Before the CIA, there was the Pond

[Valin]

AP:

RANDY HERSCHAFT and CRISTIAN SALAZAR (AP)
7/29/10

NEW YORK — The world can get a look at the long-hidden roots of American espionage now that tens of thousands of once-secret documents found in locked safes in 2001 in rural Virginia have become public.

The documents at the National Archives in College Park, Md., give the most detailed view yet into the exploits of an agency known as the Pond.

(Snip)

The organization was created during World War II lasted 13 years. It was led by the pugnacious John Grombach from New York City and its sources included Nazi officials, Stalinists and a French serial killer.

LA Times: Archives uncloak the Pond, secret US intelligence group predating the CIA