Historian and former CIA officer Nicholas Reynolds,the New York Times bestselling author of WriterSailorSoldierSpyuncovers the definitive history of American intelligence during World War IIilluminating its key role in securing victory. The entire vast modern American intelligence system–the amalgam of three-letter spy services of many stripes–can be traced back to the dire straits that Britain faced at the end of June 1940. Before World War IIthe US had no organization to recruit spies and steal secrets or launch secret campaigns against enemies overseas. It was only through Winston Churchill’s determination to mobilize the US to help in their fight against Hitler that the first American spy service was bornone that was built by scratch in the background of WWII. In Need to Knowformer CIA analyst and trained historian Nicholas Reynolds explores the birthinfancyand adolescence of modern American intelligence. In this first definitive accountReynolds combines little-known history and gripping spy stories to analyze the American codebreakers’ and spies’ origins and contributions to Allied victoryrevealing how they laid the foundation for the Cold War–and all other conflicts to come.