Operation Bloodstone was a covert operation whereby the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sought out Nazis and collaborators living in Soviet-controlled areas, to work undercover for U.S. intelligence inside of the Soviet Union, Latin America, and Canada, as well as domestically within the United States.
Many of those who were hired as part of Bloodstone were high-ranking Nazi intelligence agents who had committed war crimes. Operation Bloodstone was initially proposed by the U.S. State Department, and was approved by SANACC (the State, Army, Navy, Air Force Coordinating Committee) on June 10, 1948. In July, SANACC expanded the operation to:
"comprise those activities against the enemy which are conducted by Allied or friendly forces behind enemy lines ... [to] include psychological warfare, subversion, sabotage, and miscellaneous operations such as assassination, target capture and rescue of Allied airmen."