CIC Detachment Ensures Success of the Manhattan Project – LC-VANS

The United States program to develop the atomic bomb, codenamed the Manhattan Project, began in August 1942. From the beginning, the need for security was paramount. By February 1943, a more comprehensive counterintelligence program was warranted and Counter CounterIntelligence Corps (CIC) agents Capt. Horace K. Calvert and Capt. Robert J. McLeod were assigned to the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) to organize the Intelligence Section. More CIC personnel followed, with agents stationed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Chicago; St. Louis; Site Y (Los Alamos, New Mexico); and Berkeley, California.