In postwar Europe, US intelligence increasingly targeted Soviet-orbit refugees for Cold War intelligence needs. Austria became a key arena as a country of first asylum for Soviet-orbit refugees, many of whom were Jewish transiting to Israel. Yet beyond narrow US intelligence objectives, the broader state-building effects of these covert activities for Austria as the host state and for Israel remain insufficiently understood. This article shows that US intelligence activities targeting Soviet-orbit refugees in Austria (1945–1956) significantly contributed to postwar reconstruction efforts in both countries. First, intelligence requirements became the central rationale for expanding US refugee-aid policies, improving Austrian refugee-handling infrastructure, and benefiting Jewish migration to Israel. Second, emerging cooperation among US, Austrian, and Israeli intelligence services surrounding refugees fostered postwar alliance-building, with spillover effects into adjacent policy domains. The findings demonstrate that refugees became a key space through which intelligence shaped wider postwar reconstruction, informing debates on intelligence in humanitarian and post-conflict settings.
Read the whole article here: 10.1080/08850607.2026.2618631