, FBI and Coast Guard.
• Visit https://ncisahistory.org – Your Gateway to an Amazing Past.

This site is devoted to preserving the accomplishments and history of NCIS, NIS and ONI.   Although build out continues, the site already contains over 800 items including:

• 500 documents, many formerly classified, such as:
  • 100+ ONI/NIS/NCIS Bulletins dating back to 1957
  • CI/intelligence manuals such as: the Duties of Naval Attaches (1919); Notes on Espionage, Counter-espionage and Passport Control (1935); and the Naval Intelligence Manual (1949).
  • Extensive reporting on Japanese espionage activities and ONI counteractions during WWII
  • Photos and personal accounts of NIS personnel serving in Vietnam
  • Charter documents such as General Order 292 which created the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1882; President Roosevelt’s 1939 letter which gave jurisdiction for espionage cases to FBI, ONI and Army Intelligence; SECNAV James Forrestal’s 1945 letter which expanded ONI’s investigative mission; and SECDEF McNamara’s letter which directed creation of a naval investigative service
  • 300+ photos including 40+ official leadership photos.