# Office of Technical Service

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{{Short description|CIA organization}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}}
__NOTOC__
The '''Office of Technical Service''' ('''OTS'''; formerly known as the ''Technical Services Division'' (TSD) and ''Technical Services Staff'' (TSS)) is a component of the U.S. [Central Intelligence Agency](/source/Central_Intelligence_Agency),<ref>Central Intelligence Agency press release, [https://web.archive.org/web/20111020031419/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-2011/ots-celebrates-60-yrs.html CIA's Office of Technical Service Celebrates 60 Years of Innovation], September 16, 2011</ref> responsible for supporting CIA's [clandestine operations](/source/Directorate_of_Operations_(CIA)) with [gadgets](/source/gadgets), [disguise](/source/disguise)s, [forgeries](/source/forgery), [secret writings](/source/Steganography), and [weapons](/source/weapons).  The OTS traces its history to October 1942, when [OSS](/source/Office_of_Strategic_Services) director [William J. Donovan](/source/William_J._Donovan) created the OSS Research and Development Branch, a technical group tasked with creating "dirty tricks and deadly weapons" to combat the US's [World War II](/source/World_War_II) enemies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fischer |first1=Benjamin |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001225702.pdf |title=Fifty Years of Supporting Operations: A History of CIA's Office of Technical Service (1951-2001) |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506054408/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001225702.pdf |archivedate=2023-05-06 |accessdate=2023-05-08 }}
</ref>  Donovan named [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University)-trained chemist and executive Stanley Platt Lovell as the branch's first head, a man whom the CIA remembers as the "[founding father](/source/founding_father)" of the OTS.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fischer |first1=Benjamin |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001225702.pdf |title=Fifty Years of Supporting Operations: A History of CIA's Office of Technical Service (1951-2001) |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506054408/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001225702.pdf |archivedate=2023-05-06 |accessdate=2023-05-08 }}
</ref> In the 1950s and early 1960s, it also [research](/source/research)ed, investigated, and [experiment](/source/experiment)ed with the use of [drugs](/source/psychoactive_drug), [chemicals](/source/chemicals), [hypnosis](/source/hypnosis), and [isolation](/source/solitary_confinement) to extract information during interrogation, as well as to make it easier for American captives to resist interrogation. OTS is part of the CIA's [Directorate of Science and Technology](/source/Central_Intelligence_Agency_Directorate_of_Science_%26_Technology).

Many film makers have been inspired by OTS, although the information around it is kept highly secret, with only dated projects being revealed and much of it left up to interpretation.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

==See also==
* [Canadian Caper](/source/Canadian_Caper)
** [Tony Mendez](/source/Tony_Mendez)
* [CIA cryptonym](/source/CIA_cryptonym)
* [Project MKULTRA](/source/Project_MKULTRA)
** [Sidney Gottlieb](/source/Sidney_Gottlieb)
* [United States biological weapons program](/source/United_States_biological_weapons_program)
** [Frank Olson](/source/Frank_Olson)
* [Jonna Mendez](/source/Jonna_Mendez)
* [Allen Dulles](/source/Allen_Dulles)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | first1 = Robert | last1 = Wallace | first2 = H. Keith | last2 = Melton | author-link2 = H. Keith Melton | first3 = Henry R. | last3 = Schlesinger | title = Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to al-Qaeda | location = New York | publisher = [Dutton](/source/Dutton_Penguin) | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-525-94980-0 | oclc = 182552888 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/spycraftsecrethi00wall_0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first1=Benjamin |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001225702.pdf |title=Fifty Years of Supporting Operations: A History of CIA's Office of Technical Service (1951-2001) |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506054408/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001225702.pdf |archivedate=2023-05-06 |accessdate=2023-05-08 }}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090903201552/http://www.democracynow.org/2007/6/27/with_release_of_family_jewels_cia With Release of “Family Jewels,” CIA Acknowledges Years of Assassination Plots, Coerced Drug Tests and Domestic Spying]

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Category:Central Intelligence Agency

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Office of Technical Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technical_Service) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technical_Service?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.