[1] In October 1941, while still at the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), William Donovan assigned David K. E. Bruce to head up a newly established unit called Special Activities/Bruce (SA/B).

[2][3] Another unit called Special Activities/Goodfellow (SA/G) would be led by Millard Preston Goodfellow.

[4][2] In June 1942, the COI was restructured into the newly established Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

[2] SA/G became the Special Operations Branch (SO), with the staff being divided between Goodfellow and Lieutenant Colonel Ellery C. Huntington, Jr.[2] Bruce was succeeded in 1943 by the business executive and international relations expert, Whitney Shepardson.

With the post-war abolition of the OSS, in October 1945, the Secret Intelligence branch became part of the Strategic Services Unit of the Department of War.