Information Control Division
The Information Control Division was a department of the Office of Military Government, United States during the early part of the American occupation of Germany following World War II. Formed on 12 May 1945 from the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF, the ICD was led by Robert A. McClure, with a mission defined as:
Its initial task was sanitising the German media, removing figures with Nazi associations or histories and prohibiting overly nationalist or militarized content. It was charged with licensing the German newspapers, selecting editors who favored creating a democratic society, and pre-approving content before it was published - although from August 1945 the model switched to approval post-publication. Initially entirely independent of the military government of Germany, it was merged into OMGUS in February 1946.
As the Cold War became a priority in United States foreign policy, the ICD focused on using Germany as "the first battlefront of psychological warfare between the U.S. and the USSR", forcing licensed newspapers to publish content compatible with the direction of U.S. foreign policy and revoking the licenses of those that would not.
