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Cryptonym: KUTWIN

Definition:

KUTWIN was the cryptonym for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA.

Status:

Documented

Sources:

https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/declassified-records/rg-263-cia-records/second-release-lexicon.pdf

CIA document: Research Aid: Cryptonyms and Terms in Declassified CIA Files Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Disclosure Acts: Page 37: ..."Term: KUTWIN: Definition: Office of Strategic Services (OSS)..."

104-10068-10145: CABLE FROM DIRECTOR

12/05/63: Cable from Director to Withheld (Orig: Marie Koster, Unit: EE/G/CE): Slugline REDCAP (REDACTION)VIVID-4: "KUTWIN records indicate William Werner Selvig, born Werner R Seelig 4 Jan 1914 in Stolp, Pomerania, Germany, was army enlisted man during war assigned KUTWIN. Arrived US 1939 and naturalized citizen 1944. Name changed during naturalization. Expert machinist and toolmaker. Father and mother in concentration camp Czechoslovakia. Described as egotistical. Immoral, unethical in business dealings. No post-KUTWIN traces..."

104-10182-10092: OPERATIONAL PERSONNEL AND SECURITY MATTERS-MITCHELL LIVINGSTON WER-BELL, III.

01/29/64: Dispatch from Chief, Western Hemisphere Division to COS, San Domingo: ..."2. Wer-Bell, born on 8 March 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was married in 1942 to Hildegarde Elizabeth Hemmerich, and has six children. He was an army first lieutenant when first recruited by KUTWIN, with which service he saw duty with some distinction in the China theater during the second half of 1945..."

104-10187-10003: CIA FILE ON (ASSET)

11/13/64: Cable from Director to Mexico City (Orig: C. Bustos-Videla, Unit: WH/1): Slugline LITEMPO: "1. Only possible identical traces Mrs. Shapiro are in HMM 191 and HMMA 2525. ODIBEX (U.S. Army) reports 1948 which cannot be located (believed only report travel between MEXI and US) reports on Rosa Ackerman de Shapiro born Bozalia Russia on 8 March 1909 (MEXI Govt should have file on her). 2. Only probably identifiable trace Lippman was KUTWIN censorship report 1942 which lists him as connected real estate and contracting firms Newark New Jersey. He was connected with Industrias de Defensa in Habana Cuba which was described as undertaking promotional schemes involving shipbuilding, dock facilities, and defense work..."