A History of U.S. Communications Intelligence during World War II: Policy and Administration

Chapter 5. British-U.S. Navy COMINT Agreements of 1943–44

From the U.S. point of view, this is a far less complicated subject than that of the preceding chapter. For that reason the account is very brief.

There were three main reasons why the U.S. Navy's cooperation with the British was smoother and more orderly than that experienced by the Army. First the naval COMINT organization was such that policy matters could be exhaustively addressed by OP-20-G or OP-20. This was especially so after the downgrading of ONI in the summer of 1942. Second, effective cooperation predated the war, especially in the Far East, and a very thorough and far-reaching agreement was made in late 1942 - the Holden Agreement. In fact, it would not be far from the mark ...