Wisner remained as Deputy Director of Plans (DDP) until September 1958, playing an important role in the early history of the CIA.
[2] After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1934,[3] Wisner began working as a Wall Street lawyer for Carter, Ledyard & Milburn.
After Cairo (from June 15, 1944) he spent three months in OSS Istanbul, Turkey, as head of SI (Secret Intelligence) branch.
[9][10] Immediately after the arrival of Major Robert Bishop (September 9, 1944) as head of X-2 (Counter Espionage) branch in Bucharest, Wisner started the search for German records.
With the help of Romanian Intelligence, they manage to obtain tons of records, including SD files, 200 rolls of German film and a large amount of Soviet information.
On June 18, 1948, the United States National Security Council approved NSC 10/2 which created the Office of Special Projects.
[17] On August 23, 1951, Wisner succeeded Allen W. Dulles and became the second Deputy Director of Plans, with Richard Helms as his chief of operations.
In this position, he was instrumental in supporting pro-American forces that toppled Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran in 1953[citation needed] and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in Guatemala in 1954.
According to Loftus, it was all part of a Cold War scheme to wage guerrilla warfare in Soviet-occupied Europe, in which the Nazi collaborators were to play a key role.
When the project collapsed, however, the Belarusians quickly settled in and obtained US citizenship – and intelligence agencies protected them from exposure for decades.
Senator Joseph McCarthy succeeded in forcing CIA director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter to dismiss long-time staffer Carmel Offie in 1950 for homosexuality, over Wisner's objections.