Robert Lansing to Woodrow Wilson

MOST CONFIDENTIAL:T

My dear Mr. President
There is one matter of very great importance which it seems to me ought to be decided at once, and that is the coordination of the sercret service work of this GOovernment, of which the secret service office of the Department of State has been for eight or nine months the “Clearing house” or at least the depository of information gathered from various sources.

There are two general divisions of the work, the foreign and the domestic. The foreign division naturally is under this Department, the information coming from special agents employed by the Department in this country and abroad, from our diplomatic and consular officers, from the Bureau of Naval Intelligence and from friendly foreign governments. The domestic division obtains its information chiefly from the sSecret Service of the Treasury, from the special agents of the Department of Justice and of the Post Office Department, and from the detective forces of several of our cities. Of course the domestic division obtains much information which is most useful to the foreign division, and vice versa.
Manifestly it is important that in some way these two general divisions and the various groups of secret agents should work in complete harmony otherwise there will be duplication of work and frequent “crossing of wires”. This will be even more evident if the plans of increasing the channels of information, which I have in mind, are carried out.
It seemed advisable to me to jhave these various activities under the general control of one efficient man, and with that idea in view I spoke to Secretary McAdoo on the subject. He advocated strongly the appointment of Chief Flynn of the Secret Service. I did not have time to go into the matter with him, but I felt at once that this selection would be most embarassing for two principal reasons; first, Chief Flynn cannot possess the requisite knowledge of foreign affairs to direct work in that field; and, second, there is unfortunately extreme jealousy between the secret agents of Justice and those of the Treasury. They both seem willing to report to the State Department but not to each other. There is another reason which seems to me sufficient in itself to preclude Flynn's selection, and that it would make the Treasury the head office of this work, which ought to be under the Department of State.
On the other hand, Bielaski, head of special agents of Justice would not do at all because he would lack the knowledge of international affairs and would be entirely unacceptable to Flynn and his men.
I am not courting additional responsibilities but I do feel that the central office of secret information of all sorts should be in the State Department because this is a time when the safety of the state is threatened from without, and because the head of the service must confer constantly with the Embassies of the Allied powers and with the missions of certain Latin-American countries, and because it is only by a thoroughly experienced and trustworthy man who is expert in international matters and to whom the Department archives are open, that the information gathered can be properly valued. I believe that on the nucleus already formed in this Department a very efficient organization can be built up.
The chief difficulty lies in harmonizing the domestic work. I do not think that it can be done if either the chief of the Treasury of the Department of Justice is given control. It will result in friction and jealousy. My suggestion is to select a man entirely outside the service and let all of the present secret service branches act under him through their respective chiefs. Moreover, he should be selected and employed by neither the Department of Justice nor the Treasury, for otherwise the same feeling of envy will exist.
You will understand of course that I am in no way criticizing the ability of the chiefs of the two secret service offices, both of whom are men of experience, efficiency, and energy, possessing rare talents. That is not my purpose. I am only seeking a way to get the best results and to bring into accord under one head the entire work of collecting information and making investigations.
This is the problem to be solved and it ought to be solved at once. I would not trouble you with it except for the fact that I fear the Departments interested cannot be brought into agreement otherwise.
My letter is of course for your eyes alone but I will be glad to discuss the subject with others if you think that is the advisable way.

Faithfully yours,
Robert Lansing