Podcast Episode #162 - The Foundations of American Intelligence with Dr. Mark Stout

Podcast Episode #162 - The Foundations of American Intelligence with Dr. Mark Stout

Civilian employees of the YMCA formed a private intelligence bureau to perform counterespionage functions during World War I.

The first Young Men’s Christian Association formed in London in 1844, and the first American chapter opened seven years later. The YMCA’s initial goals were to provide for the physical and spiritual welfare of young men who were otherwise at risk due to unemployment, homelessness, addiction, and other problems of the era. The organization grew rapidly over the coming decades, and when war began in Europe in 1914, the YMCA was prepared to serve and assist troops on the ground to keep up their health and morale.

More than 26,000 paid YMCA workers and 35,000 volunteers worked with the nearly 5,000,000 troops on duty in France, and the United States. They distributed food, clothing, medical supplies, and postage stamps, and helped care for prisoners of war as well. One of the most visible aspects of their support was the more than 4,000 huts or tents set up to provide a respite where men could gather off duty and play board games or write letters home.

Because the YMCA had at least one civilian employee in virtually every Army camp, and because young service members often sought them out for personal advice, the US Army’s Military Intelligence Division asked the YMCA to form an Intelligence Bureau in late 1917. The YMCA personnel were soon reporting any suspicious incidents or concerns to their MID liaison. Shortly thereafter, the Navy’s Office of Naval Intelligence recruited YMCA members to report on activities in ports and naval districts as well. This relationship ended with the cessation of hostilities in November 1918. It’s not clear how effective it was at counterespionage work.

For episode 162 of the Spycraft 101 podcast I spoke with Mark Stout, author of World War One and the Foundations of American Intelligence. We discussed the formative events and influential leaders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries which helped define the American intelligence community for decades to come.