US declassifies 35,000 pages of WWII spy files

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Formerly classified files on famous US ex-spies such as chef Julia Child, Arab-Israeli peace negotiator Ralph Bunche, and Hollywood actor Sterling Hayden were unveiled to the public Thursday by the National Archives.

The 35,000 documents are part of a massive archive, much of which has been previously released, on the first-ever US wartime intelligence unit known as the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

The OSS was the precursor to the Central Intelligence agency (CIA), and its clandestine network sprung up in the 1940s, mainly in Europe and North Africa.

The entire collection of 750,000 pages includes "initial applications to join the OSS; preliminary training and subsequent work assignments; pay, leave and travel documents;...