William Casey, former director of the CIA, gives an autobiographical account of his
WWII service with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, which later evolved into the CIA) and the
role such early intelligence organizations played in the defeat of Hitler. Casey recounts how the
Allies gathered critical intelligence, thwarted Germany's atomic bomb development, and convinced
German intelligence that the Normandy D-Day landings were to be a diversionary move while the
main landing was to take place in Calais.

Casey wrote this book because, as he says, "I believe that it is important today to understand how
clandestine intelligence, covert action, and organized resistance saved blood and treasure in defeating
Hitler. These capabilities may be more important than missiles and satellites in meeting crises yet to
come, and point to the potential for dissident action against the control centers and lines of
communication of a totalitarian power."