(un)Holy Spies: Religion and American Espionage in World War II
Sutton's research project analyzes the work of missionaries, missionary executives, and priests who went to work as spies for the Office of Strategic Services (which later evolved into the CIA) during World War II. Without necessarily anticipating the long-term consequences of their actions, these covert agents crafted new and important relationships for the United States with Mecca, the Vatican, and Zion, which profoundly shaped the trajectory of American involvement with the rest of the world in the decades after the war.