# William Donovan > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "William Donovan," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/william-donovan/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, Medal of Honor recipient, decorated World War I veteran, Wall Street figure, and founder of the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Per John Kiriakou, Donovan had President Truman's ear and insisted the new agency be independent rather than a division of the FBI; he was among the men who sat down with visiting MI6 officers in New York in 1946–47 and sketched out a centralized intelligence service on pads of paper, and he became, in Kiriakou's telling, the first director of the CIA, over the sustained opposition of J. Edgar Hoover.* - **Nickname:** Wild Bill - **Founded:** Office of Strategic Services (OSS) - **Honors:** Medal of Honor; World War I veteran - **Role in the CIA's creation:** Insisted to Truman that the agency be independent of the [FBI](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fbi) - **Adversary:** [J. Edgar Hoover](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/j-edgar-hoover), who "famously hated" him **General William "Wild Bill" Donovan** was a Medal of Honor recipient, decorated World War I veteran, Wall Street figure, and founder of the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)'s institutional predecessor. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) discussed him during his tour of [Arlington National Cemetery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arlington-cemetery-spies).[1] ## Pads of paper in New York In Kiriakou's account of the agency's origins, the United States was still scrambling through 1946 and early 1947 when a group of British [MI6](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mi6) officers came to New York. They were met by Donovan, Prescott Bush and a handful of other figures from Wall Street and the OSS days, and with pads of paper the group worked out the shape of a centralized intelligence service, the CIA.[2][3] ## Hoover's opposition The obstacle was [J. Edgar Hoover](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/j-edgar-hoover), FBI director since the Coolidge administration, who was adamantly opposed to the creation of the CIA and who, in Kiriakou's phrase, *famously hated* Donovan. Hoover's position was that the country did not need a CIA, that the FBI could do everything and was already doing it, and he was actively lobbying for no votes on Capitol Hill that would have defeated the [National Security Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/national-security-act) of 1947.[4][5][6] When Congress first took up the bill, Hoover simply assumed the new agency would sit inside the FBI. Donovan, who had Truman's ear, insisted to the President that it be an independent standalone agency.[7] Truman called Hoover into the Oval Office, told him to stop lobbying members of Congress, and struck a bargain: Hoover would endorse the National Security Act, and in exchange the CIA would be a division of the FBI, leaving Hoover head of both. It was a lie, and there had never been any intention of honoring it. Hoover lifted his objection, the bill passed, the President signed it, and Hoover realized he had been duped, and never forgave Truman for it.[8][9][10] He then tried to talk the President into first not signing the bill and, later, into disbanding the CIA in the next national security authorization act. It did not work.[7] Donovan became, in Kiriakou's telling, the first director of the CIA.[10][11] ## The rivalry that followed The institutional consequence outlasted both men. Kiriakou dates the competition between the CIA and the FBI to the moment of Donovan's appointment, worsening through the 1950s with the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran and the interventions in Latin America, through Vietnam in the 1960s and onward.[12] In the same year the agency was created, Hoover ordered the FBI to refuse any and all cooperation with it; the two spoke only when they truly had to. In all his years at the CIA, Kiriakou says, he never once went to the FBI, he had more dealings with the Egyptian intelligence service than with the Bureau.[10][13] ## See also - [Spies of Arlington National Cemetery](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arlington-cemetery-spies) - [J. Edgar Hoover](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/j-edgar-hoover) - [National Security Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/national-security-act) - [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) ## Sources 1. Former CIA, John Kiriakou, finds the Spies Buried in Arlington (2026-05-06), at 02:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajGvcmcdVJ4&t=120s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-06-walk-with-history-spies-arlington-cemetery/ 2. John Kiriakou Unleashed: The Real CIA History, Sexpionage, Black Ops & More (2026-05-08), at 17:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZPb1UuC7k&t=1051s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-08-jay-dyer-real-cia-history/ 3. John Kiriakou: THEY Really Did THIS — Jay Dyer Show (2026-04-29), at 18:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqx0uSr1yYk&t=1104s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-29-jay-dyer-they-really-did-this/ 4. Spelunking the Deep State with John Kiriakou (2023-01-07), at 19:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rssa2d2830c&t=1169s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-01-07-macro-n-cheese-spelunking-the-deep-state-with-john-kiriakou/ 5. Spelunking the Deep State with John Kiriakou (2023-01-07), at 19:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rssa2d2830c&t=1199s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-01-07-macro-n-cheese-spelunking-the-deep-state-with-john-kiriakou/ 6. Spelunking the Deep State with John Kiriakou (2023-01-11), at 19:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is0yrElNSFA&t=1165s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-01-11-real-progressives/ 7. John Kiriakou CIA Whistle-Blower Part 2 (2016-04-26), at 41:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOLKpvbVzh4&t=2497s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-04-26-fort-collins-community-action-network-john-kiriakou-cia-whistle-blower-part-2/ 8. Spelunking the Deep State with John Kiriakou (2023-01-07), at 20:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rssa2d2830c&t=1231s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-01-07-macro-n-cheese-spelunking-the-deep-state-with-john-kiriakou/ 9. John Kiriakou Unleashed: The Real CIA History, Sexpionage, Black Ops & More (2026-05-08), at 17:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZPb1UuC7k&t=1020s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-08-jay-dyer-real-cia-history/ 10. Ex-CIA Whistleblower Reveals: How Australia Gets Classifie (2025-04-12), at 46:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxbw5cWqL9c&t=2787s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-12-the-clear-signal-with-stev/ 11. Around The Empire (2017-02-13), at 12:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xUklyNdFdA&t=725s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-02-13-around-the-empire-around-the-empire/ 12. Around The Empire (2017-02-13), at 12:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xUklyNdFdA&t=756s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-02-13-around-the-empire-around-the-empire/ 13. Ex-CIA Whistleblower Reveals: How Australia Gets Classifie (2025-04-12), at 47:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxbw5cWqL9c&t=2822s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-12-the-clear-signal-with-stev/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/william-donovan/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt