Foy, David A. Superspy

Hans Tofte, Intelligence Officer for SOE, OSS, and CIA

When World War II broke out, Danish citizen Hans Tofte abandoned his promising career in the shipping industry to assist his own country and then several other nations in their time of need. He went undercover as a secret agent for the British SOE, supported Chinese guerrilla fighters of the China Commando Group in their fight against the Japanese, then worked as an instructor and later as an operations officer for the OSS, participated in paramilitary operations in support of the Yugoslav partisans, investigated the credible threat posed by submarines which were supposed to fire V1 rockets at New York City, and trained foreign agents who parachuted into Germany towards the end of the war. After the war, he joined the CIA, where he was involved in paramilitary and psychological warfare operations during the Korean War, including conducting an escape and evasion (E&E) operation to rescue downed Allied pilots and creatively and effectively thwarting a Chinese supply operation, saving the US government $1 million. During the Cold War, he was involved in various disinformation campaigns, morale operations and regime change efforts to hinder the Soviet Union and its allies. The end came quite innocently in 1966, Tofte simply wanted to rent out the basement apartment in his house in the most fashionable neighbourhood of Washington, D.C. But in the end, his successful career in the secret service came to an abrupt end, a national agency that was already under close scrutiny became embroiled in controversy, and the American public was able to read all about it during the court proceedings. Tofte was an imperfect but successful role model, a little-known but significant figure in the history of 20th-century military and civilian intelligence, whose fact-filled and nuanced story deserves to be told and honoured. This first English-language biography highlights his courageous, creative and extensive contributions to the development of the intelligence services.