'Phosphorescent Foxes, Incendiary Bats'

Donovan was an irrespressible optimist, mobile and active, who 'offered a sympathetic ear to every eccentric schemer with a hair brained plan for secret operations (from phosphorescent foxes to-incendiary bats'). Informality was fostered by Donovan, who refused to be bothered with organisational detail. Administrative officers 'wouId walk into Donovan's office with dozens of charts, charts for the budget, charts for the administration, charts for the various divisions .... Donovan would glance at them, smile at them, approve them with a mild wave of the hand and then he would have another idea, and he would forget them completely.' Insubordination became a way of life for OSS officers who realised that their superiors avoided disciplinary actions even in cases of incompetence or corruption. When Donovan finally decided to court-martial-two overseas officers, aides protested that court-martial proceedings against any officer for any reason would be damaging to the secrecy and morale of the organisation.

Some disgruntled OSS officers saw the composition of the organisation as a mistake. One officer charged that 'OSS top men are nearly all picked from the Red baiters.' Donovan, he said, 'had succeeded in collecting one of the fanciest groups of dilettante diplomats. Wall Street bankers and amateur detectives ever seen in Washington.' Another officer, who served behind the lines in Italy, was equally bitter. He railed at the 'rotund, happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care young Republican businessmen who sported themselves in the OSS enjoying the thought of sending packages or arms, money, food etc. by parachute, but who didn't really care if they got there during this or the next moon, while all the time poor devils in the mountains slaved at budding fires in the snow, waiting, hoping, night after night. . ."