Introduction
Arguably the most publicized “counterintelligence coup” of World War I occurred in mid-August 1915, when the contents of German Commercial Attaché Heinrich F. Albert’s stolen briefcase found their way into the editing rooms of the
New Work World. A sensational exposé of German intrigue in the neutral United States ran August 15–18, supplanting news of a devastating hurricane in Texas. Banner headlines blared,
“HOW GERMANY HAS WORKED IN U.S. TO SHAPE OPINION, BLOCK THE ALLIES AND GET MUNITIONS FOR HERSELF, TOLD IN SECRET AGENTS’ LETTERS”; “NO DENIAL OF WORLD EXPOSURES BY AGENTS OF GERMANY”; and “NATION-WIDE SENSATION OVER SECRET ACTIVITY OF GERMANY.”
Years later the former US Secret Service (USSS) Chief William J. Flynn and his former boss, Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo, credited Secret Service agent Frank Burke with the daring feat, billed as the most successful US counter-intelligence operation of the Great War. Upon thorough scrutiny of available archival documentation, the story
of Albert’s briefcase theft was not a “counterintelligence” coup after all, at least not one to be credited to US intelligence organizations. It rather appears to have been one of the most
successful, long-lasting, and elaborate cover-ups of a British propaganda plot.