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Frank Gardiner Wisner (June 23, 1909 – October 29, 1965) was one of the founding officers of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and played a major role in CIA operations throughout the 1950s.
Wisner began his intelligence career in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. After the war, he headed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), one of the OSS successor organizations, from 1948 to 1950. In 1950, the OPC was placed under the Central Intelligence Agency and renamed the Directorate of Plans. First headed by Allen Dulles, Wisner succeeded Dulles in 1951 when Dulles was named Director of Central Intelligence.
Wisner remained as Deputy Director of Plans (DDP) until September 1958, playing an important role in the early history of the CIA. He suffered a breakdown in 1958, and retired from the Agency in 1962. He committed suicide in 1965.
Wisner arrived just as Romania joined the Allies and declared war on the Axis. His first task was to oversee the return of over 1,000 American airmen who had been shot down in missions against Romanian oilfields. The POWs were returned by the Fifteenth Air Force via the Popești-Leordeni Airfield during Operation Reunion. Over 50 B-17 Flying Fortress airplanes flew out the prisoners between August 31 and September 3. In all, some 1,127 American POWs were transported.Patricia Louise Wadley, "Even One Is Too Many" , Ph.D. thesis, Texas Christian University, 1993
Immediately after the arrival of Major Robert Bishop (September 9, 1944) as head of X-2 (Counter Espionage) branch in Bucharest, Wisner started the search for German records. With the help of Romanian Intelligence, they managed to obtain tons of records, including SD files, 200 rolls of German film and a large amount of Soviet information. During that time, Wisner and Bishop discovered and penetrated a Soviet intelligence service named GUGBEZ. Wisner left Bucharest in the last week of January 1945.CIA FOIA ERR, “Report on X-2 Activities in Bucharest, 25 April 1945”
In March 1945, Wisner was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany. In 1945–1946, he returned to law practice at Carter, Ledyard & Milburn.
During World War II, Wisner and his wife Polly became close friends with Philip Graham and his wife Katharine Graham who after the war became publishers of The Washington Post.
According to its secret charter, the OPC's responsibilities include "propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, guerrillas and refugee liberation groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world."
During the early 1950s, Wisner was the subject of FBI inquiries in connection with his wartime work in Romania, including the claim that he had an affair with Tanda Caradja, daughter of Romanian princess Catherine Caradja during the war; Caradja was alleged in FBI reports to be a Soviet Union agent. However, Wisner was cleared of all suspicions by the CIA Office of Security.
On August 23, 1951, Wisner succeeded Allen W. Dulles and became the second Deputy Director of Plans, with Richard Helms as his chief of operations. In this position, he was instrumental in supporting pro-American forces that toppled Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in Guatemala in 1954.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Operation PBSUCCESS: The United States and Guatemala, 1952–1954, CIA History Staff document by Nicholas Cullather, 1994. Excerpt Another project he was involved in was with regard to the Belarus Brigade's leaders, a unit incorporated into a German Waffen-SS, who were assisted into the United States after World War II, due largely to his efforts. In defiance of federal law, John Loftus asserted, the Office of Policy Coordination helped obtain Travel visa for Nazi collaborators from Belarus — who were believed to have facilitated numerous atrocities by Nazi Germany. According to Loftus, it was all part of a Cold War scheme to wage guerrilla warfare in Soviet-occupied Europe, in which the Nazi collaborators were to play a key role. When the project collapsed, however, the Belarusians quickly settled in and obtained US citizenship – and intelligence agencies protected them from exposure for decades.Richard Rashke: Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America's Open-Door Policy For Nazi War Criminals (Delphinium Books, 2013) Google Books
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy succeeded in forcing CIA director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter to dismiss long-time staffer Carmel Offie in 1950 for homosexuality, over Wisner's objections. (2025). 9780385540452, Doubleday. ISBN 9780385540452
Wisner worked closely with Kim Philby, the United Kingdom agent who was also a Soviet spy.
Wisner was also deeply involved in establishing the Lockheed U-2 spy plane program run by Richard M. Bissell Jr.
Wisner suffered a serious breakdown in September 1958. He was diagnosed as manic depressive and received electroshock therapy. Bissell replaced Wisner as Deputy Director of Plans. After a lengthy recovery, Wisner became chief of the CIA's London Station.
In 1961, Wisner was ordered to organize CIA activities in British Guiana.
In 1962, Wisner retired from the CIA.
(2025). 9780807856390, University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807856390
Personal life and death
Wisner married Mary Ellis 'Polly' Knowles (1912–2002) and they had four children: Elizabeth Wisner, Graham Wisner, Ellis Wisner, and Frank G. Wisner who entered into diplomatic service. Wisner died on October 29, 1965, by suicide.
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Categories: 1909 Births, 1965 Suicides, 1965 Deaths, United States Navy Personnel Of World War Ii, American Anti-communist Propagandists, American Military Personnel Who Died By Suicide, American People Of German Descent, American Spies, Burials At Arlington National Cemetery, Central Intelligence Agency Founding Member, People From Laurel, Mississippi, People Of The Office Of Strategic Services, People With Bipolar Disorder, University Of Virginia School Of Law Alumni, Suicides By Firearm In Maryland
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