US Strategists Weaponized Rosenberg Spies for Global Propaganda
By Constance Bell ·
Espionage convicts and Korean defectors served a secret strategy that linked special weapons to the fight against Soviet influence.
The US National Archives contains a series titled "Administration Files from Class 300 of the Decimal Files." This is not the record's own pages, but the series' archival scope-and-content description, and it provides a window into how the United States coordinated the battle for global opinion during the early 1950s.
At the center of these files is the Psychological Strategy Board (PSB). Established in 1951 under the Truman administration, the PSB was a high-level committee designed to synchronize the government's psychological operations. Public records indicate the board was composed of the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence. It was a necessary response to the sprawling covert activities of the Office of Policy Coordination during the Korean War, ensuring that the fight against Communism was not a series of disjointed efforts, but a unified strategy.
Raymond B. Allen and the Decimal Files
The file's catalogue entry records that the Class 300 series includes correspondence, reports, and newspaper clippings regarding the "methods and procedures employed in the operations" of the PSB. Among the staff members whose files are preserved here are Raymond B. Allen, C. Tracy Barnes, Palmer Putnam, and the board's first director, Gordon Gray.
Of particular interest is the mention of the "statutory history of the Government's psychological programs." This suggests a rigorous attempt to codify the legal basis for information warfare, ensuring that the state's efforts to counter Soviet influence were grounded in administrative authority. The use of a "Decimal File" system—a rigid, numerical method of classification—indicates a highly disciplined approach to managing the vast amount of intelligence and propaganda required to maintain the Western perimeter.
Special Weapons and Guerrilla Warfare
The catalog description reveals a startling overlap between the war of ideas and the war of attrition. Classification 334, which covers boards, commissions, and councils, includes files on the National Security Council and the United Nations, but also the "Air Force Special Weapons Project."
Further into the Class 300 files, the archival description notes documentation on the "Armed Forces Special Weapons Project" and "guerrilla warfare." The presence of these records within the administration files of a psychological strategy body suggests that the PSB did not view propaganda as a mere adjunct to military action. Instead, the psychological operation was inextricably linked to the most potent hardware of the era. The coordination of special weapons and unconventional warfare suggests a total-war mindset, where the threat of force and the projection of will were two sides of the same coin.
Rosenberg, Escapees, and the Korean Front
The scope of the PSB's interest extended beyond military strategy into the realm of domestic security and high-profile espionage. The catalog entry explicitly lists files on "the Rosenberg case." The inclusion of the Rosenbergs—convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage—within the files of a board dedicated to psychological strategy indicates that the trial was viewed not just as a legal matter, but as a critical asset in the broader information war.
This intersection of security and psychology is further reflected in the records regarding the "escapee program" and "psychological operations in Korea." When viewed alongside related series in the archives, the picture becomes more complex. The "Medicine, Hygiene and Sanitation Files from Class 700 of the Decimal Files" contain reports on a Korean epidemic and what the archive describes as a "Communist biological warfare propaganda campaign."
It appears the PSB was tasked with managing the fallout of these biological accusations while simultaneously running an escapee program to draw defectors away from the Communist bloc. While the National Archives also holds "Central Files" and "Working Files" for the PSB, the Class 300 files highlight the specific administrative machinery used to handle the Rosenberg case and the tactical realities of the Korean theater. The records leave open the question of how closely the "Special Weapons Project" informed the psychological narratives pushed to the public during the conflict.