---
category: Private Organization
location: Managua, Nicaragua
summary: The OSN was Anastasio Somoza's secret police unit that monitored political
  dissidents during the Somoza dynasty's rule over Nicaragua.
tags:
- organization
- nicaraguan
- contra-war
---

The OSN (Oficina Seguridad Nacional) was [Anastasio Somoza](/people/anastasio-somoza/)'s secret police unit that monitored political dissidents during the Somoza dynasty's rule over [Nicaragua](/places/nicaragua/). The organization was part of the repressive apparatus that kept the Somoza family in power for 43 years and produced many of the officers who later formed the [Contra](/organizations/contras/) army after the [Sandinista](/organizations/sandinistas/) revolution.[^1]

### Legacy

The OSN's intelligence officers, trained at U.S. military schools including [Fort Gulick](/places/fort-gulick/), [Fort Benning](/places/fort-benning/), and [Fort Leavenworth](/places/fort-leavenworth/), brought their surveillance and counterinsurgency skills to the Contra war. The culture of political repression and intelligence operations that defined the OSN carried over into the FDN's operations, where former National Guard officers applied the same techniques against the Sandinista government. The [Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) family's connections to the Somoza intelligence apparatus, including the OSN, facilitated their later role in [cocaine](/concepts/cocaine/) trafficking and Contra fundraising.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Glossary.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 4, Ch. 3.