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+---
+aliases:
+  - William Stephenson
+  - Sir William Stephenson
+  - Intrepid
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - Spy
+  - British Intelligence
+---
+Sir William Stephenson (1896–1989), famously known as "Intrepid" by [[Winston Churchill]], was a Canadian intelligence officer who headed [[British Intelligence]]'s operational arm in America, the [[British Security Coordination Office]]. This office was disguised as part of the British Passport Control Office in Rockefeller Center, [[New York City]][^1].
+
+Stephenson played a crucial role in influencing American public opinion to support Britain's entry into [[World War II]]. He orchestrated an elaborate black propaganda campaign involving astrologer [[Louis de Wohl]]. Stephenson's agency would feed information to de Wohl for his column, "Stars Foretell," and then disseminate this information to the U.S. press, which, unable to fact-check with [[Nazi Germany]], would report it as real[^1].
+
+Stephenson's efforts were highly effective, with one declassified memo noting that "An ever-growing audience [is] becoming convinced of his supernatural powers"[^1]. He coordinated with [[William Donovan]], who would later head the [[Office of Strategic Services]], the precursor to the [[Central Intelligence Agency]][^1].
+
+## Footnotes
+[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.