Robert Solberg

Robert A. Solberg (Solborg) was a soldier and spy during World War I and World War II, becoming a key figure in the development of the Office of the Coordinator of Information and the Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency.

He served as an officer in the Czar's Army in World War I, fled Russia after the Russian Civil War, and performed espionage work for the British while acting undercover as an international businessman in the interwar period, at the order of the Americans Millard Preston Goodfellow and the G-2.

Early life Solberg was born in Warsaw, Poland, the son of a Polish General of the Czar's Army who served on the staff of the Russian Governor-General of Poland.

When the war ended, Solberg joined the Armco Steel Company.

When William Donovan created the Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), Goodfellow and others at Army Intelligence recommended Solberg for developing a newly invented curriculum for what would be called Special Operations. Donovan was notorious for hearing all rumors during the war.

Solberg remained at his post in Lisbon, but now acting only as the Army Attache to Portugal.

It is possible that Solberg remained in the intelligence business as "Rene Solborg," the American contact for the Belgian spymaster André Moyen.