10 Creepiest Government Secrets

9. The U.S. Let Nazi Scientists Into The Country To Get The Edge In The Space Race

Operation Paperclip saw the U.S. take some of the less-evil Nazis (now there's an oxymoron) into the country in order to take advantage of their scientific knowledge and get an edge in the space race. The operation was led by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the CIA. Under the program, over 1,500 german scientists and engineers were brought to the U.S. in the aftermath of World War II.

Then president Truman issued an order that any of the higher level, active participants of the Nazi party be excluded, but that didn't sit well with those running the program, who especially coveted Wernher von Braun, creator of the V-2 rocket. In order to get around the ban on the more-evil Nazis, the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), who ran the program under the OSS, opted to go the route of falsified working histories, political biographies, and general white-washing of their Nazi history.

The reason for all this deception? To get ahead in the cold war, and prevent the scientist's knowledge from falling into Soviet hands.