During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson directed the Secretary of the Treasury to have the Secret Service investigate possible espionage inside the United States. He wanted the Service to uncover and disrupt a German sabotage network that was believed to be plotting against France, England and the United States. To do this, an 11-man counter-espionage unit was established in New York City. Their most publicized investigation concerned the activities of Dr. Heinrich Albert and his infamous briefcase.
Secret Service operatives placed a German sympathizer and his acquaintance, Dr. Albert, under surveillance. As the two men parted company, Albert boarded a train in New York City and in his haste to get off at his stop, momentarily forgot his briefcase. Secret Service Operative Frank Burke seized the brown case and managed to elude the panic-stricken Dr. Albert, who, realizing what had occurred, chased after him. Two days later, an advertisement appeared in the newspaper offering a $20 reward for the case. Unfortunately for Dr. Albert, the evidence in the briefcase provided the intelligence breakthrough that the operatives were seeking. The contents exposed intricate, organized plots to undermine the Allied cause.
Dr. Albert was found to be the principal financial agent of the German empire in the United States. His account books revealed that he had received more than $27 million from the German government to use in carrying out espionage-related activities. Evidence showed that Albert and his confederates were responsible for: longshoremen’s strikes; planned disruptions at munitions plants and other factories manufacturing supplies for the allies; seeking to control and influence public opinion through the purchase of newspaper publishing companies, periodicals and book concerns; plotting to monopolize the supply of liquid chlorine used for poison gas; acquiring an airplane company and its patents; organizing a movement to cut off cotton imported from England; and attempting to force an embargo on munitions shipments. Eventually it was also divulged that the doctor had prepared a massive plan to have the German Navy land 85,000 troops along the New Jersey coast. Within 24 hours, this invasion force would cut New York City off from the rest of the country. Thanks to effective Secret Service surveillance and a moment of forgetfulness on the part of Dr. Heinrich Albert, these plots were thwarted and the spy ring shattered.